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So today is July 15, 2020. And here we have Mr. Alvin Gee for the Asian America Archive's special COVID-19 project.

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Welcome Mr. Gee! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview with us. So to start off, would you like to briefly introduce yourself? Sure. My name is Alvin Gee. And I was born and raised here in Houston.

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My parents originally from Canton, China, so-and my wife is also born here in Houston. I have two adult children, and they're both married,

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and I'm a practicing professional photographer as my profession. Okay, great. So I guess my first question is that in what ways has the coronavirus pandemic impacted you and your life? Um,

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business wise everything has been well. When we first heard it about the coronavirus you know, we were asked to stay home, so I did stay home for five weeks and, and everything was fine.

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And everything—thank you-- and everything worked out well. Things— My wife works at Chevron, and so she's been working from home, and she's very comfortable telecommuting

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from-from the house. I just kind of got a little stir crazy at home because I like to work and it's, it's hard to do what I do from home; I need to be here at my office.

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Okay, so were doing any activities that you engage in more or you engaging less than before? You know, it, it-- what was kind of disappointing, but everything is kind of evolved.

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You know, some of the things that I do outside of work is go to church, and I attend First Baptist Church. And so, the church pivoted very easily and they, their church services are on Zoom.

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So we are able to watch church services there. And and, and so that has been kind of difficult. But it's, it's, it's nice that, with the Zoom,

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we're able to, to still worship corporately, individually, but corporately. I belong to the Professional Photographers of America, and they have-- we meet locally, on a monthly basis, and we've

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also converted our meetings that we usually meet face to face to, to a Zoom call. So that's worked out well. We're, we open up our offices about three weeks ago, and we've taken

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all of the CDC procedures: we, we typically wear gloves, a mask, we take the person's temperature, and then we proceed as we would normally do; we social distance, everything is by appointment only. So, uh, for the most

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part, it's, it's there are challenges. But, you know, we've, we've overcome those challenges. Can you talk more specifically about the challenges you were dealing with?

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Okay. I did not realize, I did not realize one of the very last photo sessions that I did before we had the, the COVID procedures, I did not realize how much I

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touch people, you know, when I'm photographing them, like a business portrait, you know, I'll adjust the necktie, make sure it's snug; I'll make sure that there's no wrinkles in the shirt, the jacket is fitting properly.

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And, and then a lot of times, sometimes I physically, you know, touch the head to have them tip the head a certain way. And, and I can't do that now. So to overcome that challenge, I, I

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typically even before COVID, I typically have a mirror right next to-- a full length mirror right next to the camera. And so I normally will tell the client, if they can, if they can see themselves so that if I do ask them to straighten

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your neck tie, something like that, they'll be able to immediately see what, what, what's wrong, and then we'll fix it. Normally, and like I shared with you, there's just little things that that we like to do to make sure that

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the details are taken care of before we actually capture the image. So, other than, other than that, everything is, is, is, is, is

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just fine. Typically, we space our clients out a little bit further, usually so that we can clean up between and sanitized between photo sessions, but that, that seems to work out very well. That's great.

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And do you think there is an increase in demand for your photo session? Or there's like a decrease? Um, it's nice-- Kelly, is that right?

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Normally, you know, there's people need business portraits, you know, in good times and then in these COVID times, so it's nice that we still have a steady stream of

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business. In business portraits, you know, we, we specialize in photographing people. And so when, so when we photograph people, that includes little children, families, business portraits of men and women.

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We haven't done that many family portraits mainly because we just, I guess it's just the, that the need right now. You know, our business when it comes to family portraits, it's kind of seasonal. Usually the last quarter of the year, you know,

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during holiday time, people get together for Thanksgiving and holidays and things. So that's when we do a lot of, of those type of things.

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Business portraits, on the other hand, we do pretty, pretty, pretty regularly. Typically, we would photograph a lot of high school senior portraits. We didn't do this, that many high school senior portraits

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but we did do some, and it was kind of disappointing in knowing that, you know, their graduation exercises were somewhat postpone, some were completely canceled, some of the activities that they did. So, you know, my heart

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kind of goes out to those senior, high school seniors that graduated this year. So in terms of business hours, do you still operate as normal, or has there been a change? Oh, okay. Normally we're-- our office hours, we're open nine to five,

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Monday through Friday. And we take appointments on, on Saturday mornings, by appointment only. So things really haven't changed that much in regards to our, our, our time.

