 Welcome to Longmont Voices and Vision, a project of Longmont Public Media. In the midst of the darkest period in our lives, when we're bombarded 24 hours a day with news of the coronavirus and the human and economic carnage it's causing in our society, we're challenged to cope with our fears and anxieties, we're remaining hopeful about what lies on the other side of this crisis. This project presents an opportunity for Longmont residents to share with others how they're adjusting to new realities of social distancing and the kind of future they hope to experience on the other side of the crisis. I'm Tim Waters, host of these conversations in a Longmont Public Media Volunteer. In this series, I'll be asking Longmont residents, many of them your friends and neighbors, three questions. What are you doing to get through this crisis? Even though we cannot be together right now, how are we staying connected to friends and families? And what's the future you are hoping to see and experience on the other side of this crisis? I hope you'll stay with this series and enjoy listening to your friends and neighbors and learn from them how they're getting through and what they're looking forward to in a new reality on the other side. Lisa Searchinger, thank you so much for your contribution to this Longmont Voices and Vision Project. Each of these interviews have started by giving us a chance to learn something about the interviewee. So I'm going to ask you to start by talking about who you are and what you do. Take it away. Thank you for inviting me to participate and thank you for creating the platform for all of us, many of us to share our experiences and our opinions. I'm Lisa Searchinger, I'm Executive Director of Recovery Cafe Longmont, which has been open just under a year. We are continuing to operate in the basement of Central Longmont Presbyterian Church and we were hoping to move out into the community in the next few years, but that possibly could be on hold now because of the crisis. I don't know what that's going to mean for our next phase. The goal was to be in the basement for two to three years, but considering the recession that's hitting us, potentially a depression, I don't know that we're going to be able to move locations, but I'm hopeful. We'll see what happens. We'll see how quickly we can get beyond this. And my previous occupation was Executive Director of Hope Homeless Outreach Providing Encouragement. And I continue to work with populations that are marginalized in our community. Lisa, in addition to thanking you again for your contribution, thanks for all that you do every day in addition to what you're doing right now with this interview. I know I'm going to ask you three questions and the first is that in this period in which an experience none of us have ever lived, right? No one on the planet has gone through what we're going through right now. With all the uncertainty, the unknowns and the fears that go along with that, people are finding their way through this and there's something to learn from everyone who is doing it. So how are you finding your way, working your way through this? I'm very, very blessed. I have a home. I have a very demanding job that keeps me distracted sometimes too demanding, but I'm very, very grateful to have it. It keeps me, as I said, distracted and also challenged. Every day it's a challenge. I find that I'm probably working more than I ever have. And I've checked in with some colleagues and they're saying the same thing. We're just a continuous surprise. Like, why is it so demanding to be working in a crisis? But it is. And as you said, we really have nothing to compare this to. So I think back of the flood, the 2019 flood when I was working at Hope, and that was really, it was devastating, but it was much shorter. The recovery process was longer, but the actual crisis part where we were working with our clients to try to get through it was pretty quick. This is obviously going to take much longer. But I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a demanding job. I'd probably be going out of my mind. I make sure that I get out every day that I possibly can and go for at least an hour walk. I put on my headphones and I, unfortunately, I listen to the news. I shouldn't. I should probably listen to music. On the weekends I allow myself to listen to music, but like I've got NPR on. So it's just, sometimes I can't get out of my own way. But I know that I need to be better about self care and recharging because it's going to be a marathon, not a sprint to get through this. And I want to be able to help guide our members and our volunteers and anybody else that my staff through this. So I need to take to stay healthy and be good about self care. An hour walk really seems to center me and give me the energy that I need to be able to get through what I'm about to face for the day. So that's, but I really am blessed. I mean, I have a place to shelter. I have a loving husband who supports me. And I have healthy children who are not living at home. They're older and they have their own places. I really feel for some folks who are working at home and they've got little ones running around and they have to help them with their school work and they still have to maintain their job. So really personally, I am blessed and I'm in a very, very lucky place. Certainly there are, there are challenges that that some are facing in this time that others are not. And, you know, we're