{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/cf9j38ng01/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Aoki, Kia"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/548/original/OHA_Mark_2.0_Transp._copy.png?1752767076","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Narrator(s)"]},"value":{"en":["Kia Aoki (Full Name)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Narrator Pronouns"]},"value":{"en":["she/her"]}},{"label":{"en":["Interview Summary"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eKia recounts her somewhat idyllic childhood growing up on Long Island, NY. After college and establishing her career, she marries and has 2 children. Her life changes drastically when gentrification came to her neighborhood, and she and her husband divorce. Many difficult years of homelessness, loss of family members, 9/11 and depression follow. Kia was able to stabilize herself and her sons in public housing in Massachusetts where she experiences a decade long journey of healing. She is now actively involved in bettering her community and breaking down stigmas around being low income.\u003c/p\u003e (summary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Public Housing Affiliation"]},"value":{"en":["Current Resident"]}},{"label":{"en":["Public Housing Locations"]},"value":{"en":["Hampshire Heights (Mount Holyoke MA)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Content Warnings"]},"value":{"en":["COVID-19","Death","Demolition and/or Displacement","Gentrification","Houselessness"]}},{"label":{"en":["Themes/Topics"]},"value":{"en":["Community (Overarching)","Displacement","Empowerment","Health and/or Illness and/or Disability","Mental Health","Loss and/or Grief","Neighborhood Changes (incl. Urban Renewal \u0026amp; Gentrification)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Keywords"]},"value":{"en":["miscarriage","9/11","depression","stigmas","Steven \u0026amp; Yugi (Kia's children)","neighbors"]}},{"label":{"en":["Decades Covered"]},"value":{"en":["1990s","2000s","2010s","2020s"]}},{"label":{"en":["Life Dates"]},"value":{"en":["1955 (Birth)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Race/Ethnicity"]},"value":{"en":["White"]}},{"label":{"en":["Interview materials available"]},"value":{"en":["Audio—.wav","Audio—.mp3","Transcript—polished PDF","Finding aid—polished PDF"]}},{"label":{"en":["Oral Historians"]},"value":{"en":["Alexandra Mello (Interviewer)","Alexandra Mello (Post-Production by)","cosmo (Post-Production by)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Interview Date"]},"value":{"en":["2022-10-08 (Recorded)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Method of Interview"]},"value":{"en":["in-person"]}},{"label":{"en":["Recording Location(s)"]},"value":{"en":["Northhampton, Massachusetts (Both)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["english (primary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eEach oral history interview is considered to be co-created, ‘joint work’ among the oral historian, narrator, and, in this case, the National Public Housing Museum.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eNPHM manages the components of copyright (reproduction, distribution, adaption, performance, and display) using Creative Commons Licenses. Most interviews are shared with Attribution and Non-Commercial 4.0 International licenses (CC BY-NC 4.0 Deed), meaning that they can be reproduced, distributed, performed, and displayed for the general public IF the user:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eCredits the co-creators (Attribution), and\u003cbr\u003eDoes not make money from the usage (Non-Commercial). \u003cbr\u003eNarrators also have the option to apply a No-Derivatives License to their interview(s), meaning that the public is forbidden from adapting the work. These works are published under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Deed).\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePlease contact the NPHM Oral History Programs Manager if you are interested in downloading a copy of any of the interview materials (audio file, transcript, or finding aid contents).\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eNote that the final decision about whether to share downloadable copies and whether to allow usage remains with the narrator. \u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Preferred Citation"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eWhen using an interview from the NPHM Oral History Archive, use the narrator's full name the first time you reference them. Use the narrator's \"Refer to As\" name in additional mentions of their name. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePlease use the following formatting when citing the interview in academic settings:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBibliography Example\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePegues, Janetta Sue. Interviewed by Francesco De Salvatore. National Public Housing Museum Oral History Archive, [insert URL], recorded June 18, 2018, accessed June 2, 2024: pp. 10-15.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBibliography Format\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e[NarratorFullName in Last, First Middle order]. Interviewed by [InterviewerFullName in First Middle Last Order]. National Public Housing Museum Oral History Archive, [insert URL], recorded [write out full date of interview], accessed [write out full date of most recent access]: pp. [pages of transcript cited]. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFootnote Example\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eJanetta Sue Pegues, interviewed by Francesco De Salvatore, National Public Housing Museum Oral History Archive, [insert URL], recorded June 18, 2018, accessed June 2, 2024: pp. 10-15. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFootnote Format\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e[NarratorFullName in First Middle Last Order], interviewed by [InterviewerFullName in First Middle Last Order] National Public Housing Museum Oral History Archive, [insert URL], recorded [write out full date of interview], accessed [write out full date of most recent access]: pp. [pages of transcript cited]. \u003c/p\u003e"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eKia recounts her somewhat idyllic childhood growing up on Long Island, NY. After college and establishing her career, she marries and has 2 children. Her life changes drastically when gentrification came to her neighborhood, and she and her husband divorce. Many difficult years of homelessness, loss of family members, 9/11 and depression follow. Kia was able to stabilize herself and her sons in public housing in Massachusetts where she experiences a decade long journey of healing. She is now actively involved in bettering her community and breaking down stigmas around being low income.\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eEach oral history interview is considered to be co-created, \u0026lsquo;joint work\u0026rsquo; among the oral historian, narrator, and, in this case, the National Public Housing Museum.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eNPHM manages the components of copyright (reproduction, distribution, adaption, performance, and display) using Creative Commons Licenses. Most interviews are shared with Attribution and Non-Commercial 4.0 International licenses (CC BY-NC 4.0 Deed), meaning that they can be reproduced, distributed, performed, and displayed for the general public IF the user:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eCredits the co-creators (Attribution), and\u003cbr /\u003eDoes not make money from the usage (Non-Commercial).\u0026nbsp;\u003cbr /\u003eNarrators also have the option to apply a No-Derivatives License to their interview(s), meaning that the public is forbidden from adapting the work. These works are published under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Deed).