In 2021, a coalition of national museum and library associations awarded the Peale (Baltimore, Maryland) a Communities for Immunity grant. The goal of the project is for trusted, local institutions to engage their communities in order to boost COVID-19 vaccine confidence. Since being awarded the grant, we've been gathering stories from people about their experiences with COVID and getting the vaccine.
In this short series, the Peale's storyteller-in-residence Mama Linda Goss tells modern fables that offer key lessons about our collective survival in the COVID era.
Mama Linda Goss (00:08): My bells are ringing. My soul is singing. Well, oh, well, oh well. It's storytelling time. (Bells shaking) Gather around my people. Well, well. Gather around my people. Well, well, well, well, well. It's storytelling time. Well, well. It's storytelling time. Well, well. It's storytelling time. Well, well, well, well, well, and indeed it's storytelling time. So, friends gather 'round, and listen to the stories.
Mama Linda Goss (01:00): This story is called, Great Aunt Essie. (Singing). Nowadays, you young folks take so much for granted. That's what Great Aunt Essie used to say. She would talk about how when she was a child, there were no streetlights or traffic lights. There were no refrigerators, she had to use an ice box. She had a cold stove for years. But the weather started getting so hot year in and year out, that Great Aunt Essie shocked everyone, when she got an air conditioner. She remembers when some folks complained about putting seat belts in their cars and they had to use them, they were so upset about that. She remembers when signs were put up and ramps were built for the disabled.
Mama Linda Goss (02:09): Now Great Aunt Essie was afraid of many things, she was afraid to ride an airplane or drive a car, or even get into an elevator. And believe it or not, Great Aunt Essie was scared of the telephone. She said that she couldn't understand how that thing worked. She preferred living in the country, on land, they had a pond. She had a dog named Shep, two cats named Muffin and Puffin, chickens, goats, a sheep, frogs and ducks in the pond. She was also a beekeeper, therefore she made her own honey and grew her own vegetables. Her husband, great uncle Jim, had passed away a few years earlier. They didn't have any children, but she had plenty of nieces and nephews.
Mama Linda Goss (02:54): Two of her nephews, Howard and Charles were brothers. And they lived a few miles away from Great Aunt Essie. Howard and Charles even bought Great Aunt Essie a telephone, but she never used it. They would stop by and check up on her, because she was getting up on in age, but Great Aunt Essie was independent. Yet, Howard or Charles would call her every day in the morning and in the evening before she went to bed, she would hear the phone ring and just laugh. She knew it was one of them, they were the only ones who had her phone number. She had their numbers too, but she never called them. She'd even misplaced their numbers somewhere. Now, one day as dusk was approaching, Great Aunt Essie locked up all her doors and got ready bed. Her dog Shep started barking and her two cats Muffin and Puffin hid under the bed.
Asset ID: 2022.05.17.d
Find a complete transcription on the Peale website.