all lucky, those of us who have a chance to be stay productive and active and be sheltered and have food, enjoy opportunities that others know right now. Yeah. The, the second question I'm going to ask has to do with how you mentioned your loving husband, but you have grown kids. You also have lots of friends. And I'm certainly have more family so how you stand connected with friends and family during this time of physical distance and physical separation and social social. I've had a couple of virtual meetings, a couple of zoom calls we've I've had with extended family and with with friends but it's, it's, it's interesting because I, I find that we're talking on the phone more texting seems to be taking a backseat, friends that I haven't heard friends that I used to see have picked up the phone and like oh my goodness it's Kathy. She's calling me but she said, just, I don't want to text I want to talk. And I've started to do the same we've had long conversations on my walks, which is fun. Just to walk a friend that I usually walk with, I can't but we're both walking separately in in separate parts of the city, but we're talking on the phone. So the phone has become there's a renewed interest in talking on the phone. And we're very thankful to have the technology to be able to have virtual conversations like you and I are having right now. The kids might come over this Sunday. If the weather's good and we will wear masks and be outside and hopefully be able to share a glass of wine together or a meal together where we haven't been able to do that yet we keep talking about it but I want to make sure that we're doing it safely. I was on a Boulder County call earlier this afternoon where Jeff Zayac who's the director of Boulder County Public Health was giving us an update and as much as I want to see my kids I don't know that it's the right thing to do. Masks and all. Yeah. Tough. That's part of the challenge for sure. It's tough. That's something I miss is being with friends and family. Yeah, the who knew that phones were actually used to speak with people. And we use it for everything else. That's kind of a lost purpose until recently. Well my last question for you is based on the presumption that whatever was normal for us before this pandemic. Life is going to be different on the other side of the pandemic. There will be a new normal. We're just not certain what it's going to be. But given that, we have a chance to influence what that is. So what would you like to see as the new normal and help create as the new normal on the other side of this. The overwhelming reality that I just am haunted by and keeps me up at night is the depth of the inequities that we are witnessing now. The curtain has just been ripped off. We knew, but not the depth of what we know now and how people who are marginalized, who don't have resources are are suffering at such a greater level than those of us who do have resources. And if we can have a conversation, if we can talk about social justice and really talk about social justice and what it means to be a human being and how everybody has rights, everybody should have a right to shelter in place. If you're experiencing homelessness, you can't shelter in place. If you're living five, six to an apartment, you can't have safe social distancing. If you can't work at home virtually and you have to go to work because that's your employment and you can't be protected. That's not fair. That's not justice. I know this is a global issue. It's not just a local issue, but we have to have a conversation about it. We have to do something about it. What in my lifetime, I've witnessed the disappearance of the middle class. I was raised in the middle class family, my parents did not go to college. But we had more than enough than we needed. I was able to go to college. I'm the first generation. I just see the bifurcation of our society, of our American culture, and it tears me apart. And just witnessing the people that we serve at the Recovery Cafe and listening to them and witnessing what they're going through, it breaks my heart. And it's just, it's not right. And social justice, the common good, we owe it to ourselves. We owe it to our neighbors. We owe it to the world. This has to happen. And when we see what's happening here, it pales in comparison to what's happening in places like India and Africa and the slums of Brazil. People, entire communities, cultures are going to be wiped out by this. And it doesn't have to be that way. It shouldn't be that way. It's a big conversation, but we have to start somewhere. Well, Lisa, I think you've started us in that conversation with this interview. And I don't think it's going to end with this interview. So I look forward to picking this conversation up with you and others in this community from whom I am hearing these interviews, when we can reengage with one another in settings other than virtual, be in proximity and continue creating the future we'd like to see. So thanks for contributing to that thinking. Thanks for contributing to this project and thanks for all the contributions you make day in and day out. Stay safe, take care of yourself and your family. Thanks to you too. Mark Cowell. Thank you for your willingness to contribute to this Longmont voices and vision project. Each of these interviews we've started by learning something about the person being interviewed. So tell us about you, and tell us about what you do in Longmont. Sure. My