\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePlease contact the NPHM Oral History Programs Manager if you are interested in downloading a copy of any of the interview materials (audio file, transcript, or finding aid contents).\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eNote that the final decision about whether to share downloadable copies and whether to allow usage remains with the narrator.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["National Public Housing Museum"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["National Public Housing Museum"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/548/original/OHA_Mark_2.0_Transp._copy.png?1752767076","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/300/549/small/Kia_Aoki_Bio_Banner.png?1772219430","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - Aoki__Kia_Interview_Audio_edited_full_2022.10.08_(1).mp3"]},"duration":3028.704,"width":640,"height":40,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/300/549/small/Kia_Aoki_Bio_Banner.png?1772219430","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-nphm.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/300/549/original/Aoki__Kia_Interview_Audio_edited_full_2022.10.08_%281%29.mp3?1770312262","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":3028.704,"width":640,"height":40},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Aoki, Kia_ Interview Transcript_2022.10.08 [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Oral History Interview #1 with \r\nKia Aoki\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nOral History Archive\r\nThe National Public Housing Museum\r\nConducted 2022, Processed 2022–2026\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe following oral history is the result of a recorded interview with Kia Aoki, conducted by Alexandra Mello. This interview was conducted in one session on October 8, 2022, and is part of The National Public Housing Museum’s Oral History Archive. Readers should keep in mind they are reading a transcript of the spoken word, rather than written prose and are encouraged to refer directly to the original audio when possible. Some filler words have been edited out for clarity. The following transcript was created by __ and audit edited by cosmo. The narrator has not yet reviewed and approved this transcript. Readers should also bear in mind that the beliefs, opinions, and/or any offensive language expressed by the Narrator do not represent The National Public Housing Museum.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nNarrator: Kia Aoki (she/her)\r\n\tInterviewer: Alexandra Mello (she/her)\r\n\tDate: October 8, 2022\r\n\tInterview #: 1\r\n\tType of interview: in-person\r\n\tTranscription:\r\nAuto-transcription from Otter\r\nEditor: \r\nAudit Editor: cosmo\r\n\tLocation(s): Northampton, Massachusetts \r\n\tAudio Quality/Interviewer Notes:","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=0.0,2.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: So here we go. This is Alexandra Mello, I am 46 years old. Today is October the 8th, 2022. Kia, please introduce yourself.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2.0,20.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: My name is Kia Aoki. My pronouns are she/her. I'm 67 and I'm recording from Northampton, Massachusetts.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=20.0,31.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: Thank you. So can you tell me, Kia, what public housing communities you have experience in, living in or working? And the years you've had these experiences?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=31.0,49.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki:  Okay, so I had, I had zero experience with public housing until I moved into Hampshire Heights in, around 2004, and I moved there directly from couchsurfing. And I had been staying at the time in Belchertown. And my son Yugi was getting—he was going to Jackson Street, which was right across from Hampshire Heights, but he was living in Belchertown with me and driving him there back and forth everyday was awful, especially in the winter, was awful, because the person I'm staying with lived in this big, big, organic-looking house on a big hill with a lot of land and a lot of hills and, you know, a lot of water at the bottom of the house. It was a beautiful spot, but it was not good for the winter—for living in the winter. So I think what happened was, the principal of my son's school came to me and just asked me, 'So what is happening? Like, why is Yugi is struggling to get to school? And what's happening and what do you need?' So I was explaining that I had come from New York and I was really struggling because I was—I had a lot of PTSD from 9/11, and I had had a really bad experience with the people we were living with, and I needed to get my kids out to be safe, and, you know, it was just like this ongoing, never ending, 'Where am I gonna go? What am I going to do? How do I stay safe?' And so I was staying with a friend, up in Belchertown at that time when she asked me what I needed and I just said to her, 'I need a place to live. I just need a place to live. I need a place, you know, where my kids can feel like they live somewhere,' you know. And so a couple of days later, I got a phone call from Maureen, who was the, I think she was the Property Manager at the time, or the Executive Director at the time. And she said, John Height, who was the Executive Director, said that you needed a place and we have something available in Hampshire Heights. Would you like to see the apartment? And I was like, 'Yes!' I went there. I saw the apartment. I moved in the beginning of the following month. So there was like a two week window and it was pretty amazing. But—and I knew was public housing. And I was worried about asking like—so I asked her I said, 'Well, I don't have any money right now because I've been homeless for you know, for a year and a half.' And she said, 'Well, we don't—you know, this is public housing. We don't require like first and last, you know, we'll just take the month's rent and you'll be fine.' And I'm like, 'Okay!' so, yeah, so we moved into Hampshire Heights in 2004.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=49.0,215.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: So now thinking back a little broader in your life and your experience, how do you define home? What's the first thing you think about when you think about home?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=215.0,227.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Yeah, home feels like where my memories are. You know, like when I think about home, I generally tend to think of my mom and her ability to make everything feel really cozy and comfortable and, you know, just really welcoming and inviting and her personality was like that too. So it just, you know, the way she treated people and the way, like, even when we got sick as kids she would set up this whole thing. She would put a sheet on the couch and give us chicken noodle soup and crackers and put us in front of the TV and get us all kinds of stuff to read. So we didn't have to move and you know. [laughs] Sheets and pillows and blankets and all like cozy stuff, you know, so that's what I think of when I think of home. And I also think of home as a place where you can use your land however you want, you know. When I lived in a home on Long Island, you know, in the 60s—mostly I remember the 60s because that's pretty much when I lived on the island. You know, it was just—we had this nice yard and we had like a stone fire pit in the back. You know—well, it was actually a big fireplace there. We used to do barbecues out there. We can have fires in it. It was really nice. We had fruit trees, we had pear tree, we had an apple tree. We had, you know, a big swing set in the backyard. It was just really a place where I really felt like I could do whatever I wanted in my yard. It was great. And this is kind of the kind of thinking I had, you know, with what a home feels like, you know that you just, you know, you have a space that safe, a place where you can do whatever you want with the land you're on. You can plant whatever you want, you know? Yeah, it was just—the privacy. It was just really nice. So that's what I think of home, Hampshire Heights is not that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=227.0,336.