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Portrait studios kind of fell in the category of “non-essential businesses.” You know, it's not like we were like Home Depot, you know, that that's that was that their business was not affected. But ours, we were affected in that we were considered a non-essential

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business. So we had to wait for the governor to say, "Okay, it's time you, it's okay for you all to open up." So we were—so we had to kind of patiently wait, we didn't, we had to turn down business because we were,

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we weren’t afforded the luxury to, to open up the business at that time or go out on location at that time. We just ceased doing business. So how has that affected like individual employees or even you?

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I have a full time office manager, and she's terrific. You know, during those times, she was still able to commute and—telecommute-- and do things that were necessary prior to the shutdown.

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And so she was able to work from home from her computers. And so that worked out pretty well. And me personally, as an employer, I

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want to make sure that her comfort level is, is high, working, because you know, some people just even right now prefer not to go out. They just want to lock down and stay put.

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And I really appreciate her, you know, having this comfort level, too, of what we've done to make sure that things are safe here. We've had done everything you can do to, you know, to make it safe.

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Definitely. That's good to hear. So, I guess my next question is, you mentioned that some of your work and social experiences have been conducted via digital communication like Zoom, I'm wondering what how does that

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compare to in person experiences? Ah, you know, when we, when we typically photograph a family group, normally what we do is, we have a consultation, a face-to-face consultation.

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And those are very important because I'm able to ask questions, find out exactly what the client needs and then, and then create the portrait for the client. We always want the portrait

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experience to be a very positive one. My clients that I've-- kind of like when we, we, we were—we had scheduled this high school senior portrait person to come in and the

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COVID-19 occurred. The mother is a physician so she said, "I really don't want my daughter to come in." So we waited until our business could open. And, and because

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she's a former client, it-- we didn't need to have the face-to-face consultation. We just talked over the phone, find that she needed her leather jacket to be worn, that she was going to wear a formal dress, and then she was going to

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wear you know, something more casual too. So having the, the phone consultation seemed to work out well. But I typically like to have a face-to-face consultation.

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At that particular time, the client will talk to me about what their needs are. He or she typically will bring their cell phone. And I'll ask that they can just show me some pictures of the children. And that helps me kind of get an idea of how old they are.

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I kind of-- so what I do is, I have a, I have a consultation sheet, I get the names, I get the ages, so that we're able to work very quickly and efficiently when we're photographing a family.

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What about your church experiences, like having the meetings online? You know, the church experiences have been fine. It-- but you know, it's, it's very nice to corporately worship together.

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But, but, but the pastor still has the opportunity to get his message. We're still able to sing songs and, and pray together.

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And then we also, you know, the, we're still able to tithe it also, and we could very easily tithe it by sending it a check, you know, putting credit cards online, so you know that that's a nice way to, to

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support the church. Okay, great. And have you experienced any stress or anxiety during this period? Yes. Yes. Um, you know, we've had

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a--I'm not a wedding photographer, but there's a lot of wedding photographers, because the weddings have been postponed from the summertime to may, possibly fall or later. You know, they lost business.

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We typically photograph—some continuing education classes that are taught. And they're, they're usually week long classes. They're engineers.

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And we, though they canceled those, those continuing education studies. You know, because of this, that's been canceled. Every year, we would photograph

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the Miss Chinatown Houston contest. And this is where young ladies compete for the title of Miss Chinatown Houston, you know, with their talents, and then they go to the Miss Chinatown USA pageant in San Francisco,

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and they compete there. Well, this year was the 50th anniversary, and it had to be canceled because of this outbreak, and so they're postponing this year's competition

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to next year, that's when they'll celebrate their 50th anniversary. It's a very wonderful, large social event. And just like what you asked, it is kind of stressful.

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But through the years, we've had the opportunity photograph is... I'm sorry to hear about that. So would you consider a change in your career or future direction of business?

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Kelly, can you say that one more time? Okay. I think I can hear some noise in the background? I don't know if it comes from mine. Oh, that's okay. Okay.

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So will you consider a change in your career or future direction of business? Oh, okay. Right would I consider— the impact has not been that severe to me to you know, make a, a career change.

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It's-- this this work that I do is something that is extremely gratifying and it's wonderful. It's-- and, and because it's so

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gratifying, I really enjoy the opportunity to take photographs. And so so I thought that would be pretty traumatizing to, to, to make that severe a change.

