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Interview with Allison Diamond
Interviewer: Taylor Trivino; Brooke Greer
Date of Interview: 5-2-2021
Allison Diamond is an African American woman who grew up in New Jersey and Ohio. Beginning in high school, she engaged in various volunteer work such as helping immigrants settle in Cleveland as well as providing meals to the unhoused. Expected to go to college since she was a child, she obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degree from Clinton State University (CSU) in Ohio. She moved to Nevada to pursue a doctoral degree in sociology at University of Nevada Las Vegas where learned how to converse and challenge ideas with other academics. The recession disrupted her studies and graduate school had put her in huge debt. When COVID-19 emerged, Diamond returned to her volunteer and sewing roots as a Sewing Auntie for the Auntie Sewing Squad.
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Interview with Colette Drouillard
Interviewer: Evelyn Paez; Eunice Sosa
Date of Interview: 11-20-2020
Colette L Drouillard grew up in Michigan and later lived in various places, including Boston, Tallahassee, and London. She received her PhD in Library Science and is now an Associate Professor in the state of Georgia. During the pandemic, she moved to Michigan to care for her mother and joined the Auntie Sewing Squad to help others.
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Interview with Emily Duffy
Interviewer: Zehunna Szestowicki
Date of Interview: 11-27-2020
Emily Duffy is a practicing Pagan woman of Jewish descent, currently living in northern California. Her work in the fashion industry has taken her to LA and San Francisco, but is content living out her later years outside the big cities. FIDM taught her how to sew with industrial techniques, which has heavily influenced her mask-making processes. Aside from her work as a professional fine artist--creating sociopolitically significant work--Duffy finds fulfillment in activist work too. From starting an abortion rights club at Cal, contributing to the Howard Dean campaign, and now sewing masks and organizing "asks" with the Auntie Sewing Squad, Duffy is a poster-Auntie; treating all life with respect and equity.
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Interview with Camille Edwards Bennehoff
Interviewer: Annie Jones; Britney Ortiz
Date of Interview: 5-5-2021
Camille Edwards Bennehoff is a tax lawyer and works in an advisory capacity for the federal government. She lives in Maryland with her husband, cat Oscar, and dog Ziggy. She hand-sewed since childhood, started making masks for family and friends at the start of the pandemic, and joined the Auntie Sewing Squad in July of 2020.
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Interview with Judith Evind
Interviewer: Gina Dashiell; Estrella McDaniel
Date of Interview: 11-17-2020
Judith Evind was born in 1958 and raised in San Francisco CA. Her grandparents migrated from Ireland and Norway. Growing up, she was involved in different organizations from girl scouts to Anti-War marches. She was a dressmaker for 17 years after obtaining her college degree and now works in immunology.
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Interview with Reggie Gazes
Interviewer: Mariana E. Jiménez; Kelly Rivas
Date of Interview: 5-3-2021
Reggie Gazes grew up in New York and now resides in Pennsylvania. Raised by her Italian and Irish family as a catholic, she converted to Judaism as an adult. She graduated from Bucknell University studying Animal Behavior and is now a professor and scientist running the Primate Lab. Gazes made masks for her friends and family before she discovered the Auntie Sewing Squad, where she sews and sends face masks for marginalized, low-income, and people in need.
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Interview with Cristina Gonzalez
Interviewer: Adamaris Cruz Santiago; Rudy M. Soto
Date of Interview: 11-20-2020
Cristina Gonzalez originally is from California, more specifically from West Los Angeles, however, she currently resides in Virginia along with her husband, who together have five children. Gonzalez has had the opportunity to work as an Archeologist and Historian, due to her degrees in Archaeology and Anthropology. There she took part in an Oral History study centered around African Americans living in Downtown San Diego. She currently runs her own business alongside her husband and navigates homeschooling for her children. Cristina joined the Auntie Sewing Squad because of her disappointment in the U.S. government's failure to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, Gonzalez holds the role of a “sewist” on the Auntie Sewing Squad.
