- Title
- Andy Lin oral history interview reflecting on Covid-19 pandemic
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- Identifier
- wrc15839
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- Date
- May 11 2020
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- People and Organizations
- ["Shi, Ann (interviewer)","Lin, Andy"]
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- Subject
- ["Asian Americans"]
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- Abstract
- This recording form part of a collection of oral history interviews conducted by the Chao Center for Asian Studies at Rice University. This collection includes recordings of interviews with Asian Americans native to or living in Houston.
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- Description
- Andy Lin, an active performing violist and erhu virtuoso, who was previously interviewed by HAAA in Feb 2020, was invited back to speak about his experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how he was impacted. He also discussed the outlook and the future of the music performance industry, as well as opinions on the anti-Asian wave at the start of the pandemic.
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- Location
- ["Texas--Houston"]
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- Source
- Houston Asian American Archives oral history interviews, MS 573, Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University
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- Rights
- ["The copyright holder for this material has granted Rice University permission to share this material online. It is being made available for non-profit educational use. Permission to examine physical and digital collection items does not imply permission for publication. Fondren Library’s Woodson Research Center / Special Collections has made these materials available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any uses beyond the spirit of Fair Use require permission from owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns. See http://library.rice.edu/guides/publishing-wrc-materials"]
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- Format
- ["Video"]
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- Format Genre
- ["oral histories"]
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- Time Span
- ["2020s"]
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- Repository
- ["Special Collections"]
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- Special Collections
- ["Houston Asian American Archive","Houston and Texas History"]
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Andy Lin oral history interview reflecting on Covid-19 pandemic
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00:00:11.490 - 00:00:24.350
Today is May 11 2020 and we're here with Andy Lin, our New York member of the Houston Asian American Archive. Thank you so much for your time in the COVID-19 to contribute your voice
00:00:24.350 - 00:00:39.390
regarding your stories during this very special time of history. How are you doing? I'm doing well in New York, actually. I know a lot of people think New York City's not doing so
00:00:39.390 - 00:00:53.010
well, but it really depends on where you are. Some places might feel a lot safer than people think. I see. And how about the streets? Are you seeing people on the streets?
00:00:53.870 - 00:01:09.490
Well actually, because the weather is warming up, so people start to come out. I always joke a little bit like New York people aren't— it's not like people don't– people don't care or afraid of the coronavirus;
00:01:11.060 - 00:01:28.310
but in Manhattan especially, there aren't as many cases. So people here, we don't feel as dangerous as places like Flushing, Queens, Bronx or Brooklyn. And so we're around Times Square a few weeks ago,
00:01:28.870 - 00:01:44.740
and we still don't see people on the street. But I realized when the weather warms up, or someone come out to go to Central Park to walk around. It feels like people can come up because, basically, there was
00:01:44.820 - 00:01:58.430
nothing to do. Restaurants were closed. There's no activities, like all the concert halls are closed as well. So people just decided to stay home. But I know last week— last weekend.
00:01:58.790 - 00:02:11.920
The weather was in the 70s, so I went out to Central Park to walk around and see thousands of people. They weren't gathering but they were just, you know, exercising, and just you know, try to enjoy the
00:02:11.920 - 00:02:24.560
sunshine. Yea definitely. It's a strange spring... It is strange, because I see on the news every day like how many people, how many cases are in New
00:02:24.560 - 00:02:37.300
York and how many died from COVID-19 and I feel really sad. But the same time when I go out, it feels like a different world, for some reason. Yeah, that's a real reality.
00:02:37.300 - 00:02:54.890
And how has your life changed like what do you notice yourself doing more, or doing less? Well I'm definitely, I'm cooking a lot more at home. And I used to go out a lot because my— for my
00:02:54.890 - 00:03:09.530
personality I like to, to do things, to go out, to see people, to hang out, to do some work, even to go to a coffee shop to work. And, but there is nothing— nothing's open and everything's canceled.
00:03:10.220 - 00:03:21.850
As an active performer, it becomes very difficult for us because I know all the concert—at least for me—all the concerts are canceled throughout the summer.
