BiG Ideas, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society at Bowling Green State University, is excited to announce The Enlightenment, a bite-sized podcast, written and hosted by ICS intern Taylar Stagner. In this episode, Stagner speaks with undergrads, graduate students, and professors who share how the Covid-19 pandemic, and the campus shut down it has caused, have affected their lives.
Jolie:
Hello. You're listening to the Big Ideas podcast. I'm Dr. Jolie Sheffer, associate professor of English and American culture studies and the director of the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society at Bowling Green State University. This is not a typical episode. The conversation you are about to hear was recorded during the COVID-19 crisis, so you may very well notice a difference in our sound quality. You'll also notice that we've got a different format. We wanted to capture some of the incredible challenges facing BGSU students, faculty, and staff during this world-historical event, as well as document some of the incredible creativity, resiliency, and generosity we've seen.
Jolie:
Now more than ever, we believe it's important to hear thought-provoking and inspiring stories about big ideas featuring members of our community. The following episode is one of several short-form stories being produced and reported by Taylar Stagner, a master student in the American culture studies program and an ICS intern. We're calling this series, The EnlightenMinute. We hope you enjoy it. Stay safe out there.
Taylar:
Welcome to EnlightenMinute, a bite-sized podcast from the desk of ICS. I'm Taylar Stagner with more on how students and faculty at BGSU are dealing with the drastic shift in university life. Online video applications, like WebEx, Zoom, and Skype, help peers and instructors converse with each other during the statewide shelter in place order. No unnecessary travel is permitted and all classes and projects have been moved online. In the shuffle to switch instruction online to slow the spread of COVID-19, one of our interns at ICS is missing out on her last semester of college. Renee Hopper is getting her bachelor's degree in creative writing with a minor in German. To finish her minor, she was going to go to Germany before the shutdown.
Renee:
And I wasn't planning on being on campus next year at all because of study abroad. And now that summer is canceled, I have to figure out a way to take German online at a different university this summer and transfer it over, which I've heard is a rough process.
Taylar:
After BGSU moved to online instruction, Renee moved back to her home outside of Columbus in Dublin, Ohio with her parents and older brother. I asked her how that was going.
Renee:
Most days, pretty good, now that we're used to it. I've established my own little space in our dining room where my mom literally took our own Snuggies and hung them in the doorways so that I have my own enclosed little office. Absolutely innovative. But when I'm in there, I can pretty much be counted on that they're not going to come in and I can work.
Taylar:
While Hopper can make do, she can't help but feel like her undergraduate career ended anticlimactically. She had to go and empty out her dorm room during spring break.
Renee:
It was really melancholy. I wasn't expecting it, especially because there are so many fun things to prod at about dorm life, like you don't have a kitchen and you really miss food. But just the fact that I hadn't been expecting to start packing up so quickly made it harder to walk in the room and be like, "Oh, all of this is coming back with me right now." And it was really strange that I couldn't even go get food and use a bit more of my Falcon dollars before we left. I had to order one of those little robots and it brought us Dunkin and we had a l
