-So, it's been one week since I was laid off.
-We're on furlough as of Monday.
-I've been furloughed for a few days now.
-My first thought is going, like,
"I don't even know where to start."
-You go from feeling really secure to really thinking about,
"Oh, how I am gonna make rent this month?"
-There's no new paycheck coming in for the next month's bills,
and the bills aren't gonna stop coming in.
-It seems like everything that was starting to look up for me
and my family
drastically changed within one day with this pandemic.
I've been in prison for a lot of years of my life
and been homeless for 2 1/2 years in New York.
Caesars Entertainment was the first place
that actually had given me a chance to gain employment.
And I was supposed to start Tuesday --
the next following Tuesday,
which was the 16th or the 17th of March.
And everything shut down.
-Since last month, I started losing my hours
because our ratio at the daycare dramatically dropped
with the new coronavirus and stuff.
So, a lot of parents
were not bringing their kids in and stuff,
so a lot of teachers were losing their hours.
And two weeks ago --
Almost about three weeks ago, my boss e-mailed us
that he is shutting the daycare down because of the new CDC law.
So a lot of teachers, including myself,
we do not have jobs at this point right now.
-We would spend Tuesday through Thursday morning
rehearsing for the concerts on Thursday night
through Saturday night.
So, I mean, our lives are four or five rehearsals,
three or four concerts a week.
And we're doing nothing.
Sometimes I'm like, "I don't know what's going on.
I just don't know what's going on.
Maybe Starbucks is hiring after this."
-It took me five hours to file my claim
that should have taken about 25 minutes.
It may not load, but it might.
But it's been taking about six to eight tries
to get them to load.
We'll continue.
Okay. Sorry.
I have to sign in again.
For now, North Carolina has denied my unemployment claim
for reasons I don't know yet.
$0. Wages -- $0.
Benefit amount -- $0.
I am trying not to just be sad, but it's scary and stressful,
because you don't know how long you're gonna be able
to pay your rent or buy groceries.
And right now, my mom lives with me
because she needs a hip replacement.
[voice breaking] So it's super-stressful.
-So, they're not giving me anything.
The state not giving me anything.
Nobody giving us anything.
We're struggling. There's nowhere to turn to.
Backed up in rent.
Cable bill, phone bill -- We're backed up in everything.
-I am seven days late on rent.
But it doesn't feel good.
For someone who likes to be on time with things and
for someone who's usually pretty on top of this stuff,
to have moments like this
where that's not able to be done is unfortunate.
So, in reality, though, I mean,
I have another month's worth of money until I hit zero.
-It's kind of new and very scary.
And we're all struggling to figure out what that even means,
because in the orchestra world, this just never happens.
[violin playing]
I practice when I can wrap my head around it.
It's hard enough to practice.
It's hard enough to get that focus.
So, we're not furloughed any longer,
although we're still not working.
And we're gonna have some pretty significant pay cuts,
but at least there's some certainty at least
for a little while.
And we're all really hoping that we can just get back to work
and get back to playing.
-I do really miss waking up in the morning
and kind of having a set list of tasks
that I know I need to get through.
In the meantime, I have been applying to a lot of jobs,
kind of going back to my educational background,
which is more towards medicine and medical research.
-I'm looking for opportunities just to do some freelance work
where I can if I can borrow equipment here and there.
-I'm doing stuff kind of, like, on the side.
I started taking online spin-instructor classes
so that I can get my certification
by the end of the year,
which was one of my goals anyways.
So, now I have the time to do it.
-I always try to look at the positive.
I'm a very optimistic person.
And so I'm happy that I get to be home with my son.
I look at this --
I keep calling it, like, a second maternity leave.
Like, time for me to spend some extra time with him.
You just have to find
some sort of way to be positive through this whole thing.
-Hopefully we all hang in there, stay safe,
and we all come out of this soon,
and it's just another moment in the history to remember.