00:03:22.720 - 00:03:40.060
I know Lincoln Center, they closed. And they cancelled all the concerts until September. And Lincoln Center was supposed to reopen in mid May— around this time. But it also has been postponed to— I don't even know they
00:03:40.130 - 00:03:53.410
know when it is either. And all the Broadway shows are closed, till the summer as well. So for, for active performers, we basically have no work besides teaching.
00:03:53.880 - 00:04:10.620
Because we can teach virtually, and so the students are always urged to continue practicing and taking lessons. But besides those things, I try to, you know, I try to find things to do.
00:04:11.220 - 00:04:28.090
So I run a music society, called the New Asia Chamber Music Society, and we started this music-on-air project, where we invite all the musicians— like everyday we'll have a different artist or musician to perform
00:04:28.370 - 00:04:42.220
about 10 to 15 minutes of work, and they like. So during the quarantine time people are staying at home, there's nothing to do besides you know taking care of the kids, or just to go, you know
00:04:42.270 - 00:04:55.360
to get online and find things to do. So we try to bring the music to people every evening at 9pm. And it has been going on since March 17.
00:04:56.160 - 00:05:07.740
So, we did over, I would say, over 50 online streaming concert already. And we are planning on doing until to whenever the quarantine is over.
00:05:08.750 - 00:05:22.790
And this is just a way for us to, to have something to look forward to every day, and also for people to have, "Oh, tonight 9pm, we go on Facebook, and you see online streaming of people performing".
00:05:23.590 - 00:05:37.840
And also for an artistic director for New Asia CMS, and this is just a way for us to support musicians, because it's not a lot but we do pay musicians to do online streamings.
00:05:40.340 - 00:05:56.110
Right. And, and, besides music stuff, I'm also associated with many different organizations. For example, the, this one called STUF, United Fund, it's S-T-U-F.
00:05:56.680 - 00:06:13.780
And it's a 501 nonprofit charitable organization, and they got a lot of donations, in order for organization to, to donate masks around the United States. So in
00:06:13.780 - 00:06:32.150
New York, I got around 4000 surgical masks where I can bring to medical centers or hospitals to support everyone needs it. So for me, I think it's a meaningful thing to do, especially,
00:06:32.670 - 00:06:46.390
I know from Taiwan, I know Taiwan people, we have a lot of sources, and we want to help the world. So we have a lot of masks,
00:06:46.390 - 00:06:59.520
coming from Taiwan, or even from China to the United States where we can support our people who needs it here. And what else have I been doing? Oh, of course.
00:07:00.430 - 00:07:15.070
So for me food is— I'm such a foodie. I know grocery shopping has been very difficult for a lot of my friends and people in New York City. Especially people usually, you know, you go out, you go to supermarket to buy food;
00:07:15.410 - 00:07:26.860
or you have to take subways, to go to Chinatown, to get say, dumplings, to get Chinese– Chinese groceries that you want. So I decided, since
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it's difficult for everyone, so I found a farm in New Jersey, as well as some restaurants that remains open during the quarantine time. So, we do basically delivery, grocery delivery service
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for, for people in New York City. So every week we gather— I would say— over 100 orders. And so we brought all the food to
00:07:57.460 - 00:08:13.180
a certain place, and we deliver from there to all the homes. And we have things like, cabbage, onions; we have pork, beef like all kinds of groceries that you can think of.
00:08:14.040 - 00:08:30.480
And then we have real processed food, or cooked food like ramen or dumplings, Chinese sausage. And even now we just got Kimchi and lots of buns, like frozen ones.
00:08:30.480 - 00:08:46.950
So we can deliver to home so they have enough food to eat throughout the week. So we do that once a week, and we're thinking about continue doing it, even after the quarantine time. Wow, sounds like you've been keeping really busy, and you've been...
00:08:47.180 - 00:09:01.530
I've been more busy than I thought. Which is good because, you know, being quarantined at home, people start to get creative. And you start doing things that you normally don't; and, or you start
00:09:01.530 - 00:09:15.700
doing things that you wanted to but you never had a chance to. They want to spend more time with their kids, but they have to go to work every day. So it's a great time for them to spend time with, with their family.
00:09:16.760 - 00:09:33.040
And for me, just a good time for me to sit down and think, what do I want to do? What else I can do? Not just for myself but also for people around me. Wow, sounds great. So, this has been a time of reflection for
00:09:33.230 - 00:09:45.620
you as well? I think for, yeah for me and for people, especially living in New York, you know like, your life is always so busy, so hectic. You have so, like 10 or 15 things to do a day.