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: Well, you already sort of segwayed right into my next question is, where you grew up and what your life was like as a child? Could you tell me a little bit more about who you grew up with, your siblings, family that was close by and how you were raised?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=336.0,355.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Yeah, so, my parents—so I was born in Brooklyn and my dad worked on Wall Street. So when he started actually making money, he moved us to Long Island in a house. And I had two brothers. My immediate younger brother was also born in Brooklyn with me and then my youngest brother was born on the island and so I grew up with the two of them. My parents stayed married as long as I lived in the house. They got divorced when my brothers was still younger than me, but I had already left home when they got divorced. But we were raised Methodist. We went to Methodist church, we went to church every Sunday. I went to Sunday school. I had, I guess, a reasonable amount of religious training, but not a ton. We lived in a neighborhood with a lot of Catholics and my mom was always kind of weird about that. I don't know why, but maybe being from New England being Protestant from New England was a thing. You know, but yeah, so yes, she always felt a little weird about being surrounded by so many Catholics. But other than that, you know, it was a pretty—it was a nice, comfortable, safe neighborhood like, especially like after school and in the summer. We would be outside the whole time and the cue to come in was the street lights come on, or the ice cream truck comes. You would usually come around dusk and everybody get their ice cream and go home. Yeah, but it was—what I remember the most about growing up there was just being outdoors. You know, like not watching TV, except maybe on Saturday morning, you know, type of thing. You know, and all the other times I was either outside. I was doing sports. There's a lot of sports as a kid. My dad played with us in the street. We played baseball, football. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it was good, it was really good. I had a really good childhood. I mean, I'm really fortunate like that, like, I recognize it now. Because my parents appeared to love each other while I was growing up and they never showed any distress in front of us. There was no fighting, there was no violence, there was nothing, you know. There was just like, they just looked like they loved each other, and everything was comfortable, and nobody else did. You know what I mean? Just really, very kind of, you know, when you think of, like, new New England values, like not a lot of emotion was expressed. Except for my mom was a very emotional person and so, you know, she would be overly demonstrative about things. You know, like, if I brought home a piece of art from school, she— [gasps] ‘oh, my God, you could be famous someday.’ You know. [laughs] When I started cutting hair, I was like 16 when I started doing that, she's like, ‘Oh, my God, you're gonna make a fortune. You're gonna be famous, like Vidal Sassoon.’ I didn't reach that level of success, but I was pretty successful as a hair dresser back in the day. And my dad was great. What I really loved about my dad, when I was growing up, was that he was really interested in introducing me to culture, you know. His big thing was, let's go to the city. Let's go to the ballet. Let's go to the museum. Let's go to really cool restaurants. Let's go look at historical stuff. Let's go to the South Street Seaport. So while I was growing up, this was what I did. You know, I spent so much time in Manhattan, and I was going with him as a kid to his office every Christmas, you know, and just spend the whole day with him at work and he would take me to all the fun places. We went to Rockefeller Center to go watch the tree light up, you know. We get chestnuts and pretzels and really fancy dinners. And, you know, it was just like the kind of thing where I was so at home in New York City that I just moved there as soon as I was old enough, it just happened. And I also watched the World Trade Center go up from his office, because his office was directly across from where they were building the towers. So I watched—I watched that construction go up, both buildings, and I remember very specifically my dad—because they were so tall. And I'm like, so how does the wind not blow them, like what happens if there's a storm? And he says, well, it was a Japanese architect that built them and he designed the buildings to come straight down in case of something like this so they wouldn't tilt and go one way or the other. And when the towers came down, that's exactly how they came down just straight down. Yeah. So that was me growing up. It was a good life, you know? [laughs]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=355.0,611.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: You probably sort of answered this already, but did your parents ever talk to you about why they moved from Brooklyn to Long Island? Did they want you to have more of a neighborhood upbringing or—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=611.0,623.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Yeah, exactly that. They wanted us to grow up where there was a lot of room to run around, where it was safe for us to be out in the street, you know. Where we had a backyard, you know. Where we could do stuff in the yard and had family things and have plenty of room to have family come and visit us. My mother's family is from Massachusetts. So they, they would come and visit us like on Thanksgiving and Christmas and we would alternate going either, you know—we were either in New England for the holidays, or they were in New York for the holidays. And so that was kind of like the tradition, but mostly it was because they wanted us to have that idyllic suburban growing up kind of thing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=623.0,664.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello:  So now just talking a little bit more, thinking back on your life, you have a lot of experiences to share. What would you say has been some of the most rewarding or joyous or just the best parts of your life?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=664.0,678.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Wow. [laughs] I don't know there's so many. Well, having my kids was one that was a mind blowing experience, because when I was very busy with a career, I had in my head that I was never gonna have kids. You know, I was just like, I'm good. I'm making money. I have no responsibility aside from myself. I'm not having kids, but then when I when I met my husband, and he was—he wanted children so bad and so we just had that conversation, you know. And then I got pregnant after we got married, I got pregnant, and I lost that baby. I had a miscarriage and then it was just like, oh, this is terrible. I'm kind of into it now. It's alright, so as soon as the obstetrician said, ‘Go,’ we tried again and I get pregnant with my first one. And then it was just like—being a mother was just like, oh, now, I get it, you know, because my own mother was just like, so—she was very protective and very, like, you know, like, ‘I want to keep you safe at all costs and I love you so much.’ And like I thought she was–I mean, there were—I struggled a lot with my mom when I was a teenager because she was kind of smothering, you know, when it was—I just wanted to be free, you know. So there was a lot of that tension, but as soon as I had Steven and I brought him home from the hospital, I have this little baby, I'm like, ‘Ah, now I get it. I get it.’","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=678.0,758.