260 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/13938f5eb8578425b5dc072f85a0f43e.pdf 92b743fd7e508c5c01b14aaf84296941 PDF Text Text Day 47 by windoworks Here are some interesting stats for today in Kent County: Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young gave an update on the Sheriff's Department last Wednesday • Overtime hours are less than usual except in the Emergency Management department. • They are getting around 43 calls a day, mostly regarding violations of Executive Orders. Their policy is "educate and warn", rather than arrest. No citations have been issued so far. • Domestic abuse calls are up 35%. • Due to collaborative efforts with the courts to release vulnerable populations that present a low public safety risk, the jail is at less than 50% capacity. This provides needed space for physical separation and potential quarantining. And here in Kent County, as of yesterday (and the stats are not collated during the weekends) we have 1,031 cases and 32 deaths. In Southern California people flocked to the beaches, while in Georgia and some other states, dine in restaurants can open again, along with nail salons, hairdressers, tattoo parlors and bowling alleys. The problem is, once your governor opens up the state like this, if you’ve applied for unemployment benefits, you will no longer receive it. So you have no choice but to open up your business. I guess we’re all waiting to see what the consequences will be. Does this remind anyone of Russian Roulette? Hhere is something spotted by Craig when walking Murphy. ��Over the weekend trump said at a press conference (which pop up on my news feed but I cannot bring myself to watch them) that you could use UV light internally to combat the virus or even ingest or inject disinfectant to clear the virus up quickly. Now I know, and you know, that every bottle of disinfectant or cleaner comes with visible warnings plastered all over it, and the CDC and companies such as Lysol and Dettol immediately put out statements basically saying DON’T DO IT! But even then, state governments and city managements have received many calls asking if it works and should they do it. What appals me is that not only did no one present at the press conference say NOOOOO! But an aid said (just out of earshot but Anderson Cooper increased the sound and then wrote it on the screen and I’ve forgotten the exact words) We’ll get someone on that right away. Wait! What? Get someone to inject a COVID-19 sufferer with bleach to see if that clears their lungs up?? What alternative universe am I living in and could I please go home now? So after that I need some light relief and probably you do too. Here’s my adorable grandson Oliver to offer that. �Wearing his big boy jeans. �And making himself stand up to try and reach Archie the cat. �Yesterday Craig spent most of the day outside in our garden because it was a gorgeous warm day and he completed the second raised vegetable bed and planted some (hopefully) hardy seeds. We’re aiming for self sufficiency here. Now, perhaps some chickens? Murphy spent all afternoon outside with him and slept like a log last night due to all the fresh air. As of this morning, there are 18 more days until Governor Whitmer either eases the restrictions a little more or takes us back to stricker ones depending on the continued increase of the virus spread. I can’t believe we’ve been doing this for 48 days (my first Pandemic Diary didn’t have a day number). I suppose you get used to anything in the long run. Flashback. In 2011 we went to China for a World History Conference in Beijing. We got there 3 days before the conference began and we had the added bonus of our daughter Zoe joining us. On the first day after we arrived and before Zoe flew in, Craig and I visited the Beijing Zoo. It was an odd experience partly because having blonde hair, all the Chinese tourists wanted their photo taken with me. I guess when they went home they could proudly show the photo of themselves with the foreigner with the blonde hair. �This was the sign at the entrance to the zoo. My favorite item was: no trumpet playing. �China used pandas as diplomatic gifts for many centuries, but now China has panda loans around the world. The zoos can have the pandas for an agreed period of time (and I think they pay China for the privilege). They are allowed to breed them, but all pandas must return to China after several years, even the ones bred at each zoo. During the coronavirus lockdown 2 pandas in Ocean Park Zoo in Hong Kong finally mated after 10 years. Perhaps they just needed privacy. The panda exhibit at the Beijing Zoo was the focal point of the zoo. �This was a giant stone cat in the middle of the zoo. We were the only Westerners in the zoo that day and everyone pointed and giggled behind their hands at us. It was a little disconcerting! More Beijing tomorrow. Wear your mask, wash your hands and keep smiling. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-27_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-47 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-27 Title A name given to the resource Day 47 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4b4eb412f62310f8eecdb1f3ca804f5d.pdf 1cfa2b04ed0af736a29e8d114f590b8d PDF Text Text Day 48 by windoworks In the stats today Kent County has 1,100 confirmed cases and 34 deaths. I’ve been asked for some other statistics for Kent County for comparison, so here goes: in Google Maps you can see that Kent County is a upright rectangle and covers 872 square miles. I tried to find the length and width of the rectangle but that proved too difficult, but if you’re interested, look up a map. The population of Grand Rapids, the second largest city in Michigan, is 200,217 (2018). By far the largest number of confirmed cases are in the city itself and until this week it was virtually impossible to be tested unless the CDC considered you a person at risk. So at a rough guesstimate the true number of positive cases in any degree of illness is probably 10 times that number. In the US the cases have topped 1.01 million and the deaths stand at 56,634 but they are beginning to realize that there was about 15,000 more deaths than usual in March that weren’t counted as COVID-19, but they were unexplained and the number was way above normal for the month. The earliest death here has been adjusted back to early February. Also this week the CDC has put out a note of 6 new symptoms , and doctors in the ER and ICU are noticing a new problem: the virus is crossing the blood/brain barrier. This has huge implications and although I read the articles and understood them (thank you to all my professors in Psychology) I am not going to discuss it here. It is very easy to look up online if you’re interested. In this blogpost, I try to tell you all the things that I’m reading and processing and some of how I feel. I wonder what I will think in years to come when I reread these posts. On that note: I was invited to submit my Pandemic Diary blogposts to the Grand Valley State University Archives where they will reside in a special Pandemic Section and be available to any researchers in the future. What will those researchers conclude about the Pandemic in general? History will not be kind to those at the very top, especially at the Federal level in the US. I have decided to follow a post of FaceBook: I’m not coming out of the house until the hospitals allow visitors. Right? Think about that. I see this morning that JetBlue is going to insist that all passengers wear face masks. I would like to see airlines reconfigure their airplanes to allow wider seats. When I was much younger, flying (and especially internationally) always seemed like such an exciting treat. Now it has become an endurance test unless you have the funds to travel business class. It always amazes me that I am paying a lot of money to be jammed into a seat for up to 17 hours at a time (to New Zealand) with no way to sleep comfortably unless medically induced and no way to stop the person in front of you reclining their seat - or the child behind you kicking the back of your seat. I don’t believe any airline upper management people have ever traveled economy class on a long haul and I absolutely think they should regularly and incognito. And thats not even mentioning that I am an anxious flyer. �Here’s a photo to cheer you all up: This is in Boston in the Public Gardens near the corner of Beacon Street and Charles Street. This is based on a children’s book called: Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. It’s about a mother duck and her 8 ducklings who make their home in Boston’s Public Gardens. At one point in the story, a policeman stops the traffic so the mother and her babies can safely cross the road. It was such a popular book that an artist called Nancy Schon created these famous bronze ducks and it is a great tourist attraction. I visited them some years ago and as a teacher of small children, I loved reading the book to my class. There is even an annual Duckling Day Parade in Boston in May - although not this year I am sure. How appropriate that they have masks on! �Today’s flashback: more of Beijing. Craig and I in a rickshaw off to visit the Old Beijing Hutong District. �And look, Zoe is here, sharing a rickshaw with our dear friend Cynthia. There was a long line of rickshaws. We did visit some traditional houses dating from the Yuan Dynasty in the 14th and 15th centuries (it is so handy to be married to an Ancient Historian with a speciality in Eastern Central Asia history!), but I can’t find any photos. The house we visited was an artists home and he taught us some basic calligraphy. I think I just watched some others trying it out. �After this we went out in a boat on an artificial lake in the same district. The lake dated from the Ming Dynasty, which followed the Yuan Dynasty. Not your usual lake boat! �This is 2 young women praying at a Buddhist temple at a one of the oldest Buddhist Temples in Beijing. ��In Tiananmen Square we were overrun by enthusiastic Chinese high school students on an excursion. Tiananmen Square is enormous (109 acres) and there is absolutely no shelter and it was swelteringly hot. But once again, I’m glad I saw it. As ever - stay safe, wash your hands, wear your mask and draw yourself up to your full height and carry on. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-28_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-48 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-28 Title A name given to the resource Day 48 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/de090319ab84f0861f30d0626462ceb3.pdf c7136f017c06455797a3838906827db4 PDF Text Text Day 49 by windoworks It is 8am on a wet Wednesday morning and the rain is predicted to last all day with the chance of thunderstorms. Yesterday was warm and sunny and we actually sat on the front porch for a while in the fresh air. So today’s roundup: Kent County’s case total rose to 1,317 yesterday. Thats a 24 hour jump of 200+ new cases. I have a correction to the death total, its 33 not 34. It’s confusing because it depends on the time of day that you look up the stats. Michigan state posts mid afternoon but Kent County is late afternoon or early evening. This morning Craig was reading parts of a Science Report aloud to me. The scientists have found that the virus can attack every part of the human body. There is such a lot of talk that its only the 65 and older population who are at risk or the younger group that suffer from a precondition such as diabetes, hypertension, heart problems etc. They are now discovering that this is not so. The virus is able to get into the heart tissue of young, fit, healthy people and cause huge problems. And 30-40 year olds are having strokes because its attacking the lining of the veins and arteries and it is the cells in the lining of these veins and arteries that prevent clotting. I have heard this likened to wack-a-mole - as soon as you hit one mole, another pops up. On Monday Dr London said many people have been asking him when will my life be normal again? His answer: we just don’t know. The last 2 days were dreadful for me (and probably Craig, although he is more pragmatic). On Monday morning he came back from walking Murphy and said: I don’t feel very well. Upon questioning he said he felt dizzy, hot, tired with a little cough. He climbed back into bed (which is really unlike Craig), took his temperature which was a little raised, and we discussed next steps. This involved calling our doctor and the nurse organized a televisit (which is the new big thing which keeps everyone safe). Jamie our Nurse Practitioner, said she thought we both should be tested as he met some of the symptom criteria. At 1:15pm after a struggle to eat lunch, we drove to our surgery where the nurse handed Craig the forms out the back door. Our doctor had gotten test permission from the Kent County Health Dept and and then the practice had faxed the forms to Mercy Health, but they though we should take a hard copy just in case. So then we drove to the back of St Marys Hospital and then lined up beside the parking ramp. ��Each carload had to wait for the previous car to exit the building. At this point I was very scared. So the car in front of us entered the ramp and drove to the testing tent. ��You can see that there was a nurse or doctor in the blue scrubs and gown walking next to the car. This car had a mother driving and a child in a car seat in the back. They were both tested. Then the car drove around and out and it was our turn. I did not take any photos so you’ll have to imagine it for yourself. There were 2 nurses/doctors and the man tested Craig and the woman tested me. You roll down your window , turn off the engine, pull down your mask and tilt your head back against the seat headrest. They hand you tissues and say: this will make your eyes water. Then they open a packet and take out a Q-tip 3 times longer than any Q-tip I’ve ever seen. Telling you to breathe through your nose they insert the Q-tip up the first nostril, right up into your sinuses and turn it around to a count of 4. Then they take it out and repeat it in the other nostril. I can’t tell you how much that hurt. I cried all the way home. They had said we would hear the results in 24-48 hours. So we spent the rest of the day and the next morning distancing from each other. I had texted the children when we got home and they were worried but feeling helpless as they are locked down and so far away. We made contingency plans for one of us being positive or both of us being positive. It was a long 24 hours+. Then yesterday afternoon Craig called our doctors office and our nurse had just received the results. She opened them while he was on the phone and luckily, fortuitously, bloody marvelously, we are both negative. She did add “so far”, but with even more careful isolating, we hope to stay negative. I can’t tell you how graphically and sharply this brought the whole virus and self isolation thing into focus. I do not understand people who do not see the seriousness of this. But when you talk to your son who has stayed up till 11:15pm to talk to you both and he says that you realize that if one of you goes to hospital for treatment , there is no way the other can be there and if the worst happens you might never see each other again. Now you may scoff and say wasn’t he being overly dramatic? But think about a family member not knowing the test results and being very worried that the worst might happen and they could do nothing to help. I may stay inside my house for the rest of my life. People seem to think this will just vanish suddenly overnight. And if that happens, no one will be more thrilled and relieved than me, but honestly I don’t believe in fairies or Santa Claus either. The family has been writing emails on a thread and yesterday my nephews significant other chimed in. She is attending university online. I think she’s studying to be a school teacher and for some reason a new group project was to act out the life cycle of a frog. She is playing the role of a grandmother frog who is reflecting on her life through photos. Here is her photo. ��I’m really impressed. I hope her group gets good marks. Before I begin todays Beijing flashback, Craig remembered we bought a ink drawing at the calligraphers house. This is it. It’s been up in our upstairs hallway. I see it every day but I had forgotten where it came from. ��And my friend Merrilyn wrote and said that she and Keith might have visited the same calligrapher on their trip. One of the photos she sent me was of a house in the Hutong area. You can see how old the area is. One of our next excursions was to the Great Wall. It has a total length of 13,170.70 miles which is half the length of the equator. The average height of the wall is 20-30 feet and its highest point is 46 feet. It is about 2,700 years old. It was built as a fortification system across the then northern borders of China to protect the chinese states and empires against the nomadic groups of the steppe. I believe it is visible from space. �We drove out of Beijing in a comfortable coach. In those days I had blonde hair as my then hairdresser kept trying to turn me into a little Dutch woman. �It’s a steep climb from the parking lot, past lots of vendors selling fans, clothing etc. , and then you get into a gondola to reach the wall itself. �Parts of the wall are unbelievably steep. Zoe said at one point she crawled up on her hands and knees. �Here they are about to climb further. I stayed behind and sat on the stairs in a shaded spot, contemplating life. �You can see the series of gatehouses stretching off into the distance. Of course the Great Wall is closed to visitors now and who knows how many people will visit China in the near future. Again, I am truly glad I saw it and stood on it. Next Beijing tour day tomorrow. ��The continuing saga of Oliver trying to win Archie the cat over. Good luck! So take this virus seriously. That’s all. