 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. Marsha Martin, thank you for your willingness to lend your voice and your vision to the Longmont Voices and Vision Project. Let's start by learning a little bit about who you are. Thank you, Tim. My name is Marsha Martin. I sit currently on the Longmont City Council representing your two. And before that, I had a technical career that was long and uninteresting. So being a city council member is probably the most important thing I've ever done. And holding that position at this time, I consider to be a serious duty. So nothing else is worth talking about in my past. Okay. Well, you know, I'm going to ask you three questions. The first of those three questions is in this unprecedented time in our lives and in the history of maybe of mankind, where we are trying to figure out how to make sense of where we find ourselves. What are you doing to get yourself through this crisis? Well, I'll tell you, I think I am as busy as ever. I am just moving around less in the process of being busy. I have made it my duty to stay aware of the very fast changing rules under which we live and the fast changing sources of that other people need about how to get themselves through this. And I've been making sure that they are publicized online in as many ways as are possible or in as many ways as I have the capability to diversify them. So I am keeping the Longmont community connection website page. I'm sorry, Facebook page in conjunction with the Longmont public media and update that working with other volunteers to find information for that. I have been replying to everyone who writes to me and everyone who asks questions on public media or who calls calls me. I make sure that no one is ignored or left out. And I think that's one of the things that people need from the city are things that are going on a list of things to be done in the future because the city staff does most of the real work. And right now the real work of the city staff is overwhelming. So only if I consider something part of the emergency, I think that the city staff is going to be able to do that. And I think that people who have asked for big things need to be reassured that it will come back. When as things are returning to normal. If I waited for everything to return to normal, I wouldn't be on the city council anymore, probably. But as things are returning to normal and there's capacity, then the lessons learned from. So that's what I think is getting me through it is continuing in public service, staying busy and staying visible because people need to know that their local government cares about them day to day. How in this time of physical isolation, social distancing that none of us have ever experienced. How do you stand connected to your friends and family? Well, my family is, is tiny in terms of, you know, the people that I would communicate with on a, not even day to day, because none of them live here. But week to week basis. I really only have a brother and a daughter. And we have been exchanging long emails, especially with my daughter. And it really has, I think, brought us closer because there's a kind of, of deep precise understanding you can come to with a member of your family when you have time to reflect on what you're saying. So I, I've considered that a real opportunity and I'm happy for it. And I'm happy to have my friends that are local here. Have been such a mainstay. All I can say to them. And you know who you, who you are, my friends. Is thank you. So. This is. This is something that I hope has brought the best out in most of us, if not all of us, but it certainly has brought out the best in my friends. All right. It's safe to assume, safe to assume I think that whatever, whatever, whatever settles, whatever we settle into in terms of normal on the other side of this, whatever the new normal is, they're going to be changes from what normal was before this crisis. So as we anticipate moving into the future, one of the questions here is what's your preferred future? What would you like to see an experience on the other side of this? Yeah. You know, honestly, having worked on it toward it. For the last two and a half years now. I think that the aspirations that we had outlined for the city of Longmont. In the time that we've served together on the council. Have. Been very near to what I would like to see happen. Obviously. There. Are going to be future resources that are more constrained. I'm also hoping that there will be resources that are, are less constrained. Because. Even the current federal government has realized that after a crisis like this, there has to be investment in the recovery. So. I am hoping that. When we finally start the recovery process, as opposed to the survival process. That. We'll be able to put resources where they are needed. That we'll begin to. Reverse the sequestration of. Of. Capital. At the top and in. In where it needs to be invested. By particular hope. Is that as we rebuild our energy economy, which is very much strained. By. People not moving anymore. International commerce being stressed. The local industry being stressed and the proof. Is that we're going to be able to do that. We're going to be able to do that. We're going to be able to do that. And air pollution and things that we're experiencing as we stop driving manufacturer less extract less. From the ground. That. We've all had. A huge. There's got to be a better word than that, but a huge lesson in how toxic the fossil fuel economy is. We need to take to heart the analogy of one crisis to another. You know, we declared a climate emergency just weeks. Before the news about the novel coronavirus. Came to us. And. So we. All should have learned the lesson that. That. You can't cope properly with an emergency that you haven't prepared for. And that when you have a warning, you need to take that warning and do everything you can to be ready. So I hope that we can invest. In a clean, sustainable. Economy as we rebuild the economy that's been brought almost to the halt today. So, thank you. Thank you. Marsha Martin. Council member Marsha Martin. Thank you for your willingness to contribute to the long month voices in vision project. Take care of yourself. The art opportunity to stay safe. Okay. You too. Bob Allen. Thank you for joining this project and sharing. Lending your voice and your vision. To the long month voices and vision project. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Jim, thanks for the opportunity to have this conversation. You know me as of course Bob Allen, the director of operations for the. City of Longmont's public works and natural resources department. I think we call each other friend as well. So. Yes. A long time. Longmont resident growing up here. And I've been. I've been around for a while living outside of Longmont city limits, but this is where my. Youth and my heart lies in Longmont. You know, there are three questions that I'm asking. Participants in this project to answer the first is. In this, this moment. This. Unlike anything, any of us have ever experienced. What are you doing for yourself to kind of get yourself through this crisis? Well, I, I imagine that if you've heard from others, you've heard your family's probably your, your most critical and important support system. And. And one that, you know, we, we sometimes take for granted. And. And it's times like this where you realize how important that is. One thing that does sad me a little bit is. My contact with my mom, who's had some health issues over the past year. Has been minimized or limited. On the other hand, these types of venues like, like zoom or. You know, FaceTime venues actually do offer me a good opportunity to be able to check in with her. And other family members. Certainly a sense of humor has helped a lot too. And my family has a good sense of humor. And I've been able to leverage that as, as appropriate, of course, to get through, you know, it's really been a kind of a stressful, anxious time. Well, that segues right into the second of these three questions. And then is how are you staying in this time of social, social isolation, physical distancing? How are you staying connected with friends and family? You know, that's a, that's a good question because. It's somewhat of an introvert. I communicate and I like to communicate and writing a lot. And I realize that doesn't really cut it. When you have this type of a, of an isolation and seeing somebody's face. And actually being able to have that familiar, you know, facial expressions that you recognize and, and you can kind of telegraph to others, what you're saying, and you can pick up their telegraphing is really comforting and important. And so I have really branched out into trying to learn how to use these formats more. And I don't mean so much technically, but just how to communicate. Like, where do you look? Do you look at the person or are you looking at the camera? Do I use, I started using, you know, earbuds because I think it, it gives a clearer connection, you know, verbally without feedback. So all those little things you don't really normally think about the things that you kind of start to work through. Bob, in the midst of this crisis, it's hard to see what lies ahead. I think it's safe to assume that the future is going to be somewhat different than the past. Who knows what the new normal is. But as we move towards the other side of this crisis, one of the questions that I'm asking is, is what do people see as a preferred future? What would you like to see an experience on the other side of this crisis? You know, I kind of have an upbeat view of that. And I hope that's a good view to have. But I sent an email to my coworkers, or at least the leadership team that I'm a part of. And in that email, I'd said something that was really in my heart and has been for a few weeks. And in that, I said to the effect that while the U.S. economy may be lost to us, we may very well gain back our soul. And what I meant by that was just the experiences of going home at night and seeing in my neighborhoods, you know, adults and youth, you know, children walking through the neighborhoods like I remember, you know, growing up in the 60s and 70s. And I've always been sad that we lost that type of community and contact. And certainly it's been replaced with some other really good things. But that neighborhood community, and I sense the same thing at work, a work neighborhood like community as well, that feels like in some sense like we were gaining our soul back or we're learning maybe through this really difficult, you know, challenging event to maybe reestablish some important social soul-building communications with each other. And I hope that when we move through this, that we'll remember some of that and retain that into the future and not go back to sometimes the self-isolation that we all have in our lives that wasn't as necessary as it needed to be. Bob, those are aspirations that will resonate with a lot of folks. Bob Allen, thank you for participating in this project. Stay healthy and safe. Take care of yourself and your family. Thank you, Tim. Karen Roney, thank you for lending your voice and your vision to this Long Month Voices and Vision Project. Each of these interviews has started with learning a little bit about the person being interviewed. So tell us about Karen Roney. Well, actually, thank you for this opportunity. I think this is a great project. And Karen Roney, well, I work for the city of Long Month. I'm the community director here for the city. And I can't believe it, but I am about to do that for 30 years. And how does that happen? But anyhow, you know, I think how it happens is that the work that I'm able to do and the difference that I'm able to make in the community, and you can really see that happen at the local level is, you know, it's inspiring and it is what provides purpose in getting up and doing my best every day. It's not always perfect. I'll tell you that. But you can see the impact of your efforts. And that's important to me. Karen, if it was perfect, perfect. We wouldn't be doing this interview if you were perfect. Well, I know the city is way better off for those 30 years of service. And we appreciate it. So. Thank you. Well, you know, there are three questions I'm going to ask. The first of these three questions is this. I was reminded