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: On the other end of the spectrum what are some of the difficult or challenges you faced in life? And would you feel comfortable telling a story about one of those?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=758.0,773.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Yeah, so, I know—there's a couple of things that happened and so they all kind of connect, so I'll kind of tell it that way. So in the in the late 90s, my husband and I were just like, drifting apart as a couple and he wasn't home a lot. And I think I started to get depressed, and I didn't know it at the time because I was very busy, I was working really hard. And, you know, we just kind of just missed each other like ships in the night type of thing. And there was the landlord came to us and said that they wanted to sell the condo we were living in because we were renting, we were renting a condo. And so they wanted—this was like '97-'98—they wanted $250,000 for—it was a two bedroom and it was one and a half bath. And at that time, we didn't have the kind of downpayment to support that kind of mortgage, you know, like to support the mortgage that was gonna be required if we gave them what we had. And so we decided to move and not only that, but our marriage was collapsing at the same time. So he just took off, he just left, and he found a place in SoHo in Manhattan, and it was just me and the kids. And there was a guy in Northampton that I was selling sculpture to that said, ‘Yeah, come on up. I'll take care of you and the kids until you until you get settled.’ So it was, you know, so like, a lot of things were happening at once—my marriage was falling apart, I had to move, I had to give up my career, like all of these things happened, like, at the same time, and it was it was kind of like survival, you know. It's just, ‘Okay, so I don't have a place to live. My husband's not helping me. I gotta go,’ you know. So I took the kids and moved up to Massachusetts and, you know, and then things just went to hell from there.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=773.0,883.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: Have you ever thought about if you had been able to afford the apartment would you have stayed? And do you think your life would have been different if you hadn't been forced out by—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=883.0,892.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: I would definitely have stayed! You know, even if Hajime didn't live with us if there was a way for me to have stayed in that condo, I absolutely would have, because I was happy there.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=892.0,903.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: Where was the condo?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=903.0,904.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: It was in Elmhurst, Queens. So it was probably—it was a 10 minute subway ride from Bloomingdale's, and I was working on Park Avenue at the time. So it was just like a [mouth noise] right there.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=904.0,913.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: Was that area always a nice area, or was gentrification taking over? Why did the landlord [crosstalk] want that much money for the apartment?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=913.0,919.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Yeah, I think it was gentrification, because there was a lot of Asians moving into the community that had lots of money. You know, so he said, Well, this is a good time for me to sell, you know, and the market was hot at the time. So that's what happened. But the neighborhood we lived with was tactically—and this is real—the most diverse community in America. So in the United States—and that was a point of pride for the congressman or local congressman at the time. And I remember really clearly because my kids went to school with everybody from somewhere.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=919.0,981.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: All righty. So we're gonna pick back up—[New] York City and coming to Massachusetts, when we talked last time. You had said that your landlord was selling the apartment, and there was no way that you could afford it and then you said it was the beginning of sort of a really hard time? What was happening at that point?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=981.0,1005.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Yeah, so I, what I really remember the most about that piece of it was sitting in my living room with just a telephone, and nothing there. Like the furniture was all gone already and it was just me and I was in—the kids were at school—and it was the very end of whatever part of it that, yeah. So that I'm trying to think of a timeline must have been, yeah, cuz the kids weren't home. And I remember sitting on my floor with no furniture, not wanting to go to Massachusetts, this is key. I did not want to come to Massachusetts, and I was crying to my mom on the phone, hysterical. Like, I don't know what I'm doing. I, I quit my job, I agreed to move. Hajime is already gone. He took the cat, it's—I'm just freaking out. And my mom said to me at that time, she says, ‘I think you're depressed,’ and my mom was a therapist, so she would know. And I think what happened right after that was, I took a breath. That weekend, the guy from Massachusetts came to Elmhurst, Queens with his SUV at the time was—so the 90's, so think about those square boxes. So he came with one of those got the rest of my stuff and my kids and took us up there. And that's, that's how I landed in Massachusetts.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=1005.0,1088.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: And yeah, so once I got up there, the first the first week or two was fine. You know, it was normal. The thing that made me a little bit nervous, and I remember this really clearly, that Yugi was not comfortable taking a bath in somebody else's bathroom. It was just something that he just wasn't ready to do that yet. You know, it would have meant he had to be naked, and he had to go in somebody else's bathroom, then he wasn't—he was eight. So it was just really uncomfortable for him. I remember the guy's wife, her name was Elsie, and she was trying to force him to get his clothes off and it was just like—you need to stop right now. You see he's hysterical, you need to stop. And I was trying to save him and just in that moment, I remember feeling like, ‘oh, wow, this isn't good.’ You know, like, what have I done, you know? Type of thing, you know, and then everything kind of calmed down after that. Yugi did take a shower, the next day, I helped him, you know, and also being 8 years old he didn't want anybody seeing him naked. So, no, you gotta respect those things. You know, in little boys, especially. So, from there, it just started to get progressively weirder and I'm not really comfortable about very specifically what what was happening at that time, but it got to a point where my kids were physically threatened if I didn't comply with some of their demands that were of a sexual nature, which was awful. And so two o'clock in the morning, you know, I kind of ran out of the house, I gathered up my kids, whatever I could carry with me put stuff in a pillowcase and took them out. And from there, it was kind of like we spent a couple of days in the car. And what I really remember is just like you just feeling like I'm nowhere and I have no help, and I have—I'm all by myself, but I have these two kids who are really frightened right now. You know, and I didn't know what to do with them. Oh, I know what happened. This is what happened and this is—this is where it gets really difficult because I was nowhere and didn't know what to do. My brother came and picked up my kids and took them to Long Island to stay with my sister in law and her kids, and so that happened. That's right. That's what happened, and then from there somebody that—a friend of mine—that I knew, came to Massachusetts to help me kind of get situated. My aunt, and, and her family still lived in New Hampshire. So I got in touch with her and said, I need a place to go until I can figure stuff out. So I went to New Hampshire stayed with my aunt, and we, you know, I got set up with social services. So, I went and they set me up with food stamps, and I applied for housing, and I knew New Hampshire was not where I wanted to stay. So, I was like, let me just do this, I'll get this out of the way. And in the meantime, the person that was helping me get situated, decided—this is the Moroccan guy—he decided that he wanted to have a relationship and he wanted to move up here permanently and have this big thing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=1088.0,1284.