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-29_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-49 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-29 Title A name given to the resource Day 49 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2a06e61d54585b66c3173f61e5499d09.pdf 5550dc1f8b67d1cdb4ba41f1ea96c9a4 PDF Text Text Day 50 (good grief) by windoworks This morning on FaceBook a friend asked if it was Wednesday yesterday. I only know how long we’ve been at home by the numbered days of this post. Then I looked at my calendar - 7 weeks! And today we enter our 8th week at home. It is odd how every day becomes just like the day before and just the same as the following day. Outside spring has returned which is comforting to know that the seasons are not affected by any pandemic. We can buy seedlings from our local nursery. Given our newly defined negative status we won’t be wandering around inside the greenhouses but ordering curbside pickup. And just to backtrack for a moment. I was overwhelmed by the care and loving responses that yesterday’s post received. Firstly because you’re reading my blog!Secondly, because so many of you let me know how relieved you were that we were well and that we survived the test. I thought about that post for a while before I wrote that section. As the weeks roll by there is a tendency to relax the rules a a little and think: well I wasn’t sick yesterday so I won’t be sick today. That comfort was stripped away from Craig and I in our 7th week of isolation and I wanted to share that warning with you. One of the responses I received was from my dear friend Merrilyn in Perth Australia. �This is a Bear Hug from Merrilyn to Craig and I. I cannot tell you how touched I am by this. What an unexpected silver lining to this dreadful situation. To realize just how very important family and friends are, and to have the unlimited time to reconnect and deepen those relationships further. Yesterday my 87 year old mother-in-law (soon to be 88) sent me a video clip of a British comedy show to cheer me up. I am so impressed. Ten years ago or so when my father-in-law died, she said: I just need to know how to turn on the computer so I can play card games. Now we can FaceTime her and she always joins into the family email threads with funny, on point responses. I am so grateful for the technology that allows us all to keep in close contact. �Also yesterday, my very dear friend Wendy came to my neighbors house to pick up some masks for herself and her husband. She had called me to let me know she was on the way. So, in my jammies and a cardigan hastily pulled on, I waited patiently in the window of the tv room. And there she was, raincoat hood over her head, mask obscuring her face and she stood near my window, in the rain and blew me a kiss. I get teary thinking about it. In the I Have To Share This category; my neighbor has been making masks. In the beginning they were a uniform cream color and just one layer. Now his masks are multicolored, 2 layers and with a pocket for a filter. Two days ago he posted a selection on FaceBook with the heading New Spring Shades. The masks were soft pinks and blues. But what really made me laugh was this: stay tuned for evening wear masks for that glam event! Oh I want one of those! I believe he has made hundreds and he has shipped them to various places in the States. And every day his porch swing is full of masks in paper bags with names attached and there is a line of people walking or driving up to collect their masks. Outside the tv window is the double bird feeder. We have seen cardinals, purple finches, sparrows (of course), nuthatches and these two yesterday. I apologize for the quality of the photo, I was trying to capture them before they flew away. ��I think this is a pair of woodpeckers because only one had the red patch. Let me know if its not. Today’s Oliver photo. His great uncle Drew took him to the front entrance to help clean out the shed next to the carport. I can’t say he’s helping much. ��For those who follow the stats: Kent County: 1,402 cases, almost 100 more since yesterday but no more deaths. If you look at the daily graph for Kent County it just continues to rise steadily. Michigan - 40,399 cases, 3,670 deaths. That’s 1.137 new cases and 103 deaths since yesterday. In the US we had 1.06 million cases and 61, 504 deaths in total. They are telling us that the number of deaths is greater than all the American lives lost in the Vietnam War. That’s confronting. I could tell you many other things happening at a national governmental level as each day brings a new, mostly depressing, inept or malicious development, but its my choice to read them and you can look them up for yourself. So back to much happier times! Before visiting the Great Wall, we had visited the Forbidden City. This is a palace complex in the middle of Beijing and it was the former Chinese imperial palace and state residence of the Emperor of China from the Ming Dynasty (1420) to the end of the Qing Dynasty (1924). The Ming drove the Mongols out of China and built the Forbidden City on the top of the destroyed Mongol Palace. There’s 980 buildings and it covers over 180 acres. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987. It is enormous and while I don’t think we covered the 180 acres, we certainly walked for a very long time in the heat around various parts of it. Part of the reason for it being so big was ceremonial. My resident Historical Advisor (HA) tells me that the emperors (all 24 of them) lived in virtual seclusion, shut away from the real world and surrounded by eunuchs who became the principal advisors to each emperor. They were so isolated that the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty didn’t realize that revolt had broken out all over China until he looked out his window and saw rebels climbing over the palace walls. �This is one of the first main entry courtyards - and there are more and more courtyards ahead until you reach the heart of the city where the emperor lived. ��From one building through another courtyard to the next, and so on. �Again, I’m glad I saw it and if I visited again, I’d rather it was a cooler day and I’d bring a folding stool with me - there was absolutely nowhere to sit! Put on a happy face. See you back here tomorrow. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-30_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-50 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-30 Title A name given to the resource Day 50 (good grief) Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6fa4680ef5b20a7824271a6dc316cb42.pdf 8f8cae8d6f00358bdc8de8947e812142 PDF Text Text Day 51 by windoworks Well its a big day today. Yes, this is the day that the last vestige of my preCOVID-19 life disappears. I’m going to have to cut my own toenails and take the nail polish off. I can’t delay it any longer. Then I’ll be the complete COVID-19 me: long, shaggy hair with slowly increasing grey (hopefully silver) roots, extraordinarily short fingernails, days when I can’t be bothered to put on any makeup - although I have managed to shower and dress in street clothes every day for 52 days. Staying in bed writing my blogpost until oh, somewhere around 10:30ish. Walking somewhere that lets me be far away from most people with my mask ALWAYS on. And spending a part of each day planning comforting and delicious meals because there’s got to be something nice to think about each day. So how’s it going for you? The sleeping part’s not so good for me. I dreamt all night about people catching me by the arm or coming into the house! It’s funny what turns into a nightmare now. To other news. Governor Whitmer has extended the Stay Home, Stay Safe executive order to May 28. Well, we weren’t going anywhere, anyway. And yesterday a group of male protestors, in camo gear armed with assault rifles forced their way to the gallery in the Michigan legislature. My two friends, David Le Grand, a State Representative and Winnie Brinks, a State Senator posted FaceBook accounts of the day. The protestors were threatening the House and David said that he thought he might be shot. Ahhh Michigan, home to Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma bombing), the Ku Klux Klan, anti-vaxxers, religious fundamentalists, Michigan Proud Boys - I could go on. We are home to them all, although I have to say there were a lot less of them yesterday. Could it be that half of them are sick? Moving on. Stats: as of yesterday afternoon Michigan had 41,379 confirmed cases (new word being used) and 3,789 deaths. That total includes Kent County which has 1,479 confirmed cases and still 33 deaths. This is because our hospitals were primed and ready for the onslaught and they have not been overwhelmed like the Detroit area hospitals have. But more scarily, Dr London said 2 days ago that he has directed his teams to actively seek out the virus and they have tested many people who did not know they were asymptomatic and had been disregarding the distancing rule. Yesterday Craig and I read 2 excellent articles. The first was an interview by Peter Bergen (CNN National Security Analyst) of Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert, on “We’re Only In the Second Innings of the Pandemic”. It’s long but well worth the read as it is applicable everywhere in the world. The second article was in The Atlantic. I can’t remember the author but the title is: The Pandemic will change American Retail Forever. The writer talks about big box stores, fine dining restaurants and malls. It’s worth a read. Amazingly enough, later yesterday evening I read that Grove, a local fine dining restaurant within walking distance of our house has closed. The management, understanding that fine dining days are over, are refurbishing and transforming it into a chicken shack with an emphasis on mainly take out. �In New Zealand, three days after being lowered to Level 3 lockdown from Level 4, apparently air pollution levels have risen back to pre-virus days. In British Columbia virus counts have stayed lower than anywhere else in Canada and no one really understands why. Airlines continue to bombard me with ‘come back and fly’ emails while at the same time there is disturbing evidence that their much touted air filtration system, while filtering out various chemicals, does a crap job of filtering out viruses. Little is said about the hundreds of crew including captains who have caught the virus and the at least 7 crew members have died. That’s probably enough for today. Some light relief: ��My sister-in-law Bernie trying valiantly to work from home when Archie the cat (Oliver’s favorite) decided to sit on her laptop. I think its hard enough for me living with a large dog who can’t understand any of the new rules for her life and has become very needy in response. And one of Oliver, just because. �If I could just reach through the iPad and blow raspberries on his tummy...... �The next day in Beijing. This is the Summer Palace. This palace and the lakes (Lake Kunming is the main one) were built over a long period of time by several dynasties. The whole are is a collection of lakes, gardens, temples and covered walkways built for the pleasure of the Imperial Family. The boat behind Zoe and I is a famous feature known as the Marble Boat. It is actually wood painted to look like marble. Dowager Ci Xi, the real power behind the throne in the last years of the Qin Dynasty, diverted funds meant to modernize the Chinese navy, to build this boat and improve other features of the park. She had her nephew Emperor Guan Xi poisoned (arsenic in yoghurt) to try to stop the modernization process he was attempting. How’s that for a loving Aunt? Amazingly, she died the very next day after her nephew. Karma’s a bitch. �We took a boat trip on Kunming Lake to an island in the lake, and Zoe and Craig went off to listen to a band and choir performing revolutionary Communist songs. This is Zoe with the Band Director and some of the musicians. She didn’t get to keep the fan, sadly. �Here is a view of the lake looking back at some of the temples and hills surrounding the lakes. The lakes were man made with the intention of providing clean water for Beijing but then the ruling families had other ideas. Another hot day! It isn’t over yet, so please stay safe. Stay 6 feet apart, wash your hands and wear your mask. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-01_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-51 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-01 Title A name given to the resource Day 51 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b5b610bc2d9080c28dca0a9fcd473e67.pdf 176153e1ba3b6c601793c5dc98610d69 PDF Text Text Day 52. by windoworks I slept in a little this morning, by which I mean 6:30am. We are always in bed before 10pm because we’re always tired. Perhaps it is the mental stress of being confined for most of the day. I don’t know really. The weather has changed and we slept last night with one of the storm windows in the bedroom open and a little fresh air coming in from outside. Soon Craig will open all the storm windows and we may eat lunch on the front porch from time to time. Our routine and the routine of our immediate neighbors is oddly comforting. Every morning (that it isn’t raining), Craig moves our car out of the garage and parks it in front of our house, so TJ can extend his ladder on to our driveway while he continues to sand, caulk, replace wood and then paint the side of his house. Every day a new batch of masks in paper bags with instructions attached appear on John’s porch swing and every day new people arrive to pick up their masks. Time slips by with small achievements marking the passing days. I did successfully remove the nail polish and then trim my toenails. This remains an ongoing event as there is always something to file down a little more to stop the toe or finger from catching. I am gradually cleaning out and rearranging the house while Craig gradually restores and reshapes the gardens. Yesterday the Magic Ladies lunch group (I’m still not sure why Wendy chose the name) had the first of the new Zoom lunch meetings. There was laughter and much talk and it felt almost normal. Speaking of normal (usual, typical, expected) - what is that? Restaurants were allowed to reopen this past week in Georgia but the majority refused. You just don’t think about what the new socializing guidelines mean. Kitchens are confined spaces, seating has to be vastly reduced, the amount of time a diner can spend inside eating is very limited and everything, including menus and condiments have to be constantly sanitized. Perhaps we are entering the new age of take out and on that note, here is the line of cars to pick up food at the refurbished Grove restaurant, now a chicken shack. �It’s the flat topped building past the light pole. We are always looking for trails and parks to walk where we won’t come across too many other people. Yesterday Craig hit on the idea of Grand Valley State University’s main campus at Allendale. It was busier than usual as it was a move out day for some students. I think many students went home when they closed the university but left their furniture etc in their rooms. From May 1-10, students may contact the university and the security staff will open their building at a designated time for the student and a family helper to collect their belongings and clear out their room. We walked behind some of the newer buildings in the sunshine. �It was still cool weather though. In other news, Oliver is now 9 months old and this morning my sister-in-law Bernie sent me 3 videos of him on Marco Polo, standing up. ��For some reason that I don’t understand, I can’t attach a video. I can see that I have 58 videos, but when I try to open the file its says No Media Files. So instead here is Oliver trying to get a bottle of beer out of a 6 pack. Not yet, sweetie, not yet. Today’s stats: apparently Michigan now has the highest death rate in the US. More than 9% of the confirmed cases have died, almost a full percentage point more than the next state, Connecticut, where more than 8% of confirmed cases have died. Kent County has 1,607 confirmed cases and 36 deaths (3 deaths more than the day before). If you look at the graph of confirmed cases for Kent County, the line just keeps steadily climbing. Oh well. Flashback photo: so the next day we visited the Old Summer Palace. It was known as Yuanming Yuan (Gardens of Perfect Brightness). It was constructed throughout the 18th and 19th centuries as the main imperial residence of the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Here they handled state affairs - the Forbidden City was used for formal ceremonies. The Old Summer Palace was known for its huge collection of gardens, art and historical treasure. But in 1860, during the Second Opium War. Wait, a backtrack here: the British merchants decided they didn’t want to pay for Chinese goods with silver anymore (the Chinese had monopolized the world’s silver reserves) and instead insisted they take opium as payment from the British controlled crops in India. The Chinese refused and the merchants were backed up by the British Navy and their gunboats with high powered gunpowder weapons. A negotiation between the Chinese Emperor and a two British envoys and a journalist ended in disaster with all in the British group imprisoned, tortured and killed. British troops then destroyed the palace. It was so large (more than 800 acres) that it took 4,000 men 3 days of burning to destroy it. Of course before they burned it, many priceless artworks were looted and can now be found in 47 museums around the world. It remains a tourist attraction, pretty much as the British left it. ���The only part of the entire grounds left complete (or perhaps rebuilt) is this maze. I did not go in but Zoe and Craig went in and found the middle and then came successfully out again! This is 2 Chinese girls inside the maze. As I was researching this, I noted that the person in charge of the burning and looting was Lord Elgin. He was a Scottish nobleman and his enduring claim to fame is that he appropriated a complete set of marbles from the Parthenon in Athens in about 1801. These marbles are on display in the British Museum (I’ve seen them) and to this day their removal and the legality of it remains an ongoing dispute between the British Museum and the Greek Government. The museum maintains the marbles are safer housed there from possible looting, environmental degradation etc. What the museum pretends not to remember is that the museum was nearly destroyed in the bombing during WWII. The Greek Government included a clause in the Brexit agreement demanding the return of all stolen antiquities. There are many other items from all over the world that are housed in the British Museum that were illegally obtained. And this is not just the British, many other countries including the US have appropriated items for museums and private collections. Tomorrow we visit the Temple of Heaven and Craig gives the keynote address to open the World History Conference. �My placard reads; Stay Far Away From Me and Wear Your Mask! � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-02_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-52 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-02 Title A name given to the resource Day 52. Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d7cde42eeb041487a05b373d3ec056b6.pdf deab64fadbbc971cd64681c9b279f098 PDF Text Text Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on Stuff Day 53 by windoworks Remind me - what day is it? Oh, Sunday. And it truly is a sunny day. Yesterday was warm and sunny, so Craig fired up the grill to cook marinated chicken thighs for dinner and, but wait, a lot happened first. Saturday was the designated Chalk Up day for the 300 block of Auburn. ���There are many videos of neighbors dancing on this spot and perhaps Craig and I will dance there later today. ��This one really appealed to me. One neighbor’s teenage children spent a week or so working at their father’s word work shop making bird feeders. I think nearly every neighbor bought one for $20 and the proceeds will go to Kids Food Basket which delivers sack lunches to schoolchildren in the greater Grand Rapids area and has had to step up production during the pandemic. Once the bird feeder is up I’ll post photos. Then before dinner (and the delicious grilled chicken thighs) we had the monthly iMessage video meeting of the Benjamin/Lilley book club. The children like iMessage because it has video effects and once the book discussion part was over and the chat part began, so did the effects. ���After much discussion we chose the next months book, made sure Elle could get it in Truro, Cornwall and then reluctantly said goodbye. I don’t know how we would all survive at this time without internet applications. Stats and such. In Russia they recorded an increase of 10,000 confirmed cases in one day. The Prime Minister Mikhail Mishutin has the coronavirus and one of the Russian Cabinet Ministers has been admitted to hospital. 58 people died in Russia yesterday from the virus. Across the world scientists are rushing to find a vaccine and in the UK over 9,000 people have volunteered to be vaccinated and then given the virus to test its efficacy. So much braver than me. Locally, the city commission of Grand Haven (our nearest beach area on Lake Michigan) had to close the beaches yesterday as people rushed out there in large numbers and failed to act on social distancing rules. That means their poor behavior affects my ability to drive out there, park and look at the lake. Governor Whitmer said a week or so ago “We must be nimble” and she meant: if you can’t follow the rules then you won’t be allowed back out. In the states that have allowed restaurants, tattoo parlors, hair salons to reopen, the new safety rules are proving overwhelming. And here’s the thing that no one considered or asked any shop owner about: how scared are you about opening your business up again? In other places such as South Korea, they have access to technology which takes customers temperature before allowing them to enter the store. People can return to church but no hymn singing, as well as masks. Many business owners here in the US don’t have access to a reasonable supply of gloves, hand sanitizer, masks or face shields and yet they are expected to have all this on hand before they open up. In New South Wales, Australia, where Zoe lives, she is now allowed to have a maximum of 2 visitors inside her apartment. Zoe returned home yesterday with Oliver after an almost 5 week stay with her aunt and uncle. In that time, Oliver tried making friends with Archie their cat, ate 3 square meals a day, developed his crawling skills further, learned to stand up and yesterday learned to crawl up the stairs. This week he returns to Daycare 3 days a week which allows Zoe to work uninterrupted from home. If they continue to ease the restrictions in New Zealand, both Zar and Alva will be able to return to their workplaces. But in both Australia and New Zealand, caution is paramount. Everyone, including here in the US, is concerned about the possibility of a second wave of virus and influenza together. Here we are going into summer which may not be conducive to the virus but then the approaching fall and winter �might be a new breeding ground. Australia and New Zealand have come out of summer and are heading into winter which may be why their virus counts have been relatively low so far. In the UK, they recorded 182, 260 confirmed cases (up 4,806 from the previous day) and total deaths of 28, 131 (up 621 from the previous day). I will have updated figures for Kent County in tomorrow’s blog but the numbers of confirmed cases are still climbing. �For light relief, here is Oliver ‘helping’ Bernie type. �Today’s flashback: Here we are at the Temple of Heaven. This is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, which is the largest building in the Temple of Heaven. The temple complex was built from 1406 to 1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor who also had the Forbidden City built. The temple grounds cover 1.05 square miles, and there are 3 main groups of buildings all built to strict philosophical requirements. �The 9 dragon wall. �Here is Craig at the Whispering Wall at the complex. In order to hear someone else speak to you from a distance (a) the courtyard cannot be too noisy and (b) both people must face north. I can’t remember if we heard each other although Craig thinks we did. ��We came across these musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments when we were walking around Beijing. �And last, but not least, here is Craig giving the opening keynote address at the World History Conference. Tomorrow we leave Beijing and visit Zhengzhou where we visit the tombs of the Shang Dynasty kings and then on to the Longmen Grottos to see the Buddhist carvings in the cliffs. You know the drill. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-03_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-53 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-03 Title A name given to the resource Day 53 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/54076bd72c373633c56003f19c0343cd.pdf 554786148032afddc1710c8c720db41e PDF Text Text Day 54 by windoworks So much information. Here goes. Grand Rapids Airport (Gerald R Ford Airport) is still open as the US government requires all commercial service airports to remain open and completely operational. They have closed all bars and restaurants except for a snack bar on each concourse. They are seeing about 5% of normal passenger traffic (Wow!). Air New Zealand has suspended all flights to and from the US until June 30 when they will reassess. Qantas has canceled almost all international flights and offers a once a week flight from Los Angeles to Brisbane on Fridays. So where are all those grounded airplanes? They are in many places all around the world as well as here: �Parked in the desert at Alice Springs, Australia, are more than 100 airplanes, properly closed down but needing weekly maintenance to stay airworthy. The dry desert air is perfect for this storage and the maintenance work gives an unexpected boost to the city, which usually relies on tourists. My question is: how do the international flight crews get home again after landing the planes? It seems as though June 30 is the magic number for many organizations to think again what opening up or resuming will look like. The President of Grand Valley State University will advise the faculty on that day whether fall classes will resume face-to-face, online or a hybrid of both. For North American universities and colleges, the greater majority of students live on campus in shared accommodation, eating in cafeteria- �style restaurants and attending lectures in crowded lecture halls and rooms. I am glad this is not my responsibility. J Crew has filed for bankruptcy and two days ago I received a catalog from JJill offering me 50% off. 50%!! JJill has never offered that much off before. Is this the last gasp before they file for bankruptcy too? I simply cannot imagine going into a store and trying clothes on at this time. What if someone asymptomatic had tried this item on before me? As time goes by, I am more and more comfortable ordering online for mail delivery or local curbside pickup. Amazon has begun texting you when they have delivered something to your door, and the Instacart deliverer lets you know when your groceries are at your front door. With the warmer weather we can sit out on our front porch and chat a little to neighbors as they walk by. It’s not the same but its not too bad. I am waiting for the hummingbirds to appear so I can watch them at the feeder outside the tv room window. In gardening news, 24 of our 25 strawberry plants are thriving although it will be another year before we get a reasonable crop. And much to our surprise, the most vulnerable seeds that Craig planted, micro greens, are the first robust seedlings to appear. In stats: in Michigan there are a total of 43, 754 confirmed cases and a running total of 4,049 deaths. In Kent County we now have 1,786 confirmed cases and 39 deaths. As cases fall a little in Detroit, the virus seems to be moving across the state. Because our local stats are increasing slowly upward many people keep asking Dr London why we have to stay home. He keeps replying: thats why the stats are increasing slowly - because you’re staying home. One more time for the people in the back. I am disturbed by the amount of vitriol online. A friend might post something positive about Governor Whitmer and it seems to unleash a torrent of nastiness from perpetually angry people. I was telling Craig this morning about a book I read a few years ago called Year of Wonders: a novel of the plague. It has a couple of themes but its also about how a village coped with the Plague. Probably not the cheeriest read at this time. �This made me laugh and its a beautiful photograph. ��And here is Oliver valiantly pursuing Archie the cat, one last time before he and his mum returned to their own home. Today’s flashback: the next day we drove to visit the tombs of the Shang Dynasty Kings. You went down underground where it was dark and warm. They keep the light dim to protect the artifacts. This is an archeological site at Yinxu, the ruins of the ancient Shang Dynasty capital Yin. It is the final resting place of the queen, military general, ambassador and political advisor, Fu Hao (Lady Hao) who was probably one of king Wu Ding’s many wives. She died and was buried about 1200BCE. The chariot has completely disappeared and what you are seeing here is its permanent outline. As well as many jade, bone, bronze, ivory and pottery objects buried with her, below Fu Hao’s corpse was a pit holding the the remains of 6 sacrificial dogs and the skeletons of 16 human slaves. �This is a chariot with the skeletons of the horses still in harness. Our next stop was at the Longmen Caves. These caves house tens of thousands of statues of the Shakyamuni Buddha and his disciples. These images were either carved as outside rock reliefs or inside artificial caves excavated from the limestone cliffs. These statues of every size and shape were carved mostly from the 3rd to the 8th century. ����Here is Zoe at the end of the grottoes . Behind her is the Yi river valley. We went through through the grottoes in groups with our guide strictly controlling our movements. There was some vandalism at the caves during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and now the caretakers and guides are careful to treat the caves with the care these artifacts deserve. For today, may the fourth be with you. See you tomorrow as usual. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-04_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-54 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-04 Title A name given to the resource Day 54 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/72577b5ac1f077fdecdcf93b9e619655.pdf 5857bbf868b0f6e37e89517cfd290dad PDF Text Text Day 55 by windoworks Here we go! So much information overnight that I hardly know where to begin. First of all, I can’t give accurate virus counts because there was a technical glitch over the weekend and I’ll have to wait until late this afternoon for the latest stats. In predictions for the future, a group of epidemiologists describe 3 different scenarios: 1. After this monster wave which may subside by August 1, there will be alternating mini waves of smaller outbreaks with only a few cases in between, but still some. 2. This monster wave is followed by a bigger and fiercer wave after a summer in which everyone lets down their guard about social distancing and fails to heed the warning signs. 3. This current wave creates a new normal with outbreaks of almost equal size and some persist through to the end of 2022 when hopefully an effective vaccine has been developed. The depressing thing is that I am pretty sure its going to be one of these predictions. Qantas emailed me this morning to tell me that there will be no trans Tasman flights between Australia and New Zealand before the end of June and they’ll reassess then. They also informed me that there will be no international flights before they reassess at the end of July. I’m not really surprised. I find I am that person who thinks about the worst case scenario and then is thrilled when it doesn’t happen or things turn out to be better. Apparently Costco has begun asking all customers to wear a face mask and there were 600 angry posts on FaceBook complaining about it and threatening never to shop there again. How petty have we become. I own one of John’s glam face masks with gold stars and sometimes when I need cheering up it is my face mask choice of the day. In Flint on Friday last week (and I can hardly make my fingers type this) a security guard at a Family Dollar store was shot in the head and later died, all over an argument about wearing a face mask. Even worse, he wasn’t shot at that moment, he was shot 20 minutes later after the family of 3 went home and got the gun and came back to shoot him. And in the category When did this virus actually start? Investigators in France have published a paper which shows that the first patient hospitalized there on December 27 was a 42 year old man who had never been to China. In further investigation they posited (I learned that word in Psychology class) that there were multiple ‘seeding’ events all around the world. That is, there was no single starting point, many people around the world had it early on and seeded it in their community. In research in conjunction with a laboratory in Wuhan, scientists have discovered 400 (400!) similar viruses to COVID-19 in bats and most may be transmissible to humans. �Although some states are ignoring the best medical advice and research available and opening up all businesses again, because, you know, the economy, a whopping almost 70% of Americans are saying: knock yourself out. I’m not leaving my house any time soon. In Las Vegas, the mayor, Carolyn Goodman, boldly claimed “we’ve had viruses for years!” She is insisting that all casinos open up again but when asked if she would be visiting the casinos to show support, she said no because she had to get home to her family. Yeah, right. The Grand Haven State Park is now closed to the public indefinitely after the poor behavior over last weekend. To be honest the water temperature is so low you wouldn’t want to swim or paddle anyway. After several warmish sunny days the temperature has fallen back and its warmer clothing for me again. ��The new normal in our house. Hanging conveniently at the front door are our face mask collections, Craigs on the left and mine on the right. Ready to pop on as we go out the door. �Oliver practicing cute, I think he’s got it down. �Today’s flashback. After we left Beijing for our bus tour, our first stop was Xi’an where we stayed for 3 days. This is a large city and capital of Shaanxi Provence in central China. It was formerly known as Chang’an (Eternal Peace) and it marked the end of the Silk Road’s eastern end. It was home to many ruling dynasties over the centuries. There was a lot to see. First, the famous city walls. ��Zhu Yuanzhang (first emperor of the Ming Dynasty) built this highly fortified wall in 1370 and it took about 8 years to complete. He used this city and wall to establish his empire by unifying all the other surrounding states. It is an astonishingly wide wall and quite high. Obviously it has been repaired and strengthened many times over the centuries. In the top photo you can see down to the enclosed city below. There was a group of residents practicing Tai Chi that we watched for a while. Next we visited the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. �Looking up. �The view of Xi’an from the top of the pagoda. No I didn’t climb up there. �My view from the bottom. This Buddhist pagoda was built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty. One of its many functions was to hold sutras and figurines of Gautama Buddha brought to China from India by the 7th century Buddhist monk, Xuanzang. This was the first actual pagoda I had seen and it was very impressive. Xi’an was hot and somewhat polluted but still a beautiful city. We have 2 more days to explore it, so more tomorrow. Masks on, smile with your eyes, and stay safe. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-05_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-55 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-05 Title A name given to the resource Day 55 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1f8737a4f5c2c0a16e46d184b7827d4f.pdf e7ef1b5da00a392970282fe1517f9319 PDF Text Text Day 56 by windoworks To begin today, this: Pretty wild how we used to eat cake after someone had blown on it. Good times. (I can hear you all going EEEEWWWW!) So it is a lovely sunny day (so far) and a top of 63F, which will be nice. Craig and I have 3 things to do today:Craig is going out to his office to pick up some things (after several emails to set this up); Murphy has a vet appointment for some regular shots, ear plucking and nail trimming and I have a 10:30am zoom business meeting . We’re both overwhelmed. 3 things, 3 things in one day! How funny. There were days with a myriad of meetings, classes, shopping etc before the virus and we raced crazily from one thing to the next. Now (except for today) we try to spread events out to one thing a day. Can we comfortably go back to rushing around every day? I wonder. Today’s stats. 43,950 confirmed cases in Michigan and 4,135 deaths. 1,914 confirmed cases in Kent County and 40 deaths. Easing a little in the Detroit area but still slowly climbing here. Dr London thinks we are about 2 weeks from the peak. Governor Whitmer continues to ease restrictions in 2 week intervals. That way she and her team can see if case numbers begin to rise again and adjust accordingly. TJ our neighbor is frantically trying to get as much finished on the side of his house today, because as an independent builder, he can return to work tomorrow. I think his work will be on outside projects for the foreseeable future. I really want him to replace our kitchen sink with a farmhouse sink and a new faucet but I just can’t think how we can do that safely yet. On our block, people are cleaning closets, working on gardens and repairing broken items. The biggest concerns for our senior graduates on our block is what college will they be attending in the fall and how will they attend it. We watched John Krasinski’s Some Good News online this week and he hosted a graduation ceremony. The week before he hosted a Prom Night. It is all done from his house and it fills a gap for all of us. Watching the graduation piece, Craig and I both got emotional. Each week his show features some topical event and he always does something spectacularly nice. My all time favorite (and I can’t remember if it was episode 2 or 3) was when he was talking to a little girl who missed out on going to see Hamilton due to the theaters closing. He promised to send her and her mother to Broadway New York when the theaters opened up again. Then Lin-Manuel Miranda broke into the feed to announce: we can do better than that. The whole cast of Hamilton sang the song Alexander Hamilton to her from their houses. I cried. I’ll never forget the look on her face. �Yesterday I watched a clip of brass band musicians and singers from 6 or 7 different armed forces units from around the world perform “I’ll be seeing you”. Guess what? I cried. Oliver moments ��Yes that is definitely you Oliver and you are pretty cute. ��On the other hand, this is what we look like the next day after our first long day back at daycare. We are so tired and cross. I think I might have seen that expression on a much older family member. ��Later that same day. Two big naps and a cheese sandwich makes everything all better. I’m not sure how he got the cheese on his nose. Today’s flashback: still in Xi’an. In the early evening we visited the Hui (Muslim) Quarter of the city. This is The Great Mosque of Xi’an. The grounds surrounding it were gorgeous and tranquil. The formation of the Muslim Quarter can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) when Muslim merchants came to Chang’an (Xi’an) via the Silk Road, and the Muslim population rose as families began to settle there. ��Still in the Muslim Quarter, this is the night market which has become a popular tourist attraction. Stalls are filled with pastry wrapped beef and mutton, sour soup dumplings, soup with pepper etc. No I didn’t try anything, mainly as we were going to dinner later in the evening and every meal I ate in China was delicious and always featured more courses than I could manage. So thats it for today. Stay safe, and wear your mask please! I’ll see you tomorrow. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-06_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-56 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-06 Title A name given to the resource Day 56 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b48eb819e7c07185e69feacc9cbcf3b9.pdf 7d05dfbd443917fc381d68743952fde9 PDF Text Text Day 57 by windoworks You know that moment when your mind goes completely blank? Okay so give me a minute. I had a long conversation with a dear friend yesterday and we agreed. Neither of us could imagine ourselves feeling comfortable in a movie theater or a concert or a restaurant. And I think thats what some state governors are missing. They can order businesses to open up again and cut off unemployment benefits but they can’t make people get their haircut or eat in a cafe or diner. All around me I see people perfectly comfortable and happy to be able to buy ice cream or hotdogs or donuts or even whole meals at a myriad of places offering take out, but no one near me seems in a rush to go inside stores. There are many small businesses around me, mostly boutique clothing or other speciality stores and a lot of them have made the successful switch to online buying. The list of what I can buy online is massive and it is delivered to my door and I am then notified that it is there. Craig walks Murphy every day but everything we need or would like is either delivered or is a curbside pickup. Here’s another new talent for me. Apparently I wield a mean hair clipper. After Craig’s first attempt to cut his own hair, I said 2 weeks later: let me try. It’s so much easier to cut someone else’s hair than do it yourself. He was so pleased he said I can cut his hair from now on. I can do that. And speaking of haircuts, a hair stylist in Brooklyn has led more than 100 haircuts via Zoom in the past few weeks, here and all over the world. He has some tips online. Look him up - JaBarie Anderson. Murphy went to the vet yesterday. The routine is: stand in the parking lot, call us to let us know you’re here, and we’ll come out (suitably gloved and masked) and get her. I know they gave her a lot of frozen peanut butter while they examined her, took a blood test, gave her a shot, trimmed her nails (yay!) and plucked all the hair out of her ears. This is important for Murphy, without regular hair plucking she is prone to bacterial ear infections. Then the reverse operation. We’ll call you, stand in the parking lot and we’ll bring her back out to you . One result is that she spent the rest of the day shaking her head and flapping her ears. However this morning she seems fine. Craig spent quite a bit of time yesterday afternoon putting together a beautiful wooden arch to go over the entrance to our front path. Finally he said, come out the front and tell me where it should go. And then we both stood and gazed at this beautiful arch, at least 6 -12 inches too narrow each side to fit over the concrete path. At the time it was not funny. We had forgotten to measure the width of the concrete path. After a little consideration we found what turned out to be the perfect spot for it where it looks even better than out the front. ��Here it is in the back garden ready for a climbing plant to be grown up each side. It also helps us think about the meadow and path that will replace the peed on lawn in the front of the arch. This photo was actually taken last night to show you the beautiful moon rising over the rooftops. Stats: testing is slowly (slowly, slowly) increasing locally and in the last few days they tested all those homeless people sleeping overnight at the Mel Trotter shelter downtown. 