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Interview with Yessica Gonzalez Rodriguez
Interviewer: Charles Scrivner; Peyton Huck
Date of Interview: 12-10-2020
Born in Nayarit, Mexico, Yessica Gonzalez is a queer, immigrant organizer who serves as a consultant for the TransLatin@ Coalition and a sewer for the Auntie Sewing Squad. Growing up in a low-income household, sewing served as a creative outlet for Yessica to self-determine their gender expression and navigate their teenage years. This skill would ultimately serve Yessica well in the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, during which Yessica now sews masks for underprivileged communities as part of the Auntie Sewing Squad.
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Interview with Theresa Hatathlie-Delmar
Interviewer: Ash Appleby; Kayla Hamilton
Date of Interview: 12-8-2021
Theresa Hatathlie-Delmar is a member of the Navajo nation, who belongs to the Deer Springs and Salt Clans. She is a co-founder of the grassroots organization Yee Ha’ólníi Doo DBA and a collaborator with the Auntie Sewing Squad. Learning to sew and weave from her parents, Hatathlie-Delmar organized to provide masks, food, water and medical supplies to Navajo and Hopi reservations during COVID-19 pandemic.
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Interview with Lisa Hennig
Interviewer: Tylia Brewster; Sarah Shaw
Date of Interview: 12-1-2021
Lisa Hennig was born and raised into a middle class white family in Washington state and from a young age she was taught to be inclusive of other ethnic groups and learn about many different cultures. She married, had children, and worked in a law office advocating for rights for individuals with disabilities. She made masks and donated to her local community center before she joined the Auntie Sewing Squad in January of 2021. Since joining, she has made 1,500+ masks and sent them to communities all over the United States with little access to masks.
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Interview with Judy Heyboer
Interviewer: Clarissa Perez; Johnnie Urquidi
Date of Interview: 11-21-2020
Judy Heyboer was born in Southern California and had very active liberal parents which led to her involvement in politics and activism. She is a public school teacher of 30 years. As a bilingual elementary teacher, she has taught transitional kindergarten through third grade and is now teaching special ed. She first became involved with sewing and mutual aid when she joined Afghans for Afghans, which made warm winter clothing and blankets for people in Afghanistan. In the Auntie Sewing Squad, Judy sews masks.
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Interview with Sandra Hise
Interviewer: Caitlyn Vieira; Leila Henderson
Date of Interview: 11-20-2020
Sandra Hise is one of the original Auntie’s in the Auntie Sewing Squad. She’s done all sorts of work from being a Sewing and Care Auntie. She’s sewn, ran errands, shared materials, as well as provided support and tutelage to the new members. She is a retired high school English and Media Arts teacher from the Los Angeles Unified School District. She grew up in Los Angeles, California but made many trips back to the South to visit her family. It was in her teens that her mistrust for organized religion and zeal for social justice was born, as she lived through the radical and social unrest of the 1960s. Mutual aid and helping others is nothing new to Sandra Hise, so joining the Auntie Sewing Squad was a perfect fit.
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Interview with Meloney Holguin Quady
Interviewer: Elizbeth Ceja; Liz Cruz
Date of Interview: 5-12-2021
Meloney Holguin Quady identifies as Mexican and Filipina and grew up as an army brat. She graduated from University of California Santa Cruz with a Bachelors in Studio Art and then went to Vermont College and received an MFA in Fine Arts. She now lives in southern Oregon and has a vineyard and winery with her family that she has been building since 2005. She joined the Auntie Sewing Squad in April of 2020.
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Interview with Mai-Linh Hong
Interviewer: Edna Ruiz; Lucia Neal
Date of Interview: 5-4-2021
Mai-Linh Hong is a Vietnamese American woman, she was born in Vietnam and grew up near Washington D.C. Hong is an author, editor, and Assistant Professor of Literature at UC Merced. Prior to joining the Auntie Sewing Squad, she ran an Etsy shop and its proceeds went to anti-racist and feminist organizations. As an Auntie, she actively donates masks but is also currently co-editing the Auntie Sewing Squad’s new book.
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Interview with Aisha Ikramuddin
Interviewer: Lindsay Newey; Yasmin Ahmad
Date of Interview: 5-3-2021
Aisha Ikramuddin is a former environmental health educator who has participated in anti-racist and environmental activism since her college years. She is an Indian Muslim, raised in eastern Washington, and also identifies as a lesbian, married to her wife of 20 years. She is a Sewing Auntie in the Auntie Sewing Squad and also volunteers locally to assist people in making appointments to receive their COVID-19 vaccine.
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