in an actually an interview with one of your colleagues that there have been times in human history where we've probably experienced conditions like this, but not in our lifetimes. And given all the uncertainties, the fear associated with what we're dealing with with this virus, all the unknowns, how are you getting yourself through this period of time? Well, you know, two things. One is, is related to my work. And one of the things that I discovered early on, and I've discovered actually throughout my, my life is that when things around me seem totally out of control, then my focus is on what is it that I can control. So I am, I call that one into, into action as, you know, starting in March and really tried to focus on the things that I, that I really could control. And that was really what I could do here in my position with the city and how I could focus on helping the community in whatever ways I could to work through this pandemic and this crisis. So, so I really threw myself into, into work and, and really have been collaborating with so many other incredible people and organizations in the city and throughout the county to really make sure we are helping all people in our community to, to try to get what they need and to try to help them cope with and, and work through this, this crisis. So that, that was the one thing I, you know, I think the other thing that is something that I have been, I guess I've tried to focus on a little more recently and that's the whole area of gratitude. And so, so any, any time, in fact, every day and every phone call and I'm on many phone calls that I really try to identify and be grateful for the work that's happening for the people I'm working with, for what we're trying to accomplish. And I make it a point to, to express my gratitude for, for the fantastic contributions that other people are making. So, control and gratitude are my, it's what I'm doing to get through this time. To the degree that I understand that sounds like the serenity prayer in action. Second question. In a time when we can't physically be together with the physical separation and social distancing. How are you staying connected to friends and family, even when you can't be in their proximity? Well, you know, Tim, this is kind of a difficult one. I, I lost my father of 95 years, right at the beginning of this whole pandemic. So I did not lose him to the virus, but, but, and, and it really was, it was, it was devastating for me. And because he was such a, he was really the North Star in my life for, for all of these years. And, you know, what was, what really helped during that incredibly difficult time, which it still is, is the, the number of people, my childhood friends that I hadn't spoken with in years that reached out to me and talked about how important my father was to them and in their lives. And, and what a fabulous man that he was. And so it's, so that was the heartening part. And one of the things that I have decided to do is to continue to reach out to people, maybe that I have lost touch with, or that I don't connect with very often. And I do that on Sundays. So Sunday was my special conversation that we have with my dad. He, he lived out of state. And so every Sunday night for, I can't tell you how many years we would have our special talks. So one way I'm trying to fill the hole in my heart is. So Sunday night, reach out to other people in my life who I really just want to check in with. So it might be, you know, someone that I, I connect with frequently or someone that maybe I have lost touch with. And, and so that is really what I'm doing to, to stay connected during this time. Great. Great. We'd honor that tradition with your dad. Absolutely. Excuse me. I can relate to that story. The third question really is about, you know, the future. But the, but the presumption behind the question that underlies the question is that we were all caught up in what we understood to be normal before the pandemic. And the presumption is that on the other side of this, whatever that is, whenever we return, we can come out and return to whatever becomes normal. What is normal at that point is going to be different. Life will be different. There will be a new normal. So my question for you is what would you like to see is the new normal and a normal or a future that you'd like to help create? Well, well, that is a great question. What is the new normal every day that that changes. But I think what I, what I am hopeful for and what I think is absolutely possible is maybe not a new normal, but an enhanced normal for the Lamont community, which is really around all of us connecting with each other and with the community for the common good. And you know, Lamont has a great history of doing that since probably since 1871 when we came together as a, as a city. But it's been, it's a value of our community. And we, I just, I just look back on, you know, the 2013 flood and the devastation that and the impact that that had on our community. And I think what helped us to work through that, that disaster and make us even stronger today were some of those strong values that we have as a community. And what we have put in place in terms of a human infrastructure in our community that really positioned us to rally together, to collaborate with each other, to put service over self and to help us be stronger in the end. And you know, we hear about, I don't know, I hear a lot about, you know, we're going to be stronger and when we come out of this. And I think for long months, it's not a tagline. It really is the way that we do business. So my new normal will be the better old normal. If that makes sense. Makes sense to me. Karen Ronnie. Thank you again for your contribution to this project. And thank you for 30 years of service to the community. Hope we get another 30 years of service out of you. I don't know if that's possible, but thank you very much for your kind words. Karen, when, well, we'll get a chance to see each other virtually. I know, but I'm looking forward to when, when we can get out and be in the same room together in the, in the meantime, stay safe, take care of yourself and your family. All right. You too. Thank you.