65% of the people there tested asymptomatic. Not one person was coughing or sneezing or had a temperature but 65% were positive for the virus. If that isn’t the clearest explanation of how invisible and contagious this virus is, I don’t know how else to explain to non believers. This is probably hard to read but this is a graph of how Michigan is testing as opposed to how it should be testing . We are doing an average of 8, 697 tests per day and we should be doing 58, 081 per day. Does that seem like pie in the sky to anyone else? Kent County has 2,016 cases but still just 40 deaths, although each death is devastating to some local family and friends. Yesterday for the first time, I heard of a friend of a friend who was fit and healthy with no underlying ailments, who died from COVID-19 because it attacked her healthy heart. Whoa! �Costco management has begun responding online to those highly offended shoppers who refuse to wear a mask. Whoever is replying to these petty, angry emails has the best sense of humor and always leaves the shopper speechless. For a little humor in your day, look up tucker budzyn online. He is a golden retriever and his comments on every day life are screamingly funny. At the moment there’s fewer posts as his owner is ill, but what is archived is hilarious. Craig did go out to Grand Valley at Allendale and he posted this photo of himself, in his office, wearing a GVSU mask that our neighbor John made. One of the items he collected was an electric keyboard that a colleague has let him borrow for the summer. So now he has 2 tenor saxophones (his own and his fathers), and alto saxophone, a flute and a keyboard all crammed into his home study and he has a wonderful time late every afternoon, playing various instruments. And of course, an Oliver photo because. ��I’m not sure - is it the new shoes? I can just see him as a teenager. Today’s flashback. During one of the days in Xi’an we attended a puppet show. It was not like any puppet show I had seen before and the story was told in Chinese with traditional musical accompaniment. This show tells the famous story of the Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang who made an epic journey to India and back. I was lucky to be sitting right next to an Ancient Historian one of who’s areas of expertise is the Silk Roads. He explained the whole story to me. �To show you just how hot the weather was, this woman is spraying the caged birds with water. �One night we went to a culture show which featured dancers and musicians dressed in the fashion of the High Tang Court in the mid-eighth century. Very colorful but a lot of cymbal clashing and music that sounded sharp and uncomfortable to me. I did have another set of photos to show you from a different day excursion but as I can find nothing online (Wikipedia you’ve let me down!) and the HA is out with the dog, it will have to be another day. Stay tuned for the next episode of the days of our lives brought to you from the iPad of a quarantined/selfisolated, frustrated author. To protect others from your possibly asymptomatic self - wear a mask outside. I think we need them in coordinating colors with our daily outfits. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-07_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-57 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-07 Title A name given to the resource Day 57 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/13b091e72b4713c8a4497717fb88c4f7.pdf 0ff8f96780ec70b5fcddd52ffb1f6b43 PDF Text Text Day 58 by windoworks Good morning. It is very cold outside today. Last night Craig had to cover the new raised vegetable garden to protect the flourishing micro greens and teeny tiny lettuce shoots because there was a possible frost forecast. In the east and around the Great Lakes the weather will be extremely cold, perhaps even with some snow dumps. While it is a sunny day outside and has been for the last couple of days, there’s always a nippy cold wind blowing. Yesterday, Yesterdog reopened for take out ordering. Yesterdog is a hot dog eatery founded in 1976 in the center of Eastown. Apart from its huge hotdog selection, it is most famous for being the model for the restaurant hang out for the characters in the film “American Pie”. This photo shows the social distance line up at lunchtime. �In another interesting fact about the film, the writer grew up in East Grand Rapids, a separate city that abuts Eastown and the film was based on his experiences of life in Grand Rapids. Did you know that The Polar Express was also based on East Grand Rapids and downtown Grand Rapids? On their morning walk yesterday Murphy and Craig went past Hillcrest Community Gardens which is all plowed and ready for planting. I think you can rent a plot there if you live in the Fulton Heights Neighborhood. And speaking of vegetable gardens, we continue to receive back-ordered seeds from the supplier. I actually have no memory of what seeds I ordered - that was about 7 weeks ago when I was in a flurry of activity, thinking how we could best occupy the coming days. Craig says the seed packets were so full that we have an endless supply of seeds for the next couple of years. Right now, countries around the world are beginning to ease restrictions. In Lithuania, they are betting that outdoor activity is safer, and they are blocking off streets for outdoor restaurant service. California is encouraging curbside pickup instead. In Seattle Washington, they closed a section of streets to cars during the shutdown and are now considering making up to 20% of streets in �some areas permanently pedestrian only to encourage more walking and cycling. Denmark is opening schools to younger children (who may be less contagious), while Germany is opening for older children (who may do better following instructions). In Melbourne Australia they may lift some restrictions next week and allow 2 people to meet with 2 others. At the same time, businesses are organizing themselves to cautiously reopen while carefully observing distancing and sanitizing rules. Offices are considering staff working in teams, on alternate days. Thus, if 1 person in one team becomes ill, you have a second team ready to take over. My brother-in-law in Sydney who works as a lead cameraman at a national tv channel, has been working in team formation for some weeks now. In the UK, Boris Johnson is giving a press conference on Sunday night and he may begin easing restrictions there. After a cavalier beginning to his leadership at the onset of the virus, he has become much more cautious and mindful after his ICU experience. In interviews he said that for 24 hours or so, doctors discussed plans and alternatives for him if his condition continued to worsen. There really is nothing like a brush with death to clarify your thoughts. But, in many ways, these first phases of reopening are big experiments meant to test the unknowns. Its interesting to me that the countries that have managed to act as a whole, even when they have strong independent regions, have done so much better at handling the pandemic. Of course one of the most paramount requirements is a strong, able leader who guides with common sense, understanding and empathy, and most importantly, listens to the experts who actually know what they’re talking about. I have heard the most arrant nonsense spouted daily in the US by the administration, politicians , some governors and some city mayors. People in authority who endanger their constituents lives without a second thought - the very people who voted them into office. (And thats a discussion for another time). In a completely different tack, my niece Elle (you know the one who lives in Cornwall England) is a very talented artistic person, and this stay at home time has given her the opportunity to explore her artistic talents further. Among a range of items, she has been making these wall or window hangings and donating some of the proceeds to the National Health Service. If you’re interested, look her up online at: completeanduttercraft. Contact Elle for more information (cost etc). You can pay as a PayPal guest, and she will ship it to you. �Remember I told you Craig had his study set up with all his musical instruments? Well here he is. ��I think this is his happy place. ��This is Oliver’s crawling track at home. It’s dark because all the doors along the corridor are closed. He usually crawls from the living room to the kitchen and gazes longingly through the childproof gate at the kitchen doorway. He does love to eat and yesterday they were a bit astonished at daycare when Oliver ate an entire muffin at afternoon tea time. Today’s flashback. Still staying in Xi’an, we visited one of many Han Dynasty tombs. This was the tomb of a high official. We walked down underground to the tomb itself. This is where the official was buried, you can see the skeleton outline. �These colorful demons are coming out of the wall beside that official. I am not sure of the significance of this but they are amazing. �These well preserved paintings were on another section of the tomb complex. Tomorrow we’ll visit the only female Emperor’s tomb and the fabulous terracotta warriors, as our stay in Xi’an comes to a close. As they say in Florida: keep one alligator length apart, wash your hands for 20 seconds, or twice through Happy Birthday, and please, think about wearing a mask when you step out your front door. Lets all keep each other safe. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-08_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-58 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-08 Title A name given to the resource Day 58 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4f577ee324b54ea55dc8717b0003b719.pdf 349d3b2474bd2c587fdd03ba85b9e712 PDF Text Text Day 7,429. Oh all right, day 59. by windoworks The problem is, I’m scared. There are all these people out there across the US who are screaming (and I say that literally) to be allowed to go out and resume their normal life. You know, the life they had before the onset of coronavirus. The birthday drinks, the cookouts at the beach, the driving across the States and staying at hotel chains as you go. Going to the movies to watch the new blockbuster, eating out at a restaurant whenever you felt like it - I could go on and on, but you get the picture. I think about these things, I remember them and I want to be able to do them too but then I think, no. Craig and I tested negative. Now while that was a huge relief at the time, in the weeks since we’ve realized that our negative status makes us vulnerable. As one scientist put it: we’re dry tinder just waiting to be ignited. Now intellectually I know that the economy is failing and there has to be steps taken to restart it slowly. So states are trying to decide how to reopen safely and thats an oxymoron. There really is no way to reopen a city or a town or a state safely until the virus is either gone or under control. And some Mayors and Governors talk about ‘acceptable losses’. Thats a bit like culling the herd and I suspect it is my age group that is in the acceptable loss range. This morning I read that trump said teachers over 60 shouldn’t go back to teaching for a while. Pardon? And while I am reluctantly on the subject of trump and pence, both of them have close aides who tested positive this week. The press secretary to pence tested asymptomatic (no cough, temperature, runny nose, or sore throat but very contagious)- and pence chose to visit the Mayo Clinic, flout their rules completely, and refuse to wear a mask. It’s a bit disheartening to watch these irresponsible antics and then look at other countries in the world where their person in charge has the country’s best interests at heart. Sigh. So here on 300 block Auburn , yesterday was the last day of school for seniors. The families with a senior made this effort. ����In other happy news, while talking to a friend on the phone late yesterday afternoon I saw the first hummingbird of the season at the feeder outside the tv room window. There’s a double bird seed block feeder out there too and the range of birds that call there is just wonderful. I love watching them. Sorry, there’s no photo of the hummingbird this time. Here’s a daylight shot of the arch in the back garden. Yesterday we took my friend Mary Alice’s advice and bought 2 white summer/fall blooming clematis from our local nursery (curbside pickup) and Craig will plant them when the weather warms again. We will turn the lawn area into a meadow, hopefully. So what else am I doing apart from writing this blog? The Enrichment Committee for the Women’s City Club is still active and I am co-chair with my friend Wendy. We will have a Zoom committee meeting next Friday as we negotiate to turn all our researched and booked future programs into virtual presentations so there is something every Thursday for our members to enjoy. I have to say that Wendy and I are organizing this with the help of our committee but the responsibility for the virtual programs being successfully presented goes to our Communications Director, Gloria. We couldn’t do it without her. �This is how far Ive gotten with my first jigsaw puzzle, another daily activity. Stats: Michigan - 46,326 total cases, 4,393 deaths. Kent County - 2,135 total cases, no new deaths. And while we’re talking about Kent County and my home, Grand Rapids, look up a Youtube video - Covid-19: We Will Rise. It is about Grand Rapids and the coronavirus. (Yes, I cried). �This photo was sent to me from my friend Merrilyn. I do love the Statue of Liberty - she gives me hope. An Oliver photo: �Here are Oliver and Zoe sitting in their nearby park and enjoying the warmer weather (even though its fall in Australia). It’s Zoe’s birthday today and tomorrow is her first Mothers Day. Happy, happy, Zoe! And of course, we come to the flashback. Today the HA is sitting right next to me and he will be able to add information to the photos. �One afternoon (still in Xi’an) we drove out to the Famen Temple complex. In this photo, Zoe is standing in front of a Han Dynasty pagoda, dating from the 2nd century CE. Pagodas are a Chinese version of a South Asian Stupa. Stupas and then pagodas are spiritual buildings built to house (originally) sacred pieces or objects of the Buddha - a piece of his robe for example. This pagoda was nearly destroyed in the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, but the monks of the temple surrounded this pagoda and set themselves on fire. This so shocked the young revolutionary guards that they didn’t destroy it. As I write this I remember that we walked around this pagoda and there was a memorial there dedicated to those monks. ��The Chinese government has expanded this Famen temple to an impressive size. Buddhism has seen a resurgence in recent years and the government is happy to support this religion because its non threatening to the party control, unlike other religions such as Christianity. Famen is a huge area - we lined up to board a little people mover to drive from the entrance to the temple in the bottom photo. The tourists were all Chinese and we had to fight to get on the little train. (I thought of my stepmother - elbows out, dear!). The main road goes right through the middle of those 2 giant Buddhas in the top photo. The old pagoda (with Zoe in front) once housed a part of the little finger bone of the Buddha but this relic was moved to the new golden temple above. It is now housed inside a glass case in the middle of a huge marble hall inside the new temple. It seemed a Disneyland version of a Buddhist temple. We shuffled through in a huge long line and Ithink I saw the bone relic. I did see monks in saffron robes inside the temple. Again, it was a staggeringly hot day. I have acquired this (with permission) from my friend Gina who is continuing to sew masks: she still has masks available. For those friends who will wear them, they are free. For those friends who want one but �won’t wear them, they’re $150 each. I love it! FGS, if you have a mask, wear it outside. Help to keep us all safe. See you tomorrow. