Listen to Black American Lovey Roundtree Oliff — originally from Brooklyn and raised in Queens, New York — share about living in Exeter, New Hampshire with her husband and two sons during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her mother was born in Haiti and her father was born in Virginia. Lovey worked as a squash coach part-time and a physical fitness instructor while serving on The Select Board of the Town of Exeter, which functions as the mayor of the town. She was elected in March of 2020.
“I am a Black woman raising two Black children living in the State of New Hampshire.” Lovey states.
“I think things are more transparent. I think now you know what people feel and think more than you did before. Like, there were people that I would never have considered in the party of anti-mask-wearing or the people who would respond with ‘Why does everything have to be about race?’ …And it’s like…I don’t know…because there’s a Black man dead again…and it’s becoming a bit of a pattern…Tell me why it’s not?” Lovey share about the Black Lives Matter movement in New Hampshire.
“The novelty [of Zoom] wore off and that definitely had an effect on social interactions…on social interactions becoming somewhat closed in because you felt so exposed…So there was a lot of that…Like maybe this is too much of me out there. Because when you’re teaching, when you’re talking to large groups… when you’re doing it live you feel the feedback. You feel the responses. You feel the vibe of the room. When you’re doing it on Zoom and everyone is muted or off camera, you are talking into an abyss…and you’re talking to yourself in a way that feels rather uncomfortable and lonely. You’re lonely in a [Zoom] room full of 100 people.”
We know each other through Prep 9. Lovey attended Choate Rosemary Hall and I attended The Taft School.
