Interview with Justin Cornille

Partial Transcript: Let's start with background...

Segment Synopsis: Justin was born in Chicago to parents of Mexican descent on his mother’s side, and Norse and German descent on his father’s side. He moved to New Albany, and eventually moved to the Madison area.

Keywords: Chicago; Mexican; New Albany; Scandinavian

Partial Transcript: Why did you choose UW-Madison, and why did you want to follow the archives track?

Segment Synopsis: At the end of his undergraduate degree, Justin took a capstone class reading Herman Melville. One of Melville’s stories, “Benito Cereno,” and the Edgar Allan Poe’s “The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether” are extremely similar to each other. Justin focused his final paper on how the two felt about each other’s work. This line of questioning eventually failed, and he was forced to modify his paper.

Keywords: Archiving; Edgar Allen Poe; Herman Melville; Professional Researching

Segment Synopsis: From this experience, particularly from talking with the New York Public Library which holds Melville’s manuscripts, Justin discovered that he likes research. He was energized when he discovered that preserving primary sources and facilitating research was a viable career option, and he applied to UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee’s MLIS programs.

Keywords: Archiving; New York Public Library; Professional Researching; UW-Milwaukee; Uw-Madison

Partial Transcript: So I noticed your career history has a lot of service-oriented jobs...

Segment Synopsis: In a broad sense, Justin likes to help others. His first job was in hospice for people with traumatic brain injuries. All of his jobs have been service-oriented. He also worked at Toys R Us, and helping children find their toys was “uniquely fulfilling.”

Keywords: Archival Outreach; Service Industry; Toys R Us; Tutoring

Partial Transcript: You were working for Toys R Us when they essentially collapsed...

Segment Synopsis: In 2017, before the holiday shopping season, Toys R Us announced it would go bankrupt. Justin knew that Toys R Us was profitable, but at the time he did not know they had $5 billion in debt. So he had thought it would be fine until they announced they would be closing stores. Then, they announced that after Christmas, they would shutter all the stores. Toys R Us closing was scary for everyone, but Justin was waiting for a reply to his UW-Madison library school application. So his future was uncertain. He was eventually accepted, so everything worked out for him.Toys R Us strangely announced in stages that it was liquidating. Communication with workers was terrible. Justin found out about the bankruptcy via Twitter. Management claimed everything was fine, but he workers knew it wasn’t fine, so it created unease. The company lasted through the 2017 holiday season. Of all the places Justin worked, toy shoppers could be the nastiest customers. That season, unhappy customers would say that the reason they were unhappy was why Toys R Us was going out of business. This made the season more unpleasant than usual.

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Holiday Season; Toys R Us

Partial Transcript: Some of the most difficult and awful people on the planet....

Segment Synopsis: The company lasted through the 2017 holiday season. Of all the places Justin worked, toy shoppers could be the nastiest customers. That season, unhappy customers would say that the reason they were unhappy was why Toys R Us was going out of business. This made the season more unpleasant than usual. go to other stores. They would get very strange shipments, with far too many of one type of toy. Customers would frequently ask when the store was closing and what the employees were going to do when business finally ended. By that time, most employees had a plan for the future. The Madison store continued operating until June 2018.

Keywords: Banruptcy; Holiday Season; Toys R Us

Partial Transcript: Liquidation started and that was really strange

Segment Synopsis: Customers would often ask if an item would be cheaper in the future. Justin would frequently let customers know that it might not be there in the future. When shelves began to empty of toys, the liquidating company would bring in non-toy items. Then shelves were dismantled, everything that could be sold was sold. Customers would often get upset when they were not allowed to return items. Tearing down the store was strange for Justin after working there for 10 years. There was even a worker effort to reserve items for purchase by themselves before they went to the public. Justin expected there to be more emotion on the last day, but due to the slow death of the store, it was not very impactful. There were no severance packages, which was infuriating for Justin. Justin was okay, but his manager had MS, and a coworker had cancer. It left workers feeling numb and vaguely resentful.

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Liquidation; Severance Package; Toys R Us; Workers

Partial Transcript: About how long was it between the final day of Toys R Us and the first day of graduate school?

Segment Synopsis: About two months. Justin collected unemployment for those months, and had a kind of summer vacation for the first time in 20 years.

Keywords: Graduate School; Toys R Us; Unemployment

Partial Transcript: You had described yourself to me as a “passing white.” So I was curious what that has that been like for you?

Segment Synopsis: Justin had undiagnosed anxiety until he was about 30. He is unsure how much of his experience was related to this anxiety and how much was related to ‘passing for white.’ Until he was in his late twenties, he wasn’t even comfortable acknowledging this problem. Justin’s family is close, but because he is significantly lighter than his mother’s relatives, he often felt that he was not really Chicano. It has been very difficult for him. All the terms that Justin has to describe his situation come from other’s struggles. WEB DuBois talked about the “double consciousness” which Justin identifies with because he knows who he wants to be, but struggles with who he is. Particularly in New Albany, many people told him he didn’t look Mexican, which intensified his feeling that he was not really Chicano.

Keywords: Anxiety; Chicano; Personal Identity; Race; WEB DuBois

Partial Transcript: On top of that, I didn't know Spanish.

Segment Synopsis: He also did not know Spanish, because only his grandparents would speak Spanish to him as a child. This also made him feel like an imposter. He later took Spanish classes starting in high school. For a phonetics class, Justin spent three weeks teaching himself to trill his R’s. Justin felt very good about himself when he finally learned to roll his R’s. Justin once got into an argument with someone, and at one point they called him a racial slur for Mexicans. Justin became very excited because it was affirmation that the world saw him as he saw himself. Though he does not think it should have been a good day, he regards it as one because it was important for where he was at the time. He is now very proud of his family and his heritage. He is excited about archives because of the idea that he can make sure that voices like his are no longer lost. But he also has to unlearn the behaviors he learned to ‘pass,’ because it sublimated a major portion of his identity. In this, he looks to other people who are told by the world they are not what they say they are.

Keywords: Impostor Syndrome; Personal Identity; Race; Spanish Language

Partial Transcript: How do you feel in your Chicano identity now?

Segment Synopsis: Justin is proud of his heritage, and is now at a point where he does not care what others think. He is far more comfortable in his identity. This is helped that he still passes for white, and so does not have to deal with the daily struggle against racist behavior. He no longer feels like he is pretending when he is with his family or when he goes to Mexico. It is still sometimes difficult, but he is making progress. Going to Mexico was actually helpful because he saw paler Mexicans.

Keywords: Chicano; Personal Identity; Race; Spanish Language