name is Mark Cowell, and I currently serve as the executive director at the hour. I started on July 1 of last year so only about 10 months into the job. I currently live in Erie with my wife Don, we have one son Dante who lives in Louisiana is graduated from college and becoming an adult now in his own. I have served over 20 years in the nonprofit community. I spent most of that time working in the world of individuals with developmental intellectual and developmental disabilities. I had an opportunity about five, six years ago to make a shift in my career and was trying to figure out what that looked like and what that meant and I just happened to get connected with sister Carmen Community Center and Lafayette and Susan Crawford, the executive director was a colleague of mine and she had her director position or director programs position available and it sounded very intriguing. I took the position and realized this was what my passion was this is what I wanted to finish doing for the rest of my career so I served in that position for five years and really got to learn the family resource network and how family resource centers worked and how vital those centers were in our communities to help families and individuals who are struggling just to meet their most basic needs. I learned a lot in that position and when Edwina started talking about retirement, I was very interested and possibly coming over and being the executive director here at the Irish Center. I knew the great work that was being done here how well respected the organization was and I was ready to tackle an ED role again which I'd been in previously so it just sounded like a really good fit at the time and one thing leads to another and I was very fortunate to get the job and I'm sitting here today. Well, in long months fortunate that you got the job so. Thank you very much. Mark you know I'm going to ask you three questions and the first of the three questions is this. None of us have ever experienced what we're experiencing right now. At least those of us alive there have been times in history where there might have been this kind of unknown and in the concern in the anxiety that goes along with that. So in this time of so much uncertainty. How are you getting yourself through this period of time. Sure. For me it all starts with attitude. Even before this pandemic you know I always try to start my day with the right attitude. And that's what I'm doing right now doing my best to start the day with the right attitude be positive. Of course some days that's easier than others. You know this this does wear on you. You know here at the hour center you know we're hearing stories of people struggling people who are in positions they've never been in before and that takes its toll on you. But one thing I've also learned is to be very self aware of where I am mentally as well as physically and in the past you know I've had things like the gym to go to and and things like that that I can't do now just because the stay at home orders. But I still have other means you know I can crank up the music. Sometimes I'll turn I'll set the door to my office and put some Johnny cash on or a little John Bonamassa just to change the vibe of the room and kind of my head and sometimes I just take the day off and I'll go home and I'll unplug and I'll just isolate myself from the noise around me and you know maybe it's just working out in the yard where it's peaceful and quieter or going in the garage and wrenching on my old Jeep just something that I enjoy where you know I can get away from those energies that drain me and start recharging the batteries and usually it doesn't take too long as long as I identify that early on. It doesn't take a long very much to get recharged and that's kind of the goal so I can get right back out at the very next day or you know 30 minutes later whatever the case may be. Well as you're as you're recharging and it sounds like you've got a variety of ways to do that. You're doing that in a context where you can't be physically close to the people who would like to be close to. And so in this period of physical separation and social distancing. What are you doing to stay connected to family and friends. Sure well there's always texting but the one thing I didn't know what zoom was until I'm like a pro. You know we always my wife and I every Sunday night we call we call our son and his girlfriend and just how are things going and checking in and keeping that connection but now we're using zoom so now we get to add a face and with the name and you know it's always good to hear from family but even better when you get to see their face and see the smiles and and share the laughs and it's it's not as good. It's certainly better than just sitting on the phone or texting so you know we do that with our son every week we do that with other family members every week. You know we get all of us on the zoom call together so you can see everyone's faces together which is pretty cool and you know we had the Brady bunch joke like everyone else did with all the screen and looking at each other so you know it's just lighthearted moments like that getting to share with with family and friends and. You know I have no doubt that once this is past us you know we're still going to be using zoom and video teleconferencing it's just it's opened up a new world that we didn't realize was there and right now it's it's the best we got and it's you know it's good it's