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: And we had been having like a kind of a casual relationship, you know, prior to that, which is, you know why he was—I don't know why he was so motivated to come to New England and help. Maybe it was just something new for him, but who knows. Anyway, so that happened. And as I was, as I was in that piece of it, so my kids were in—my kids were in Long Island and Rasheed was in New Hampshire, and my and so a few weeks had gone by, and I was starting to get situated. And then my brother calls and says, you know, you need to get your kids. And I was like, okay, that's fine, I'll come get them. And so I think, I'm not sure how they got back to New England. I don't remember if I went and got them or if they came, or if my brother—I think my brother drove them is what happened. And so my brother drove them, and once my kids came then it was very chaotic in my aunt's house, because she had her granddaughter there, her granddaughters newborn baby, and me, Rashid, and my two boys—one eight, and the other one was 14. So yeah, it was pretty crazy. It was pretty crazy and then in the middle of all of this, I was having this, like, relationship with this Moroccan guy and he decides to fall in love with my cousin, who was my my aunt's daughter's daughter, and her baby. So—and they were close to the same age, so it was—that was just what was happening and I just lost it. You know, I lost it. Like, it was almost like, ‘Oh my god. So now they're in a relationship, and now I have to go with my kids!’ And that was just one of those—another one of those like, ‘Oh, my God, what's happening right now?’ So I came back to Massachusetts, and I went back to Roger and Elsie, because I had nowhere else to go. I didn't know anybody, you know, and I'm, like, you know, ‘you're gonna have to cut me some slack here, you know, I still have a lot of stuff there. Just let me go there, at least for a couple of nights until I figure it out,’ and so they let me do that. And in the meantime, they were really—they were harassing me a lot. And I remember going to, like, I went to Servicenet, because I was, I was terribly depressed, and I was freaking out, and 9/11 had already happened. So all of that stuff was sort of in the background, you know, when I was still getting phone calls on my cell phone, you know, like, ‘did you know so and so died?’ type of thing and it was just, you know—because I had a whole business there. Yeah, it was so crazy. And, and I think that what was happening at that time was I was trying to get out, you know. Trying to find a safe place to go that was out and I wound up going to Servicenet and then I wound up—I even tried to go to the police. The police wanted nothing to do with me. Whatever story I—like, they looked at me like I was just some crazy, hysterical person. So they wouldn't help me at all and, finally, somebody from—what's the organization? Safe Passage—suggested that I get in touch with Jesse's House and go and so I think what wound up happening was somebody from Safe Passage referred me to Jesse's House, and then I was able to go there and then so I gathered my kids. We went to Jesse's House and that was just a whole separate chapter. And I wound up getting kicked out of Jesse's House after like eight months because they had this policy about burning incense and I think what—and I wasn't burning incense—but they just had a thing that like, no smoke, no matches. And I think I had had a sculpture that had had some residue from past, you know, years past burning incense.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=1284.0,1513.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: But anyway, they they came to my room and they found that and what? Like, right at that time I was spending—so I had met people in—so this is, I know it's—it's getting a little bit crazy right now. It's a little bit incoherent, yes. It's just like a lot of these memories really intense, you know, but anyway, I had met a couple of people in the homeless shelter that I got along with really well. One of them was in AA, and she convinced me to come to a meeting. She's just like, ‘you don't have to pay attention, you just sit there, you know. It's just a way to get out of here.’ So I'm like, sure, I'm gonna go, and I wound up meeting a whole bunch of people that I actually really liked. You know, so that was definitely a bright point, but in that process of meeting people, I started going to Java Net—when I had a chance to leave Jesse's House—and Java Net, there were all these really cool people hanging around all the time and I started making friends with people. And then one of the guys lived in Belchertown, and offered to put me up in Belchertown so I could get out of Jesse's House. And then I had just gotten thrown out, it was just—the timing was just like, beautiful, you know? So, that's where I went and I still had my car, which is weird, like, how did that? Like, how did—when did I get my license transferred from New York? It's like, I don't even remember, but I had a license and I had a car. But yeah, so anyway, I went to Belchertown and that turned out to be another shitshow, and I was having trouble getting Yugi up and out. And I think my kids were so exhausted from being in all these different places, and couchsurfing. Finally, we landed somewhere where, you know, maybe they could get a little stability just for maybe this long of a time just—anyway, so that happened and Belchertown was another shit show and the guy turned out to be another very weird person. I thought he was very cool in the beginning, you know. We got along, we had a lot to talk about, we were close to the same age and he just turned out to be, yeah, somebody who I would not be friends with in a normal life, you know?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=1513.0,1644.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Anyway, at one point, Gwen Agna, who is the principal at Yugi's school, asked me for a meeting to talk about Yugi's performance at school, and his not showing up. And so I went there, and she says, ‘What is going on? And why is Yugi distracted?’ and everything else, and so I was sitting at this conference table with the Principal and a couple of other people and the floodgates just [sound effect] you know, and I talked about all these people I lost in 9/11, being homeless, you know, like, all the craziest things that happened in New York, and I—and I was just hysterical. So I don't really know what I said, you know, because it was just like, the floodgates opened, like, this is the first time somebody actually asked me ‘what's wrong?’ you know, and so she said, ‘It's okay, I will see to it that that you get a place to live,’ and I guess she had a relationship with the, with the director at the time, who was John Hite, and they got me an apartment, and I moved in literally, in four days. I came to see the apartment the very next day, and they finished renovating. They got it ready for me, I moved right in and I had nothing. You know, at that point, there was nothing, there was nothing left. I had my car, and I had my kids and some clothes, and that was it. And so we moved in here, and then we got a stipend from, I think, the Salvation Army, you know, and then we got some cheap furniture, and, you know, we got some clothes just to tide us over. And then I started, you know, trying to find out what services I could get. And in the meantime, I was still hanging out with the people from AA.