00:09:46.540 - 00:10:02.600
And you stop thinking, what's really, what's really affecting your life. And what you can actually do to your life, or for your life, and for people. And I think for many New Yorkers, it's just a great time to have—
00:10:03.160 - 00:10:17.160
yeah I think "reflection" is a good word— to stay home to, to rethink and to create. And we don't know what's gonna happen after a few months because at least I know for musicians, for us
00:10:17.420 - 00:10:31.200
as performers, we probably won't have any opportunities for not a while. So I think it's also important for us to think about how we can deliver music and art to people in a
00:10:31.230 - 00:10:46.540
different form. And that's why you go online these days you see so many online streaming concerts. And I know, I even know my neighbor who's a trumpet player, he would open the window every single night around like
00:10:46.540 - 00:10:59.050
7pm, just to play for like five minutes; then people arond here will cheer for him. Yeah, just many many different ways to, to go through this difficult time.
00:10:59.050 - 00:11:16.830
Do you think any of these, um, new creative ways of communicating will become a new normal? It's very possible, especially, um, I think people are so used to, you know, getting your groceries and
00:11:16.950 - 00:11:30.580
food delivered to your home. And even at the quarantine time, people partly take this as, as a, as an option. Right, like you don't always need to go travel from
00:11:30.640 - 00:11:45.860
Manhattan to Flushing, which is, which is almost an hour away to get, like, like dumplings; when you can be delivered to you every— you know every week. And even, even music or— I wouldn't
00:11:46.310 - 00:12:00.050
say for artists— I think for normal people who work at companies, at offices. I think a lot of the people who realize that working at home is not such a bad idea.
00:12:00.740 - 00:12:16.460
So there will be more and more people working from home, where they can spend time with your family. I think we should just always think positively. Definitely, yeah. And how about for musicians because you're a performer;
00:12:18.870 - 00:12:34.280
see this development of live streaming with all these 5G, like technology developments, are we going to keep live streaming, instead of having offline performances?
00:12:35.340 - 00:12:50.990
Well, I think if we had a choice, performing on stage and live, for people I think it's always better and less streaming. Just because you feel more fulfilled by you feel people sitting there, cheering for you.
00:12:51.570 - 00:13:08.460
You feel people breathing, or reacting to what you do; where you know through online streaming, you're facing an iPad or an iPhone, computer where you don't feel about, this machine is reacting to what you
00:13:08.530 - 00:13:21.770
do. But we always craving to perform for people. And that's why these streaming, live streamings are going on. Even though a lot of the live streaming, there is no— we don't get paid for it.
00:13:22.890 - 00:13:37.520
But it's just for us to share music because when we are sitting at home practicing. And it's not just for ourselves. It's also for people who share what we passion, what our passion is as well.
00:13:37.520 - 00:13:52.340
Yeah, we definitely miss your playing from February for our concert sponsored by Rice University. Yeah, your virtuoso skills definitely brought so much joy to the Houston community.
00:13:53.130 - 00:14:04.130
Thank you so much! It was a great time for me to be there. Feels like a long time ago although... Wait, wasn't that? It was two month ago.
00:14:04.260 - 00:14:17.810
Right? Time actually flies during the quarantine time. You wake up, you're thinking, "Oh, what to cook today? What else can I do today? To make a, make this a fun
00:14:17.810 - 00:14:32.730
day to live? And, or you want to be productive in many ways. Yeah. So during this quarantine time, how have your relationships with your
00:14:32.730 - 00:14:46.740
loved ones, like your family or your roommates, like how has it changed? Oh this is interesting because quarantine time happened just right after I moved out by myself. So I
00:14:46.740 - 00:15:00.920
used to live with my sister and two other roommates. But now we're all on our own. But the same time, my mom is also visiting from Taiwan, so she has been staying with me for the past month or two.
00:15:01.630 - 00:15:17.460
And I guess I haven't spent that much time with my mom's ever since I came to study abroad in 1997. So it's a great time for me to get to know my mom more and letting her know what I've been doing.