good it's working. Well you may reference to when this is past so let's think about what life is like when it's past and and we're all hopeful obviously that the end is inside out there some in the relatively near future but for right now. We're in the middle of it. And as we're in the middle of it reflecting or anticipating what's to come. My last question is based on the presumption that whatever is to come is going to look different than what was before the pandemic. There will be a new normal we just don't know what it is yet. But they'll but life will be different. So the question is based on that presumption what would be your preferred future what would you like to see in that in that new normal and help to create in that new normal. You know the very first thing that comes to mind for me is I would love to see a collective shift in our mindset. And what I mean by that is is you know in our society right now you know I see it every day. You know I have friends I have people that I respect and even sometimes I fall in this trap where we're so quick to judge we're so quick to point the finger we're so you know we we're just looking to find the fault what someone else is saying. If they don't agree with our viewpoint on something. And you know that's been there and that's been growing now for a while and I really feel like this crisis has really amplified that mindset. All around us. But at the same time I've seen a lot of great stuff happening during this crisis in our neighborhoods. You know I'm seeing more kids out and family spending more time with their kids and you know neighbors reaching out to each other how are you doing is there anything that you need you guys healthy you guys OK. You know it's a long walk community. The support we've seen here at the hour center has just been off the charts and has been truly inspiring from individuals to groups saying hey. Here's a check this is you know it may be 50 bucks but this is what I can offer. That's awesome and you know all the way up to we've seen people offering $10,000 donations donating 100 lunches for hot meals. I mean the list goes on and on so you know for me what I'm hoping is when this pandemic is in the rear view mirror. You know we all realize that we're in this together. Walk into a situation as we see someone or a family who might be struggling or we're having a conversation with someone who perhaps you know doesn't share the same values or viewpoints with us. I would love if more of us would would realize that we're in this together have an open heart have an open mind. Give people the benefit of the doubts and listen and realize that you know 90% or more of everyone who's out there are good people have good intentions. And I think if we took that viewpoint before pointing the finger or getting on the defensive and trying to find that gotcha moment where they might be wrong. I just think we would be in a much better place we could find solutions that work for all of us. And we could move our communities our neighborhood our country forward instead of those bickering back and forth. So, you know I know there's a lot of people are looking at the policies behind what has to happen moving forward and what has to happen out there in the community. I think until we can at least sit out and have a conversation together and have an open and honest conversation respect each other. I'm not sure any of that other stuff is going to have as significant of an impact as it could moving into our future. You know and as for me. I'm in a unique position being here at the hour center I get invited oftentimes to go talk with individuals or groups about the work. And a lot of our here you know that respect and that's empathy is embedded in the work that we do so I get that platform to share that viewpoint with people. You know they can take it or leave it but I get that opportunity it's a platform that I've inherited with this position and I try to make the most of that. And I also try to lead by example. I always try to treat people respect I have friends on all spectrums whether it's religious political backgrounds, you know I think I do a pretty good job of getting along with everyone I think it's just because, you know I'm going to treat you with respect, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubts. Sometimes to a fault I'm going to trust you until you blow that trust and sometimes that happens it hurts but I also understand that part of it. And I'm willing to take that risk so hopefully by leading by example, you know more people say hey that I like that interaction I like how he interacts with others. I'm going to try to incorporate some of that and how I work with people so hopefully a little bit of what I do is good and rubs off on others. So I'm sure a lot of what you do is good and and I'll join you in hoping that it rubs off on others. So what you described earlier in your response about the kind of future you're visioning is certainly one that's worth moving toward. So God bless you for the work you do. Thank you for your contribution to this project. And as I said earlier to all of the other. Thank you for all the other contributions you make for so many long lines. Thank you I appreciate that. Take care of yourself stay healthy and when we when we're off underneath the stay at home and safe at home orders, our paths will cross in the kinds of meetings that we've enjoyed prior to now. So I'll look forward to it. Yeah, take care. You too.