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=1644.0,1750.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: And that turns out to be like, the best thing, you know, like, having, some kind of relationship with other people that really struggle, you know. That have had some really awful struggles and, you know, a lot of their struggles were attached to their drinking, you know. I didn't have that issue, but we all have those struggles, you know, and I just really appreciated them, you know, welcoming me into that community, you know, and being my friend and they were all sober. So that was helpful. [laughter] You know, so, that part worked out to be okay. And I guess you know, from there, things started to come together. So one of the women I met in AA said, ‘you know, if you need work, I know somebody that needs a nurse, you know, and we all work for her.’ So, um, there was a wealthy family who's—the matriarch of the family had had a stroke recently, and she needed a 24 hour care, and her husband wanted her to stay home. So I went and met the family and I had PCA experience from working with the guy in Belchertown and they gave me a job. And at the time, it was $15 an hour and that was like, Oh, my God, really? All I had to do was hang out with this lady, you know, and make sure that she got to the bathroom and, you know, made sure she had something to eat, you know, took her blood sugar occasionally, things like that. And it was such an easy gig and it really got me on my feet. And I got to a place where, okay, I'm starting to make some money, I can really take care of my kids and things were starting to come together—and then my brother dies. Well, first of all, my mom died. Right before my mother—right before my brother—my mom died and what happened. So it turned out to work out really well that—my mom got cancer, and they didn't give her a lot of time to live. So I said, ‘Well, I'm working in a nursing home right now, so I'll just bring her here,’ and she had the right kind of insurance and, you know, her stay was completely covered, which was great. She lasted eight months, and so I was able to be with her when she died and then right after she died, the person that I was working for died, like two months later. So my mom died, I lost my job and then four months after that my brother dies, suddenly of a massive heart attack and that was when my brain just said, \"That's it. I'm done. I'm not helping you anymore. You figure it out.\" [laughs] [sighs] [sniffles] Yeah, that was—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=1750.0,1902.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: So how long—do you know how long you'd been at Hampshire Heights when your brother died?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=1902.0,1907.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Uhh three years. I was already here for three years.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=1907.0,1910.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: What were the first few years like here, when you were settling from so much disruption and moving and trauma before more came?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=1910.0,1919.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Yeah. So yeah, it was hard, because Yugi because he had been so unstable, and was so young, during that period of time, I couldn't get him to leave the house. You know, so he missed 128 days of school that year—the year we moved in—128 days, he just wouldn't leave the house. And I really think psychologically, that trauma from being, you know, like homeless and couchsurfing, and not knowing where you're going to sleep day to day and shuffling between Long Island and Massachusetts, you know, whenever my struggles were so intense that I couldn't take care of them. You know, it was a lot of that and I really think that he really suffered. And so what was happening, like, right before my mom died, Yugi was seeing a therapist, and they recommended that he go to A.R.T. It's a program at Providence Hospital for kids that are struggling with mental illness. So I—at that point, there was really nothing I could do, you know, I just, I didn't know what to do next, because I mean, I had my own shit. So it was just in my head that if somebody else can help with this part, you know. So yeah, so Yugi went there. He was there for about three months, I think, yeah, it was a long time, but by the time he came out, he recognized that, you know, if there was something going on with him, that there is help available, and that—he was able to get on some kind of a sleep schedule, so which was, you know, some somewhat kind of stabilizing, I guess, for him and the next year, when all that—when all the bad stuff started happening—or later that year, like with my brother, and everything else, he had perfect attendance. So that was such an achievement. [laughs] You know, so you had one whole year perfect attendance, and then he went to middle school. So it was just like, [sighs] Oh, my God.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=1919.0,2031.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello:  So, when you moved into Hampshire Heights, which was your first time ever living in public housing, what was it like then and were the neighbors welcoming? What was the community here like in 2004?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2031.0,2045.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: The community was mixed. I had my neighbor over here, like immediately on both sides of me—on either side of me. Those two neighbors had already known each other and had already had a relationship. So when I came, the neighbor next to me—she was from Boston originally—and then she befriended me and introduced me to everybody and we became like friends, you know. We started hanging out, we started having coffee in the morning together out on the porches, you know, going shopping together. The other neighbor was Hispanic, so she would take us to Holyoke to all the fun places to buy food, you know, type of thing. We all had food stamps at the time, you know, so it was pretty good [laughs] but I think the sad thing for me is, it turned out that my next door neighbor—and we got along really well—turned out to be a drug addict, and she was—when I became aware of what was happening—it was because she was starting to ask me for money. Then she was starting to have the appearance of being a little bit strung out, you know, and I could just see that I was like, oh my god, this is awful. She's such a nice person. She's smart, you know, but at the same time, it was like, I really recognized that she had gone through her own intense trauma in Boston, and landed here as well. You know? So I do understand the addiction part of it, like, why that happened for her. I don't know why that didn't happen for me, like that path didn't happen for me. Like, it could have so easily been, like, alcoholism, drug abuse, you know, especially opiates, you know, just check out, you know what I mean. All of that stuff didn't happen for me. So I just—I'm really grateful that I was able to avoid that stress part, and what wound up happening was, they found out that Kim was involved in some local drug dealers, and they were starting to come back and forth and in and out. And I was starting to get worried, you know, about the kids because her kids were hanging out with my kids and what wound up happening—they just threw her out. They wind up throwing her out, and she wound up cross country. So, that's what happened to her, but her kids—one of them is still in Northampton and he turned out great. You know, and I think sometimes kids, they either go a terrible path, or they pick themselves up, and they say, ‘that's not going to be my life,’ you know, and for my son Yugi and for Dylan next door, that happened to both of them. So yeah, so that's what happened with Kim. But I think overall, the neighbors were fairly friendly, you know, most of them were—I guess kind of kept to themselves, mostly, but over time, I started developing relationships with all kinds of people from all over the neighborhood and I've been here so long, everybody knows me now. So that's, so that's a thing, but I've always been involved in like, getting people motivated and organized to hang out and be together, you know, but then before that happened, there's this whole stretch where I was very severely depressed, a good decade, you know, of being depressed. And then, and then healing, it took at least a decade.