00:15:18.160 - 00:15:35.580
Guess what, I'm no longer a kid. Because every time when I visit Taiwan or she come visit, it's only like a week or two. And we never got to know each other's life so well. So it has been very loving
00:15:35.650 - 00:15:50.670
and interesting time actually. And, and even people, because it was online streaming concert; so people also find, "Oh, we can also do online party." So, almost every night or
00:15:50.820 - 00:16:08.550
every other night, I'll go online to, you know, ask some friends to, "Hey let's chat, and let's have a drink!" through, you know, through zoom or through Skype, through Facebook. And it has been very fun because then you stop having to
00:16:08.550 - 00:16:21.530
travel to places, or you can actually do that anytime you want in the day. So we actually get to hang out, get to talk to many of my friends for a lot of the times.
00:16:22.770 - 00:16:41.670
Yeah, sounds lovely. Yeah, we know you also, in addition to your performance role, you're an advocate for many of your musician friends. How would you like the kind of system to...
00:16:42.830 - 00:17:00.570
or how do you foresee the system of the artist and like entertainment or the musician industry change in the future? That's a very tough question and I don't, I don't think I have a good answer for you.
00:17:02.220 - 00:17:18.310
Because even for myself, I'm also thinking, maybe performing is not the only thing that I should do my life. I think these days for artists, or especially musicians, you not only need to play well.
00:17:18.790 - 00:17:31.790
You need to know how to market yourself. So I know these days a lot of people are making recordings, they have been doing a lot of projects that they normally don't have time to do because they are busy rehearsing, performing and
00:17:31.790 - 00:17:54.220
traveling. So I think, online things, online performing, and also recordings; different things on the internet, will become a new trend for a lot of the musicians especially. Because we know, even after quarantine is
00:17:54.220 - 00:18:09.080
over, people are probably gonna be hesitant to go to the concert halls to watch a concert. And so, I'm sure for a live concert is gonna be a while for it to happen.
00:18:10.980 - 00:18:28.080
Um, so it's a great time I think for us to think about what else we can do to bring the music to everyone. In a way I think it's probably a positive thing that we start thinking about that, because it has been difficult
00:18:29.910 - 00:18:45.430
for us to bring people to concert halls to listen to concerts. Because people either don't have time, or they don't want to spend the money, or it's not their priority to do. But now if everything becomes very easy
00:18:45.650 - 00:19:04.260
accessible. Then it's a good time for us to share and to tell people, "oh, music or art is something that you can get every single day, and becomes a very important thing in your life." And I think that's probably
00:19:05.140 - 00:19:18.260
a great time for us right now to– to start working on that. Yeah, definitely. Like, I see a lot of the roles of the musicians that have been... like on
00:19:18.260 - 00:19:30.340
Facebook or any of the have so many people like yourself bringing live music and creativity to people which has felt as much as before.
00:19:31.240 - 00:19:43.840
So thank you for... Of course. I know a lot of my friends are so bored staying at home after working. They'll be like, "Um, what else can I do?" So they go online to find things to do as activities. And that's how they
00:19:44.370 - 00:19:56.400
encounter a lot of different performances, different artists. You start seeing people sharing, "Oh," they found, "this online performance sounds so good!" They start sharing, when they normal– normally don't really go into concert halls.
00:19:57.800 - 00:20:14.540
I think, I think it's great. In a way, the COVID has brought us a little closer together in certain aspects. Well, on the other end, we have been reading a lot about the xenophobia and anti-Asian
00:20:15.810 - 00:20:29.960
American incidents. Have you personally experienced anything like that? I haven't, at least I haven't actually in my time in New York at all.
00:20:30.530 - 00:20:48.300
Um, I think, I mean racism or anything is always there. But it's about how you present yourself on the streets, when you walk. You always encounter people who are— there's hatred in their life;
00:20:48.590 - 00:21:03.520
not only to Asians, not only to Black people, or any other race. But those people who are negative about their life about... I think if you always
00:21:03.520 - 00:21:16.300
show the positive side by yourself, it's less likely that you will encounter those things happen to you, especially in, in New York. And, yeah.