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I've just—I, I am very confident that things will. you know, that there is a new normal, but I think that things will kind of stabilize and I think things will will be

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fine. You know, I hope, I pray that the, that they do find a vaccine. And that that will be able to to continue to be

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the the wonderful country that we that we live in, and that I think Houston is a dynamic, wonderful place to live in. Yeah, absolutely. And so let's change gears a little bit.

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Um, do you think the pandemic has affected you and your relationship, I mean the relationship between you and your loved ones? Yes, I think that my relationship with my loved ones are, are even

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stronger. We-- I also use technology, I like I like to use FaceTime, and, and I am able to talk with my grandchild, my granddaughter, and my, my son.

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And I, we we speak pretty regularly on FaceTime. And, and my daughter, I get a chance to call her, and she's working from home also, and she's wonderful and, and, and so luckily,

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joyfully, I have a wonderful relationship with my children, and my and my daughter in law as well as my son-in-law. And my wife and I, we have a great relationship too. And, and I have a wonderful relationship

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with my mom, and she's luckily she's, she's still living. And she's, she's, she's terrific. So I'm kind of in a sandwich generation in that, you know, my, my mom's living,

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my, and then my children. So I still feel like I have a parenting role, even though I might my children are adults. You know, it's nice that they are, that they do

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like to get my input on things, you know when they are making important decisions in their life. Yeah, and it your mom staying with you or? Oh, my mom lives by herself and and I have two other brothers, and we all rotate.

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And we make sure that she has company and that she has a hot meal. And she's you know, she, she's, she's doing just fine. Okay, great. What have you learned about yourself during this pandemic? I learned that I need to be focused, I need to be

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determined. I, I learned to be more grateful, to have gratitude. I'm, I'm very thankful that we have a wonderful leadership in this country.

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And because I think thinks we really could have been worse, and and so I appreciate our governor, our governor wants to keep us as safe as possible. We and then then our mayor wants us to mask up and I, you know, I definitely have—I’m

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not wearing one now, because I'm talking to you via the computer-- but, you know, when I'm here when I'm interacting with clients, I do want to keep socially distance and, and, and and

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wear a mask. Yeah, definitely. And you know, since the outbreak, we've seen lots of racist comments and even hate crimes against Asians. And I wondering like, what do you think of this kind of sentiment?

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I have, I am very aware of it. You know, because I guess the news has, has, has made me aware of it. I have not seen or participated in that type of hate crime.

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But I am very aware of it. And I, I did share that with my children as well as my wife that you know, you know, that being Asian, we just need to be careful.

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And I think being careful is-is-is one of the biggest things that we can do. And we are and, and because we are hunkering

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down, I guess that's the term that that people are using, you know, staying home and not socializing a lot. You know, I keep my visits to a minimum, you know, when I need to go grocery shopping and in doing, running

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errands and taking care of my mom, I, I'm, I'm, I'm being careful. I'm being very, very careful. Careful about that, because it's very, it is very real.

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Yeah. Do you think the pandemic has amplified the racial conflicts in American society? Um… that, you know, I have, I guess, I've seen it.

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You know, back in the 60’s, I was a youngster at the time, but I was, you know, there were very tense racial times at that particular era and and…

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you know, I think, I think every race has had some type of conflict. And, you know,

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I did not live through the Chinese Exclusion Act that was enacted when my parents were in, in China, and when they made their way to America, you know, the Chinese Exclusion Act was enacted.

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And it was, it's, it's the only, you know, the Chinese were the only race that were that were affected by the Exclusion Act. You know, there hasn't been an African Exclusion

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Act or an Italian Exclusion Act or a Japanese Exclusion Act, but there was a Chinese Exclusion Act. We were isolated, and we were segregated, and uh but

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the Chinese worked through it. And and then luckily, that Exclusion Act was repealed. And so and that and that's a wonderful thing, because that that was a very, very terrible thing.

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But the government did recognize that it was a bad thing. And and, you know, through the years, you know, there have been things that have been terrible.

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But I, I guess, I feel that the country I think people in general, have a good compass in their hearts, and they, they know, the difference between good and bad.

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And slavery was bad. It was terrible. It's a terrible thing. But I'm, I'm happy that that we don't have slavery anymore because that

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was very, a very terrible thing. Do you think this pandemic has also revealed any social inequalities in American society? Um…

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I think people are pretty resilient. You know, I really feel like—has the pandemic revealed any inequalities?

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I'll have to think about that. Yeah. Okay, no problem. And so what do you think like Asian American community could do more to promote social or racial solidarity?