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2045.0,2232.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: What role do you think living in Public Housing played in either aiding the depression or making it worse?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2232.0,2241.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki:  Yeah, I'm not sure it really had that much effect on my mental health, because all the reasons why I was depressed had nothing to do with living here. You know, it had to do with why I landed here, you know, but not, not while I was living here. And, you know, the neighbors were good enough that it wasn't terrible. I think the thing that happened was, because I was so severely depressed, I was neglecting my kids. And I think that was where some of my neighbors really helped. You know, like, especially with moms that had kids my age, you know, like, they were always, ‘I'll take your son, you know, for a little while, if you want,’ or ‘I'll make sure they have something to eat,’ and, you know, because they knew, they know. And I think people in public housing, also have all kinds of stories connected to why they're here. I mean, everybody is not here, because they love being poor. [laughs]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2241.0,2289.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: As you've recovered, and it's been quite a bit of time since that period in your life, has your view of living in public housing for yourself changed? It seems like it was a saving grace when you came in during those years where maintaining housing somewhere else would have been really difficult, but now you're well, you're a bit older, your kids are grown and mostly left home. They come and visit and whatnot, but you're on your own now at 67. So, do you view public housing differently now, as you're getting older and thinking about what kind of place you'd ideally like to live? Is this—is this it? Would you prefer somewhere else? What are kind of the benefits and the drawbacks of being in public housing now?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2289.0,2333.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Well, I think the biggest takeaway is understanding that the stigma attached to public housing is not the reality, and that's the thing that keeps me here, because I care about these people. And I care about how the world sees them. And I think that they don't have opportunity, because the world sees them as something that they're really not, and so I feel really like, I don't know, I feel like connected and compassionate towards all of my neighbors, and I really understand their struggles. And, you know, these are all things that I'm experiencing for the first time, especially around like, you know, the struggle of being poor and not having anything and having to rebuild your life from nothing. You know, like, all of that stuff is, is part of my existence in public housing, and I'm fine. I don't really at this point, I don't need anything. You know, like I really feel like after everything that's happened and for everything I've gone through and coming out on the other side, I'm perfectly comfortable where I am. I don't need anything else. I would miss my neighbors. I would miss my location, you know, because it's very convenient for me to go everywhere and do everything that I want to do. I have a lot of freedom. You know, it's nice not having anybody that I have to take care of anymore. You know, like, that's pretty nice. And yeah, my kids turned out fine. You know, in the end, you know, they turned out fine.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2333.0,2417.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: You talked about what people think about people in public housing—the stigma attached. What are some of the preconceived notions about Hampshire Heights or public housing that you've heard or seen or had said directly to you?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2417.0,2432.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Okay. So this, the things that—so if somebody doesn't know, I live in public housing, and I have a conversation that is about that, their first instinctive thing that they say, right out of their mouth is, ‘Oh, those are bad people, they're criminals, they're drug addicts, they don't care about their families, you know, they're lazy, they're just living off the government,’ and that is all wrong, you know. That is just not the way it is, you know, at least in my experience in Hampshire Heights. It's just not how it's been, and so, I feel like I just want to tell these stories and tell the stories of my neighbors who really want to be heard, you know. To just get the narrative out there, you know, change the narrative. And, you know, I have this dream of changing the national narrative about the stigma attached to people in public housing. I really want to make that so people view us with compassion and understand that, you know, because we're poor, like, we don't have a lot of political power. We don't have access to opportunity, where a lot of people are working two or three jobs just to maintain, you know, their children, you know. We have a break on our rent, you know, I pay a third of everything, but if you have kids, and you're on a limited income, you know, that doesn't go very far. You know, whatever's left is not a lot and if people aren't making a living wage, and they have to, you know, have extra jobs or do stuff on the side, like DoorDash, or drive Uber—this cuts into time with their families. It's really—it’s not an easy life. It's really not, you know?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2432.0,2535.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: So thinking about the last few years, which we've been living through a pandemic worldwide, and right down to this little microcosm of Hampshire Heights, what was it like, being here during the pandemic? Did you feel supported, isolated? Did people pull together? What's it been like?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2535.0,2556.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Well, this is the really cool part. For me, living in Hampshire Heights during the pandemic, because we all know each other's situations, we really pulled together. We were sharing resources, whatever we had, we were sharing with one another, making sure everybody had what they needed, knocking on doors, leaving a note. Somebody left 40 bucks on everybody's door, in the very beginning of the pandemic. We don't know who, you know, but somebody did and we all got the 40 bucks. It was astonishing, you know. We were sharing food, and especially after we discovered that it was safe to do that, you know, because nobody knew, like, the first couple of months, right? Like, if you could do something—well, after we—after it was apparent that we could share food, a lot of us would just make meals and pass it, you know, like, I made this I have all this extra who wants it? You know, and it was a lot of that. The community was very supportive of one another and we were kind of—I think there was this mindset that we have to take care of each other because nobody else is gonna, you know, and then there are some local organizations that decided they wanted to feed us as well, you know. So Grow Food Northampton, stepped in and the Survival Center and we started the Food Access Advisory Committee, that Grow Food Northampton wanted to make sure that we were getting what we needed and what we wanted, and getting it how we wanted to get it. You know, so that's what we did","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2556.0,2637.