00:21:19.720 - 00:21:32.680
That's great. Yeah, it's definitely about us, not only about the other people. You don't know how they grew up, you don't know their environment. And the only way you can
00:21:32.680 - 00:21:51.370
protect yourself is to not be afraid. Definitely. So have you experienced any stress or anxiety during the quarantine? Well, yes, in the beginning, when I'm not having to
00:21:51.370 - 00:22:05.040
perform. I feel like, "oh, stress free!" Because you know you have nothing to worry about the next day. You wake up, you're like, "Eh, I can practice a little bit or I can do something else." Since there's no concerts coming up.
00:22:05.590 - 00:22:21.360
But after a week, from an active performer to not performing at all staying at home, it starts to build stress. Because for musicians, artists,
00:22:23.000 - 00:22:42.060
creating, performing is a way for us to release our stress, to release the passion that's in ourselves. So when that's building up in– in my head, in my heart, you really crave to go out to do something.
00:22:43.980 - 00:22:53.580
So, it happened for— I think it last for about– about a couple of weeks, when I feel the stress I cannot perform. I don't know what I can do.
00:22:54.040 - 00:23:09.180
And of course, income is also a factor. And it's good that the government has, has the unemployment insurance, and those are great for artists.
00:23:09.420 - 00:23:23.370
So it helps. But it also helps not to go out to eat, to hang out. And that saves a lot of money as well at the same time. For sure. And, on the bigger picture,
00:23:23.370 - 00:23:39.350
how would you see this pandemic has revealed about the social structure? For example you're seeing the people who are less privileged being more impacted in this pandemic. And how has it revealed about our society
00:23:40.400 - 00:23:59.370
in general? Hmm.. Ok. It's a very difficult question to answer. Hmm. Well, this pandemic, people start to think,
00:23:59.370 - 00:24:18.420
or I start to think, all lives are equal. Because if you, if you get affected, then, it's either you're healthy or not, or anything can happen any day. Because we are living through a history.
00:24:19.430 - 00:24:32.590
And I think everyone will just need to stay strong and go through this together. Because if anyone, any community thinks this is not a big issue, then this COVID-19 will never end.
00:24:34.690 - 00:24:54.950
And for the social structure, of course, people with low income they have less resources, like they have the resources to get mask, to get help to even buy food. But now, because of this, a lot of charities, a lot of
00:24:55.040 - 00:25:12.330
organizations they start to gather people, gather donations to help those people who really need it. So you still see a lot of love, especially on the internet, people, people always say, "Let's do
00:25:12.330 - 00:25:28.370
this together. Let's donate this much money to this community, to this Medical Center." So I try to see a positive side that raised people's, raise people's, um...
00:25:28.370 - 00:25:41.610
What's the word? Raise people's... um, people's good heart, where people... Because we– we see so many negative things online, so we all try to share the positive thing.
00:25:43.120 - 00:26:00.700
What we can do to provide the world a better place to live. Yeah, definitely. That's great to hear your perspectives and be able to see through you about the things going on in New York and the way people
00:26:01.380 - 00:26:13.580
are sharing... I think I might be a little luckier just because I live in Manhattan. But I know a lot of people, a lot of places are a disaster.
00:26:14.010 - 00:26:28.810
So I really hope there are more things I can do, or everyone can do to help us to get better. Yeah, thank you, for– from those people in need, like the masks and the grocery shopping.
00:26:29.530 - 00:26:46.300
I'm sure those are tremendous for the society in general. We're just doing the best we can do. Is there anything else you'd like to share with us? Well, I just think wearing masks is very important.
00:26:47.040 - 00:27:03.650
Even after the quarantine is over, since it's gonna go around for– for quite a while, especially with the flu, that's coming up in the fall, like all those things. I think keeping yourself healthy, is a great way to keep everything
00:27:04.260 - 00:27:18.750
else safe and everyone else healthy too. Yeah I hope we get through this and we'll be able to see performers like you and your fellow musicians, be able to play live
00:27:21.360 - 00:27:37.790
in... I'm sure people will treasure it more when we can start doing live concerts; not just musicians, but also for audience, to be able to go see a live concert. I'm sure people are looking forward to, to happen
00:27:38.420 - 00:27:51.800
again. Yeah, most definitely. That's the end of my questions and thank you so much! And I hope your mother and your sister are doing well in New York.
00:27:52.640 - 00:27:58.630
And thank you on behalf of the Houston Asian American Archive. Thank you so much, Ann. Thank you.