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Um, you know, there's you know, there's a wonderful organization that's called the Chinese American Citizens Alliance. And, and this organization was started many, many, many years ago.

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And it basically, when it was first started it, it kind of was an organization that kind of helped overseas Chinese as they first migrated into America. There is a big

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uh, well, you know, it's a big cultural shock when someone from China comes here to America. And so the Chinese American Citizens Alliance tried to help Chinese as they made their way here, and

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then organization still is strong today. In that it, some of the causes that it will help would be things like hate crimes against Chinese.

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If they if someone in a leadership position says something in a negative way towards Chinese or Asians. It's an organization that that will represent Chinese as a whole and

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just say “we weren't pleased with that statement that was made.” So it's good that there are organizations like that. Yeah. Have you been involved in that organizations or?

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I'm a member. Yes, I'm a member. I haven't helped held a leadership position in organization, but I know the leadership. They are very fine people.

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And so and I support that organization financially too. That's good to hear. And really engaging any like response to the outbreak after? Yeah. After the pandemic?

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Have I personally responded for for? I mean, in response, do anything, in response to the outbreak, I mean, like community service or? Right. Yes.

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I, personally have not done any community service towards that. I do do community service. Our church has a group of men that I'm involved

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with, and it's called Men: Serve, and a once a quarter, about 250 men will get together on a Saturday and will help the widows, widows of the church. And sometimes there's just small

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things that need to be done like grass needs to be cut or bushes need to be trimmed or lightbulbs and air conditioning filters need to be changed out that they can't reach or, or a bathroom needs to be painted.

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We get together, and we go out and we help the widows of the church and, and they are very appreciative of it. The men that participate are more, I feel like we get more of a blessing than they do.

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So that's something that that I like to participate in. That's wonderful. What do you think like the future of Houston community will look like? I think that--Kelly, how long have you been in Houston?

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Only like four months. I mean, I've been at here at Rice for a year, but I went back to China during holidays. Well, the reason why I was asking was because if you had been here for two years, then

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you lived through Hurricane Harvey. You weren't here. Okay. Well, Hurricane Harvey covered the city in water. I don't know if you saw the pictures, but the, the

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bayous the streets. I mean, they had to have helicopters rescuing people. And when they rescued the people, they would put them, they would drop them down on the freeway, because

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that was the point where there was no water. It was devastating. And when you looked at all those pictures and saw how terrible and how devastating that was.

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Water just, it just rained non-stop. And there were high winds, things were damaged. I mean, it looked like, Houston look like a warzone.

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It looked devastated. And we've come back, you know, we've come back in in a positive way. I mean, if you were to look, you would not believe how terrible Houston was, was, was hit with Hurricane

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Harvey. So I feel like the same thing, that, that, that Houston is very resilient. We have people that will, will work hard. And, and, and truly the

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backbone of this country are small businesses like myself. And I think that as long as the small-- and it's wonderful that that the government has the PPP program to help,

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to help small businesses get back on their feet. It's been a very positive thing. So looking at that long term basis, I think we'll be, I think we'll be fine right now.

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It's, it's not good. But I'm, I'm an optimist. I'm very optimistic about that. Yeah, so my last question is, if there are any positive lessons

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learned out of this pandemic, in your opinion, what are the important ones? Um, I think that… I'm not saying that we need to lower our expectations on success.

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But I think, you know, what I've learned is just to be happy in any circumstance, because the-- life is going to throw you curveballs all the time. And, and in between this isn't such a terrible thing, when

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we get out of it, we're going to be able to all rejoice and just be so much happier when this is behind us. And, and I think that we can, I think, I think the first responders, the doctors, I think everybody can really learn from this.

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I really appreciate how everybody has, has, has taken a very proactive action towards this and, and, and, and, and, and we're,

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we're always gathering information all the time. And, and so we're learning all the time. Okay. Okay. That's great.

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Um, yeah, I think there's all my questions for today. Is there anything else you'd like to add at the end? Well, I certainly do appreciate the opportunity to,

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I guess to, to vent and, and share and, and I think this is going to be really kind of exciting since you know there's going to be I think 100 participants in this.

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So you’ll have a lot of good, you know a lot of inquiry to do, and you’re going to have lot of time to do it. And it's appreciated that that and I hope to, to, to participate in that. Okay.

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Okay. That's great. Thank you so much for today. Thank you so much for your time. All right, Kelly. Thank you. Bye-bye.