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: Was the pandemic, the first time you became involved in volunteering locally or with the local community on a policy and resource level?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2637.0,2647.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Um, pretty much. So in 2019, there are a couple of organizations so CES, the United Way, and Cooley Dickinson came to Hampshire heights and asked us if we wanted to start a community garden. And I was just recovering, I was just coming out of my recovery and starting to feel good. And so this gave me a sense of community and I was like, I love to garden. So it was like, yeah, well. So as I was building relationships with those people, they came and asked me if I was interested in starting a Food Policy Council, and at that time was when I started really volunteering all of my time, you know, to develop a Food Policy Council and to work on food insecurity. And it was during those meetings that I started to learn about so many people in so many different communities and their struggles and what food insecurity really looks like, and who really needs help? And how can we get them help right away? And so many things were happening. And in the meantime, we were developing this thing that's blown up. [laughs] Yeah. And also, I think it's really important to point out that I think that being involved with my community was the tipping point where— into full recovery from depression, you know, and at this point, I'm not on any medication at all, you know.  I feel really good.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2647.0,2731.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: What are some of the takeaways from the experience of the pandemic for the community? What have you seen change?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2731.0,2739.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: There was—there's more trust, you know, because we really relied on each other in the first few months. It was a lot more trust, there's a lot more interaction. I mean, even though we weren't allowed to be together, we had a mass text thing.  There was a group of us who were just like sending each other messages and it was just a lot of people like 8 or 10 people in this list and we all just make sure we were all filled in. ‘Is everybody okay? Everybody in your section fine?’ You know, anybody need anything, that kind of thing happened, and we just got closer as a neighborhood so that felt really good to me.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2739.0,2776.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: So as we're coming to the end of our interview, what are your hopes for the future for Hampshire Heights and local public housing? If you were able to make changes or have it ideal to your thinking and ways of viewing the world, what would you hope could happen in the future as far as administration, the actual facilities of the buildings and the grounds? What would you like to see change?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2776.0,2806.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: First, I would like to—first I would like to see the people that run public housing—especially Northampton Public Housing—I would like the management to see us as human beings, and not as commodities, because that's what we feel like, we feel like a commodity. We're here just here to pay rent, but they never let us forget that we don't own anything, we can't do anything, we can't change anything about where we live, you know. We can't do anything seriously, and they don't let us forget it. And so I would like them to see us as human beings, and not commodities. And I would also like to change the perception of—the broad perception of public housing, all over the country. People are good people, and they work really hard and they care about their families. And, you know, I would like to see them take better care of the buildings, you know. I would like them to—this is part of the messiness as humans, like, that's fine, they don't really need to have this, that and the other thing fixed, you know, like, that really needs to be a priority. I mean, I've had a leaky basement for 15 years, and I've had floods two inches deep, you know, and everything, so many things I've had to toss just because they've been full of water, and not to mention the mold. So this is the kind of maintenance that they're not doing, you know, and then every time I asked for help for things like this, they're like, ‘Oh, well, this is happening, but we're still waiting for money,’ and ‘we're still waiting to—for a contractor to give us a bid.’ And then the pandemic came in, as well as the pandemic and it was supposed to have been done this summer, you know, like fixing all the, the foundations, you know, where all the water was coming in, that never happened. So physically, yes, I would like to see the buildings better maintained. We'd like to see them view us as human beings with real feelings, and, you know, like, real emotion and all of that, because none of that is happening right now. We have each other, you know, for support, you know, but housing doesn't see us as a cohesive bunch of neighbors that really care about where we live, you know.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2806.0,2926.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello: Last question, is there anything that we didn't get to talk about in your interview that you would like to share about your experiences? You've had so many years of experience going from being a private renter living in the city to relocating and being homeless to now almost 19 years in public housing. Is there anything we we didn't touch on you would like to include?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2926.0,2951.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Yeah, I would like to say that. I think what's really important for me is having this experience, you know, of homelessness, and getting in public housing, and, like, that whole piece of it has really changed my, my whole view of the population—of low income populations, you know, and now I really, at a visceral level, really understand what they go through. And it's not like this abstract thing around, ‘Oh, well, why can't they just do this?’ You know, like, ‘why can't they get a job or start a business?’ It's like, Oh, my God, it's so hard. You know, it's so hard just to get—just to get your feet under you and I think that the thing is, like they say the public housing is supposed to be a stepping stone but then they don't even let you have money in the bank so you can save money and move somewhere else. Like, there is this piece of it where on one hand, they want us out but on the other hand, they keep us trapped financially, you know, economically like all those things mixed up. So that's, that's the thing that I feel like really needs to be changed. We have to be able to move on. That's why I feel like a commodity. It's because like once I'm here, I was like, Okay, you can just pay us forever, you know and not going anywhere else.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=2951.0,3021.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mello:  Well, thank you very much for sharing your story Kia.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=3021.0,3024.0"},{"id":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549/transcript/89010/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Aoki: Yeah, thanks.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://nphm.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2733/collection_resources/165142/file/300549#t=3024.0,3028.704"}]}]}]}