In early March, I opened the folder named "MEMORIALIZING" on my desktop. The three recordings are still there, from Daniela, Ruth, and Ricky. Each recording is about an hour and a half, or less. I haven't listened to them for a while since the last time in February. I instead had talked or met with the narrators on the phone or in person over the past few weeks. 
 

I started listening again. I recalled the locations, the time, and the awkward air when I met the narrators for the first time to do the oral history interview. It was at a library in the afternoon, Zoom in the late evening, and a park in the late afternoon in the city. The background sound of the interviews reminded me of the atmosphere and smell of the moments. Each interview took place in a different time and space, and each story tells me about their respective world. But I know the world is one.  

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I started analyzing the world they live in. The sky and ground we look out through the window seem precisely the same, but the world I heard about through their stories was not the same.

  

I started pondering over the particular ways they understand and see the world. I pondered over Ruth's story, where she recalled the feeling of fear about the shared air with David in their apartment since she had the light symptom in the early days of the pandemic. I pondered over Daniela's story, where she recalled the feeling of terror about Julio's family encountering his ashes in the plastic bag. I pondered over Ricky's story, where he recalled the feeling of guilt about Brianna's body. I extracted some parts from each interview. 

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I started interpreting the world surrounding us and the individual value inscribed in us. I intentionally interpreted the collective grieving for the loss of their loved ones and for the resilience of their continuing lives. I intentionally interpreted what the individual value meant to the world and what the world meant to them. 

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I started telling a story, aural & visual storytelling. I started filming. This was the first time for me to make a video with the oral history listening practice. I went out to the crematorium at the Green-Wood Cemetery, where many New Yorkers were cremated collectively. I filmed the sky, which we share anywhere you stand on the ground. I filmed the city's landscape, where we see the reality we have different adventures every day. The film was created by the end of March. 

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At this moment, I realized that the film would have not been produced without the stories of these three families, and the three narrators. They gave me permission to hear and expand their stories to understand better the world surrounding us, the world where their loved ones lived in. To memorialize their loved ones' lives, the film is the result in which we collaborated, realizing we connected with each other deeply.