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-09_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-59 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-09 Title A name given to the resource Day 59 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e2e16fa4a7e7abfb2f5039206b0239cd.pdf 9fa3564045b76007a97b92ae9947c547 PDF Text Text Day 60 – Mothers Day by windoworks Not the usual Mothers Day. This week has been a difficult one for many friends. Perhaps its the full moon, perhaps because its the 9th week of isolation (or iso as it is now known, or bubble), perhaps because there’s another 18 days of state Stay At Home order left. We’re all talking of being tired, cranky, sad, restless, bored but mostly anxious. I don’t know about you but my anxiety levels go through the roof regularly and it is a daily battle to pull them back down to a manageable level. This Mothers Day is grey day with the promise of a lot of rain. Thats okay because I didn’t have any outings planned anyway. In Australia, Oliver ‘gave’ Zoe a Mothers Chocolate Gift Bag and card. How clever at 9 months of age. (Thanks Bernie and Drew). ��I thought I’d write the stats section sooner, so it can be like swallowing bad tasting medicine followed by a treat to make you feel better. In the US we have 1.3 million confirmed cases and 79, 696 deaths. In Michigan we have 45, 646 confirmed cases and 4,343 deaths. In Kent County we have 2,213 confirmed cases and we are holding at 41 deaths. In Seoul, South Korea, they had to close 2,100 nightclubs and bars due to a new outbreak at one club. Here in the US, the White House seems in disarray. As I mentioned yesterday, 2 aides to trump and pence tested positive and a number of top members of the Task Force, including Robert Redfield (Head of the CDC) and Dr Anthony Fauci have quarantined themselves and are working from home for the next 14 days. Other people working in the White House are nervous about coming to work. They have restricted access to the Oval Office and I believe trump and pence are tested daily. I would like to think that testing is the same one I endured -invasive and very painful. (I am angry, hear me roar). trump continues to publicly discuss ‘acceptable losses’. I assumed that meant those citizens in my age group but perhaps not. Governor Cuomo announced yesterday that 3 of the 73 children in New York, sickened with a mysterious, toxic shock syndrome linked to coronavirus, have died. In my imagination I see doctors and scientists all around the world saying daily: yes, we’ve got it! We understand it! And then: **!!^^##! What is this new development/symptom? Where did that come from? I think they’re running as fast as they can to catch up with the new developments. Yesterday Obama (in a leaked telephone call) described trump’s handling of the pandemic as “an absolute chaotic disaster”. He went on to say that it would have been bad with the best of governments. I long to hear him say: don’t worry, its very bad but we’re Americans, we can and we will survive this. Fortunately for us Michiganders, Governor Whitmer says this every so often. Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day with (once again) a cold wind blowing. So I made us a packed lunch and we drove to Holland to visit the lakeshore and eat our lunch in the car. We drove through downtown Holland and on the way saw some of the beautiful tulips planted all around the downtown area for the Annual Holland Tulip Time Festival. It has been an annual event for over 90 years and features daily parades along the Main Street downtown, with groups of clog dancers in traditional Dutch costumes and famous Michiganders marching. One parade at the beginning of the festival features the Governor of Michigan sweeping the street clean with the other marchers, using big straw brooms. The tulips in the parks nearby are spectacular. It takes the organizing committee 11 months to plan the next years event which generates an estimated $48 million in economic impact annually. The organizers asked those people who had committed sponsorship to consider donating it as the organization is facing serious financial difficulty. In other festival news, for the first time ever in over 50 years, the Festival of the Arts in Grand Rapids, held on the first weekend in June has been cancelled and in its place they are organizing a virtual version. �Some of the popular eateries and boutique stores in Holland’s Main Street were offering online shopping with curbside pickup. We didn’t stop but kept driving on towards the lake. We were expecting that the Lakeshore parking lot might be closed after the debacle at Gand Haven which led to that area being closed, but happily it was open and everyone was behaving themselves. I think the strong cold wind blowing was a deterrent. Once again, we were parked cheek by jowl with other cars. On our right the woman seemed to be reading her cell phone and on our left the couple got out their lunch and although we didn’t acknowledge each other, we sat in companionable silence and ate our lunches together and watched the wind whipping the waves up on the lake. Then Craig and I drove all along the lakeshore back to Lake Michigan Drive and then turned inland to home. It was lovely and sad at the same time and it was my Mothers Day outing. One more Oliver photo, just because ��Today’s flashback: I really have forgotten what order these excursions in Xi”an took place and it probably doesn’t matter. Anyway today’s excursion was to Empress Wu Zetian’s tomb. She was the only woman to rule China. Her reign was from 690 - 705 during the Tang Dynasty. She started out as a 13 year old concubine to the Emperor Gaozong. When she was 31 years old she married Gaozong after convincing him to abandon his legitimate wife. 5 years later he had a stroke and she became the real power in China, through her 2 sons who were too young to rule. The emperor died in 683 and she spent the next 7 years working to build up her power until she became Empress in 690. This is the main avenue connecting the two towers at the tomb complex where she and Gaozong are both buried. The layout is meant to be a smaller replica of Chang’an. During her 15 year reign she strengthened the exam system by recruiting men of all ranks to become members of the bureaucracy. She led military campaigns against the Koreans and she fostered a very highly cultured court. She was an excellent musician, composer and poet. She instructed historians to write biographies of famous women from China’s past such as Lady Fu Hao of the Shang Dynasty (almost 2,000 years prior to Wu Zetian). Eventually she was forced to abdicate by her son in 705. ��Top photo: one of the 2 towers at the tomb complex. In this bottom photo, Craig and Zoe climbed up above the avenue. (Of course they did - too hot for me). We were not allowed to go into either tomb as they are sealed to the public. Evidently they have identified 17 other tombs at the site (high officials, royal children etc) but only 5 have been excavated so far. ��These little statues which I loved, are representative of the ideal (chubby) woman during the Tang Dynasty and particularly Wu Zetian. Later ideal women in the following dynasties reverted back to slender possibly helpless women that Empress Wu would have hated. I took a number of other photos of these fat mamas and then came home and created a Fat Mama window which sold to a good home. I’m all typed out. Stay safe and keep others safe too. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-10_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-60 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-10 Title A name given to the resource Day 60 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7fd5c2a8e2101b4860312352874c6ec3.pdf 753812d2169cac42bbd9fc121c0ac106 PDF Text Text Day 61. by windoworks So here we are coming up on our 10th week in iso (remember I told you about iso yesterday). Winter has faded away and Spring is taking tentative steps forward. My hands may never recover from the intense daily routine of washing them every 5 minutes, in spite of the hand cream stations dotted around the house for us to lather on every time we pass. My hair is a sad story. Ever so slowly, at the crown of my head, the grey hairs creep forward. Craig keeps offering to use the clippers on me, but I’m not that desperate. After years of beautiful, shellacked fingernails and carefully pedicured toenails, try as hard as I can, my nails are rough and catch on everything. With my fingernails, the only solution is to cut them very short and file, file, file. I have almost finished coloring the book the children gave me sometime ago, and luckily I have other partially finished coloring books. My first jigsaw puzzle has reached the difficult sky portion and I have yet to take up my resurrected tapestry. I order groceries every Monday and keep a running list the rest of the week. How long ago now was it that I used to cruise the aisles in the grocery store, wondering if I had enough oats for the next week, or should I buy another container, just in case? Now, if I forget something, it goes on the list and I manage without it till then. I’ve also realized that 1 count means just that and we have had the new experience of making 1 avocado last until the next order - and we eat a LOT of avocados. Items that I cannot find at the grocery store are now delivered to me by Amazon. I always practiced shopping locally but its so much harder to do that in a pandemic, and that makes me feel guilty. Last week the first of our local, independent restaurants closed due to the pandemic. It seems if you can’t adapt your restaurant, cafe, ice cream store or coffee shop to take out, you simply can’t keep going. And its affecting other types of stores. Also last week a clothing/spa store in East Grand Rapids closed. They have a newer, second store in Ada and that one will remain in place. A local restaurant owner friend has begun an online discussion of closing sections of streets down to allow restaurants to place outdoor eating opportunities. A local coffee spot redesigned the previous owners garden space to make a coffee garden. It functions all year round (no mean achievement in Michigan) with heated igloos for patrons to sit in during the winter. In the Netherlands, one restaurant has constructed individual greenhouses for patrons to dine in. Very interesting. In Australia, New Zealand and England, restrictions are being slowly eased. New Zealand in particular, has an astonishingly low number of cases and an even lower number of deaths. In Australia each state is making its own decisions regarding easing. In England I think builders are able to return to work - and perhaps manufacturing? Scotland and Wales are retaining the current ‘stay at home’ message. �In Michigan we are asked to stay at home until May 28 and all government, county and city committees, boards etc are mandated to meet remotely until June 30. Airlines are beginning to struggle to survive and some are shutting down service to smaller cities. Two regional feeder jet services are closing altogether, so many places will have no flight connection to larger cities. Stats: Michigan has a 24 hour increase of 382 new cases and 25 new deaths. Kent County now has 2281 confirmed cases and another day of no new deaths. Governor Whitmer has introduced a 6 stage program of reopening. It’s interesting to me that all those people who demonstrated for more freedoms are getting them but not how they imagined. I was looking at the Covid regulations in place for shopping at a huge garden nursery in Allendale and they are very strict. I read of an ice cream store in another state that opened for curbside pickup and the customers were so aggressive and demanding that the owner closed it down to online ordering only. There is such an anger and frustration and a demand for life as it was, but I believe that life is gone. I think we have to negotiate and accept the new normal. This is what’s left of the old parking ramp for Blodgett Hospital - a hospital we can walk to. I wonder what’s going in there? �And hooray for my next door neighbor Lea - she really is a Superstar Teacher! �Another photo from my friend Merrilyn - a real ‘blast from the past’, here we are tadpoling. I’m the shaggy haired woman in the middle, Asher is crouched on the left and Zoe is in the middle with her hand in the water. Ah memories! And speaking of memories - today’s flashback. This one is a biggie. The Terracotta Warriors. This is the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi (literally First Emperor of Qin or China). These terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huangdi were buried with the emperor to protect him in his afterlife. They have excavated 4 of the pits and uncovered 8,000 figures. The tomb area covers 38 square miles altogether. Uncovering and restoring the life sized figures is a long painstaking job. The pits were covered with roofs which fell in over time and pushed the figures over. As they fell, they broke into pieces and those pieces were mixed together, making restoration very difficult. �This photo shows the pits with the roof collapsed on top of the figures. �This shows the size of one pit. On the right and left you can see the tiny figures of tourists walking around the top. ��In the top photo you can see the details of the uniforms and faces, with horses behind. In the bottom photo, this is the reconstructed concubine chariot with 4 horses. All the sculptures were painted originally, but once uncovered the paint curled off in the air almost instantly. �Here is the reconstruction area where they literally piece the figures back together, bit by bit. This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Qin Shi Huangdi was obsessed with immortality. He constructed his tomb with everything he thought he would need in the afterlife. His actual burial tomb is yet to be opened but we have very good details about it from the ancient historian, Sima Qian. He said: the ceiling was studded with precious stones depicting the night sky on the day the Emperor died. On the floor, the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers flow in mercury into the China Sea. The tomb was lit with whale oil lamps (the longest burning substance known at the time). He was buried with a huge treasure of coins and silver and gold. Finally, to protect the tomb from grave robbers, it was booby trapped with primed crossbows. Chinese archeologists have been very slow and cautious about opening this personal tomb and are leaving it to future archeologists with more advanced tools to open it without damage. I could tell you stories of his paranoia and how in later years he covered his face with a veil to thwart assassination attempts, but that’s a story for another day. Hoping you and yours are safe and well. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-11_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-61 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-11 Title A name given to the resource Day 61 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/609a8740d817b9c729b478e780a6b96c.pdf 822778fd892fc67f4dc89c17db2ca0ec PDF Text Text Day 62 by windoworks Yesterday we drove to Martha’s Vineyard for a curbside pickup (oh all right, it was Vodka and Marsala). Then we went downtown to the Grand Valley’s downtown campus and walked pretty much on our own over the Grand River and back to the car again. ���Weirdly empty. Then we drove over to Chowhound where a very strong young woman, gloved and masked, manhandled the largest bag of dog food into the back of our car. And that was our outing for the day. It’s funny what becomes an outing in this time. Still, its fresh air and a little exercise. In China, Singapore and South Korea they are seeing new virus cases appearing and I think in some states here, where they have opened up prematurely, they are experiencing an upswing. The latest findings are that this virus keeps attacking new parts of the body and the experts are not sure why. It’s odd to think that 9 weeks ago, the only symptoms you had to worry about were fever, cough and fatigue. Scientists have begun to think that there may not be a second wave in the Fall but a series of wavelets from now on. In Europe, France is divided into 3 zones, red, orange and green. Green is the southern area of France with a very low incidence of cases. Interestingly, this is the area we lived in for 2 months in 2016. The north eastern area, including Paris, is the red zone with strict stay at home conditions and between the 2 zones is the orange zone or transition area. �In Germany, a month after easing restrictions, there appears to be a rising infection rate. This speaks to R rates and here’s what this means: The R number is a key factor in gauging the coronavirus pandemic. It refers to the ‘effective reproduction number’ of COVID-19. An R value of 1 is a crucial threshold. This refers to the average number of people one infected person will pass the virus to. Recent estimates of China’s infection rate has placed it at R6.6. And to look at it another way: if a country has an R of 1.5, this means that 100 people could infect 150, who would in turn infect 225, who would infect 338 and so on. how do we stop the R factor from rising? Really only by staying home and practicing safe distancing and strict hygiene routines. Once we start letting those practices slide, the R factor begins to climb again. The ideal R factor is way below 1. The only long term solution is a vaccine and no one knows when that will be available. So thats the science lesson over for today. For questions, please look online. After a number of reassuring emails from various airlines, trying to coax me back into considering flying again, a recent United flight looked like this: �Every seat was full with everyone using the overhead lockers as usual. I think the flight was from New York to San Francisco - about 5 and a half hours in that confined space with no food or drink service. Hmmmm. To cheer us all up, here is an Oliver photo - note the red cheeks. It’s teething time again. ��And now to the days flashback. So we left Xi’an formerly known as Chang’an. Why was the name changed? Chang’an (perpetual city) was the capital of China from 800BCE (Before the Common Era) to 900CE (Common Era). When the Ming came to power in the 15th century they wanted to promote Beijing as the capital so they changed the name of Chang’an to Xi’an which means ‘western city‘. This is a rural scene outside of Xi’an. From Xi’an we flew far to the west to Dunhuang a city on the edge of the Gobi desert. It was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road and is situated in an oasis containing Crescent Lake and Mingsha Shan meaning Sining Sand Mountain which refers to the singing sands whipping off the dunes. After we landed we drove out in a coach to see the Yulin Grottoes. �We’re all so tired, we fell asleep on the coach. �Entering the Gobi Desert. What a change in scenery! ��The Yulin Grottoes or Caves. It took us about 2 hours driving to get there. There are 32 caves with murals in the east cliff and 11 caves in the west cliff. These cave murals were painted over a long period from the 2nd to 10th century. Some of these were painted as thanks for surviving the Silk Road journey. This became a popular area for talented artists to display their skill. In order to see some of the fantastic cave murals we saw, you would have to look online as we were strictly forbidden to take photos. Just as it looks, it was stultifyingly hot and dry. It seemed to suck the moisture right out of you and you had to keep constantly drinking water. I think this is also the place where the available toilet facilities smelt so disgusting that Zoe and I elected to pee in the bushes. Craig visited this area in June last year and in the intervening 8 years the site has been considerably improved and the toilets are now at western standards. More desert adventures tomorrow. I’m not going to say it because I’m sure you could recite it verbatim back to me. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-12_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-62 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-12 Title A name given to the resource Day 62 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/372b5b093871537fbb3b08a462dd2dfb.pdf 5eb67f4deb6e1fb48df8c56e21721604 PDF Text Text Day 63 by windoworks This blog writing business has become more complicated. I now search through news and articles online to find interesting things to tell you, as well as updates from friends and family overseas. So here goes: The new big job hunt is for Contact Tracers. Contact tracers identify infected individuals based on test results, obtained by city and state health departments. Then they contact people — initially by phone, in most cases — who have tested positive for the coronavirus. Tracers will ask them to recall the names of everyone with whom they have recently come into contact. Finally, contact tracers will warn those people of their potential exposure, advise them to self-quarantine and provide them with access to resources they might need in order to follow protocol. This is a job that you have to train online to be authorized to do. If you are interested, look it up and sign on. Factories are staring to close down altogether. Unemployment is the US could reach 25% (thats a scary thought). Here in Michigan, two children have the mysterious inflammatory syndrome linked to the coronavirus that 73 children presented with in New York. Our next door neighbor Nicolas, who was denied all the wonderful end of high school celebrations because of the virus, has taken a job as a caregiver for man with disabilities. Every weekday Nicolas drives to his house, changes into scrubs and protective gear and assists him. Way to go Nicolas! The future is safe in 2020 Seniors hands. In the ‘will I ever willingly get on a cruise ship again’ update, there are still dozens of cruise ships stuck, anchored off ports around the world. Some are clustered in groups in the Caribbean, Atlantic Ocean and the South China Sea. Tens of thousands of crew members have been trapped for weeks and unable to get home, some are locked in their small cabins with regimented fresh air breaks 3 times a day. Some are being paid and some are not. All cruise lines have been asked to charter planes to get their crews home but most seem to be dragging their feet. And ignoring this distressing story above, cruise lines have begun advertising new cruises from AUGUST THIS YEAR onwards! But not before all this happens: No self service buffets, no passengers over 70 without a doctors certificate (what now? I have to get a certificate to pay money to cruise?), temperature and medical checks before embarking and during the cruise, enhanced cleaning, fewer passengers, fewer ships, shorter closer to home itineraries and lower fares. Sounds truly enticing to me. (That was sarcasm).And bear in mind, to get to a port to sail from, you have to fly first. Hmmm. �In a “lets think about that” move, California State University, the biggest 4 year University in the States, announced yesterday that it is canceling all face-to-face teaching in the fall and will conduct online teaching only. Craig is enrolled in an online course on best teaching practices for online teaching, as all GVSU faculty has been asked to do, in case online teaching becomes the only way for classes to be held. Yesterday President Mantilla of GVSU held a virtual town hall. We’ll see what the fall brings. Yesterday was a big day for Murphy. With dog wash facilities closed locally and Murphy beginning to smell a little ‘doggy’, we had a very exciting episode after lunch. ��You can see just how much she was enjoying this as I captured one of the moments she tried hard to escape. She smells heaps better now and I think she’s forgiven Craig. Earlier in the day we drove out to near 64th street and walked along another section of the Fred Meijer Trail. In this section, we walked over a fast flowing stream with ducks. You can’t see the ducks but it was a pretty stop - and yes it was still cold before lunchtime. On his early morning walk Craig saw this: ��And because there always has to be an Oliver photo, here’s two: ��But why can’t I chew the rubber edge on the coffee table? Mum? ��It seems to be time to mount the baby videocam on the wall! Today’s flashback: another Dunhuang excursion was to Souyang ruined city in the desert. This Silk Road city was first established in 111BCE by Emperor Wu and then moved to its current site in 295CE. It prospered during the Tang and Western Xia dynasties. At its peak, the population was 50,000 and it thrived for over a Millenium. It was destroyed and abandoned in the 16th century. It was another hot afternoon. It took a long time to drive to Souyang and then it was a long walk in, in unrelenting heat. ��I think I’m in the middle there, trudging along. ��The top photo is of walls (I think) and the bottom photo is of Craig, 8 years later with the tower from the first photo way in the background. This shows you what a vast city this was in its heyday. Like everything else, facilities have been upgraded and there are now carts which drive you into the ruins. I hated the whole experience and Craig was ecstatic to see a site he had lectured on. By the time we got back to our hotel, we ate dinner at 11:30pm. Not my best day. Stats: Kent County cases continue to rise. Yesterday we had 2,416 cases and sadly 45 deaths in total. We have seen an increase of 500 cases over the last week. Yesterday Dr Fauci said we will experience avoidable sufferings, death and further economic damage if states reopen too soon. And here’s a link to an excellent article, worth reading. https://www.erinbromage,com/post/the-risksknow-them-avoid-them Till tomorrow then. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-13_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-63 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-13 Title A name given to the resource Day 63 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d227fa171f9dca4ff844995bc8e2a7f9.pdf 70a19ce7226dc89ebed6a84d6dd00e05 PDF Text Text Day 64 by windoworks Here I am, sitting propped up in bed, a pillow under my iPad, my trusty cellphone ready for fact checking beside me and a fresh cup of coffee. To begin from a blogger in New Zealand: “Fear kept us locked inside. Fear also made it hard for us to function: it made us overthink; it put us on the back foot. But perhaps the biggest danger is that it will shrink our lives from now on; that we’ll be more fearful than bold in our choices. Don’t fall into that trap. Aim to live a bigger life, not a smaller one.” I know that right now, fear is making it harder for me to function and the temptation is that it will shrink my life. It’s hard for me to even think about being bold at this moment. On the other hand, this situation is making it easier for me to think about what I do want and what I don’t want in life. Craig and I have established a quiet routine. We have thought of projects and renovations, we are clearing things out and reordering items to be more useful and accessible. The vegetable garden is growing and flowers are appearing. Worryingly, our climbing hydrangea went overnight from bursting with new healthy growth to looking limp and browned. Was it frost or is it a bug? Will it rebound or do we need to pull the whole thing out and start again? If you’re reading this and have any advice, please let me know. And while I’m on the subject, Mary Alice, the clematis are twining their way up the trellis on either side and we have our first flower about to open! So far, so good. Yesterday, Zoe and Oliver met a friend and her son and they went for a walk in the bush (forest) by Taronga Zoo in Sydney. At the end of their walk they sat down to eat some lunch that they had brought with them. Soon a magpie sat nearby on the grass and watched. Then 3 kookaburras joined the magpie and they sat in a circle watching Zoe and her friend eat. The birds began making odd noises and finally one swooped up and took the remainder of the sausage roll out of Zoe’s friends hand. That seemed like a good moment to leave as Zoe’s friend had remarked earlier that this reminded her of the movie ‘The Birds’. Scary. In a hodgepodge of news and tidbits: in New Zealand barbershops opened and customers lined up all night long to get a haircut. I think each customer has to sign in to allow contact tracing. Here in the US a number of big cities are considering closing a percentage of streets to allow outside dining and promote walking and biking. Also in the US, we are on track to produce more electricity from renewable sources than coal. That’s a happy note. From China: there’s some evidence that people can remain asymptomatic for 30-50 days. Eek! �In the how will colleges/ universities teach this fall, category: shut down in a stricken wave this March as the coronavirus pandemic spread across America, colleges and universities are now studying whether and how to move forward, with plans ranging wildly between hope and grim epidemiology. At GVSU there are detailed plans developing for every eventuality. Funding for colleges continues to be a huge problem. If the choice is online classes, will it be cheaper than face to face? In a totally unrelated news item: senior year pranks live on during the coronavirus. One talented group of seniors put their empty high school building on the real estate market. Luckily, no one bought it. In polls taken in April, most Americans thought life would go back to normal in a few months. In recent polls, more Americans think it could take a year or longer. In today’s stats: United States has 1.42 million confirmed cases, and 84, 763 deaths. Michigan has 48, 021 confirmed cases and 4,674 deaths. Kent County has 2,446 cases and 47 deaths. In adjacent Ottawa County (where the GVSU main campus is) there are 444 cases and 21 deaths. Craig has been following these Ottawa numbers and says they are starting to suddenly climb. When I was researching the daily numbers for the US it said that the daily increase from yesterday of confirmed cases was 20,568 and I thought that must be a mistake but its correct, and very sobering. Yesterday, in our search for somewhere to walk and enjoy the warm sunshine where there was the smallest number of other people walking etc., we hit upon the main GVSU campus at Allendale. As we drove in we saw a few people walking or riding bikes. Apparently there are about 200 students in residence from other countries who are unable to get home safely. These 200 students have been a great test run for the administration to try alternate food delivery systems, manage social isolation etc. We walked around one of the forest tracks at the top of the ravine which leads down to the Grand River. It was warm, sunny and exceptionally quiet except for the birds - and not another soul in sight! �I did have my mask tied around my neck but I didn’t need to pull it up. An Oliver update: ��On their bush walk yesterday. This was taken just before Oliver dropped his bundle (began crying loudly). His incoming top teeth are diving him crazy. Today’s flashback: today brings us to the end of our China trip. A silk weaver. They make stunning silk cloth in gorgeous colors - very expensive. �The Spice Stall in the market at Dunhuang. ��Two Uyghur women who greeted us at the restaurant on the night we ate at 11:30pm. I was that slender once. ��An amazing experience. We drove out in the late afternoon to the desert where we were split into groups of 5 and we climbed on to a camel each for a ride in the sand dunes. The top photo shows you just how high the dunes are - there is a line of people climbing up the ridge on the right. The bottom photo shows me, on my camel with my rented orange boots. These elegant boots kept the sand out of my clothing. I was the only one with a scarf/shawl which proved very handy when a small wind blew up. Craig was on another camel string and he took this photo which he named ‘Florence of Arabia”. I was so scared initially that I gripped the camel tightly with my knees and had huge bruises on my legs for days afterwards. In the end, I loved it. There’s something about the way a camel sways slowly along that is very peaceful. ���The Mogao Caves. These caves were constructed some time in the 4th century CE. They contain thousands of Buddha shrines for meditation and pilgrimage. Dunhuang became not only a Silk Road hub but a major religious center. There is an estimated half a million square feet of religious wall murals within the caves. Again, we were not allowed to take photos inside the caves. The bottom photo is of our whole group. After this we all began the long journey home to our various countries. I hope you have enjoyed this armchair trip as much as I have. Let’s see what flashback tomorrow brings. Stay safe - its not over yet. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-14_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-64 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-14 Title A name given to the resource Day 64 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ae8815470ff49b08648f5a26f0fc29e0.pdf 1a08d8b2b52b974fbc862af82a050d00 PDF Text Text Day 65 by windoworks This morning I was looking at the virus statistics for the US, Michigan and Kent County and this jumped out at me: there are 4,389,915 cases worldwide and the US has 1,448,245 of them, that is, just over one quarter of all cases are here in the US. I might have to lie down now for a bit. In England, my niece Elle is returning to work on Monday. In New Zealand my daughter-in-law, Alva, returns to work on Monday also. Her husband Zar, continues to work from home until he becomes part of a shift able to return to his office. In Sydney Australia, Zoe continues to work part time from home. She would like to work 4 days a week instead of 3, but the daycare center for Oliver doesn’t have enough staff to cope with more children for more days a week. They are currently funded by the government at one third their normal income. In Melbourne Australia, Asher continues to work from home. New Zealand is using logging in at offices and venues to facilitate contact tracing. As each state is different in Australia, I’m not sure what’s happening there. One of our favorite coffee bars in Balmain has decided that although they are allowed to have 10 customers sit inside the cafe, its far more profitable for them to continue serving food and coffee as a take out venue. They are extremely popular whatever the restrictions. Locally, our butcher shop within walking distance is overwhelmed by customers using curbside pickup. At this time when grocery stores are limiting meat purchases per customer because of the meat processing plant closures due to rampant COVID infections, we can buy good quality local meat products. Last night I made beef short ribs. A new recipe for me and delicious! Our local gluten free, soy free, vegan bakery has stopped taking phone orders and asks all customers to use online ordering at their website. They have begun baking some items such as donuts several times a day to cope with the demand. You give them the make and color of your car and the approximate pickup time. You then stand outside the bakery on the sidewalk and they run your order out to you, wearing gloves and a mask. One evening this week, my two neighbors on either side, brought chairs out and sat on the front lawn, more than 6 feet apart and talked. It was a really cold evening and they sat rugged up in layers, drinking beer and just talking. In the past, they have often sat on a front porch, long into the evening, talking. This was the closest they could get now and it was nice to see. This is the New Normal, and I’m okay with that. Yesterday was a miserable rainy day and Craig and I just went for a drive. We drove out to 84th Street and then drove around the Tanger Outlet Mall. ��Eerily quiet. There were a handful of cars and we wondered if some of the stores were ‘dark stores’ an expression my son introduced me to. Dark stores are retail stores that cater exclusively to online shopping. Dark stores may be the future of post pandemic retail. Grocery store chains such as Whole Foods and Kroger have converted some stores to dark stores, as have other chains such as Bed, Bath and Beyond. I continue to be astonished by the never ending variety of objects able to be purchased online, delivered or picked up at the curb. As a friend of mine remarked: I realized that all my life I’ve been waiting for someone to deliver food to me on a weekly basis - I love it! A post on FaceBook has been asking everyone to say yes or no to wearing a mask. 99.9% of responders said YES! I see people wearing them in parking lots before going into a store, but not when walking outside. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I am trying to give up reading ridiculous news such as trump’s mysterious and baseless Obamagate. Even he couldn’t actually define what he meant. Yesterday there was the 3rd protest in Lansing Michigan outside the empty State House. Why these people gathered in the rain, close together, shouting (all that air from your lungs spreads the virus and takes it in as you get ready to shout) and with semi automatic rifles is entirely beyond me. One woman held a sign that said something like: I’d rather have dangerous freedom than safe restriction. In looking online to see if I could see her sign and its exact wordage I saw �instead lots of men, women and children with no masks and singing loudly. One advantage was that they were outside so its harder for the virus to spread in the open air, but singing is another activity that assists the virus in an easy spread. In the end, it comes down to personal decisions as it has in those states that have reopened early in spite of all advice and guidelines. While a small percentage rush eagerly out, the larger percentage have chosen to stay home. Here’s an Oliver photo to cheer us all up. ��Today’s flashback. After much discussion and photograph searching, I have decided to revisit our 2016 sabbatical in Europe and beginning this week we will be looking at our adventures in Berlin. This city was not what I expected. For some reason I assumed it would look like London or Paris, beautiful old streets and buildings with lots of history. It doesn’t look like that because it was almost completely demolished by the end of the Second World War. They continue to rebuild but it is a slow process. ��Our apartment was in a refurbished building on a quiet street opposite the police barracks. Look at the height of this door! ��The living/dining room ��The narrow but cute kitchen. That window looked out onto the inner courtyard. We had a key to get into the building and another key to ur front door but honestly with the police barracks across the road I never felt unsafe. Here I am on our bedroom balcony overlooking the street below. This apartment was our elegant haven for the next 4 weeks. Stay tuned for our adventures. Mask up! � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-15_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-65 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-15 Title A name given to the resource Day 65 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/dcfab0551b428fc730f33e129ea34c62.pdf 65acc5d68fe92ba5847822ae37a54bbf PDF Text Text Day 66 by windoworks Two days ago, I was at a Zoom meeting when I looked out the tv room window (where the wifi router is) and I saw a Baltimore Oriole, trying to drink the nectar from the hummingbird feeder. We have a pair of Downy Woodpeckers that eat at our seed blocks and yesterday I think I saw a Rose Breasted Grosbeak. Perhaps the pandemic is bringing them back to our gardens in the same way that wild animals began turning up downtown in deserted cities across the world. And speaking of gardening, thanks for the advice regarding my climbing hydrangea. I will do some trimming of dead leaves and see what that does. The backyard meadow project has gone from idea to measurement of paths. See, this is what happens when you’re stuck at home for weeks on end and your mind begins to rearrange rooms, belongings and then eventually gardens. The idea of Craig digging up a large portion of the grass in the back yard prompted me to suggest that he hire some sort of tool with a motor to help save his back. So yesterday he called Home Depot only to find out that he couldn’t just rent it and pay for it online then pick it up curbside. No, if he wants to rent a tiller (and apparently the one he chose online won’t work and he needs a bigger machine), Craig has to drive down, walk inside to the back of the huge store, present his credit card and drivers license and then walk the machine out to the car himself. Hmmm. As we even get our monthly prescription drugs delivered so that neither of us has to enter a store, this presents a quandary. Part of our concern is that after weeks of slow activity, the stats in Kent County are rising a little faster than before. Today the deaths reached 53 and the confirmed cases are now at 2,705. I have heard people say: well if we get it, I bet it won’t be too bad and then we’ll be immune. That could be true. But here’s a story I heard from a colleague on Zoom this week: In March, she and her husband drove back to Michigan from Florida. They are both over 60 and he has limited lung capacity, so she was very careful all the way home, wiping things down with bleach wipes etc. They stopped overnight in Tennessee, and after she had cleaned the hotel room and settled her husband inside, she called a local restaurant and ordered dinner. She drove to the restaurant, expecting curbside pickup. Instead, she found she had to go inside the busy restaurant and ask for her order at the bar area. There were a lot of people there with no social distancing and no masks. She looked around carefully, while waiting for her order, to make sure she was a good distance away from everyone. As she turned to look at the table of patrons behind her, a woman seated near her coughed so hard, she felt the drops fly across her face. �As soon as she reached the hotel she jumped in the shower and washed everything including her hair. Two days later, after they arrived home, she developed COVID-19. She said it was the worst flu she had ever had. The body aches were horrendous. She spent 9 days in isolation downstairs in their condo. She said the first 4 days were the worst, lying in bed with the blinds down, trying to sleep. After 7 days she began to recover and by 9 days later the virus had gone only to be replaced by bronchitis. It took her over a month to recover. Her lungs took the longest time. So thats why we should all be wearing masks outside and in stores etc. It doesn’t stop you contracting the virus - it helps to stop you giving it to anyone else. If that woman who coughed had been wearing a mask, my colleague might not have gotten sick. Yesterday Governor Whitmer did her Friday press conference and she was standing in front of a large blue screen. To begin, she had an image of the inside of the empty Fox Theater in Detroit put up on the screen. She then told us that the state of Michigan had almost 5,000 deaths now and that the Fox Theater held just over 5,000 people. She said: every one of those empty seats represents a loved one lost to us. Powerful. Then she invited 4 people to pray for us: a Catholic priest from Grand Rapids, a female Rabbi , an Imam from Dearborn and an African American Baptist minister. Each gave a powerful prayer, asking for us all to be loved and sustained and each asking God to protect and sustain Governor Whitmer. In my minds eye, I see her - a slender woman, standing to the side of the stage with her hands clasped together and wearing her mask, listening intently. Some say she is in the running as a Vice President running mate for Joe Biden. I don’t want to stop her from advancing her career, but a selfish part of me really wants her to stay and be my Governor and continue to keep me and all my friends safe and secure, in pandemic times and new normal times. Some other stats Craig gave me this morning and a little food for thought. The United States has 4% of the global population. Currently, it has 32% of all global virus infections and has suffered 28% of all global deaths so far. But here, we are Michiganders. We are tough and resilient and we will get through this together. It sounds so siss, boom, baa! Like a parade, but sometimes thats what we all need to hold on to. So, Oliver. Sometimes when we’re FaceTiming he ‘talks’ so loudly we can’t hear what Zoe is saying. One day soon it’ll be actual words. ��Look at this. He has cheese all over his face and hands - and shortly after this, all over his right eye. Don’t you just love that smile? In Berlin. In our first week there we visited the Spree River in the center of the city. This was our first full day. We walked along the river bank. Berliners take any break in the weather to get out, sit beside the river and drink beer in th sunshine. �The bars put out these deck chairs and they are in use all the time except when it rains. To get to the river, we had to walk through Prison Cell Park to the Hauptbahnhof (the main train station). Here are 2 photos from that first day ��The bottom photo is the remnant of the prison wall. ��This is one of the Berlin Buddy Bears. These bears are Germany’s ambassadors of goodwill. The bear is a symbol on Berlin’s coat of arms. These bears promote tolerance and peace, and are positioned with their arms in the air to symbolize kindliness and optimism. They are made of fiberglass and each one is hand painted by an artist. You know all the rules. See you tomorrow. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-16_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-66 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-16 Title A name given to the resource Day 66 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e0d579c013e3bd63927fd8efa01c2c73.pdf 28dd9a469f9863f5f18c40003c4bfa8a PDF Text Text Day 67. Really? by windoworks I was late starting this morning, I was overcome with ‘haven’t I done all this before?’ Well yes. 68 times altogether as I didn’t give the first pandemic post a number. Looking back to 67 days ago, who knew this would go on for so long? And that’s the main theme here: who knew followed by who knows? I have never heard so many experts say: we just don’t know. We don’t know what will happen when we leave our houses, we don’t know if summer weather will make a difference, we don’t know if the virus will roar back in the fall and winter, we don’t know if it will continue in wavelets for the next 18 months and we don’t know when a vaccine will be available to everyone, everywhere. We don’t know if malls will survive, we don’t know how dining out will look. I think going forward it is an individual choice. For me a lot of things like concerts, movies, malls, crowded beaches make me uncomfortable. I have no idea if my friend on Zoom or FaceTime is asymptomatic- and my friend doesn’t know either. I’m happy to meet online, but face-to-face, not so much. Masks have become almost a flashpoint. There’s those who wear them and those who won’t. Apparently it’s a personal freedom issue in that ‘you can’t make me’ way. And vehement non-maskers declare: I’m not sick! You can’t catch it from me! At this point I would ask to see their doctors certificate confirming they’ve been tested and are virus free. Oh but wait - that would be another personal freedom. I have the right to not get tested. In case you missed it, Day 67 seems to have revealed the larger than I’d like, simmering anger inside me. Anger that scared seems to be my new way of life, anger that I am stuck here far across the world from my family, some who are old and infirm and some who are brand new, and anger that every day is the same as the day before with the same tasks and the same ‘putting a good face on it’ regime. And mostly, I’m so angry that our federal government, that is, the people in charge, are so dysfunctional and self absorbed that not only are we all struggling to survive safely here, the rest of the world is doing one of two things: laughing at our president and his minions or worse - feeling sorry for us all. A friend of mine emailed me back yesterday and told me how careful he and his family had been. This week, after dinner, he and his wife made margaritas and cycled over to a friends house with their masks, ready to sit out the back around the fire pit and catch up at a safe distance. When they got there, people weren’t wearing masks, there was no social distancing and there were lots more people than they expected to see. His wife burst into tears and they turned around and rode home again. I know just how she felt. Will I feel this angry and sad forever? I don’t know but I hope not. �“Hope” is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops - at all - Emily Dickinson ��New chalk art on our block. ��The long line to be admitted into the Fulton Street Farmers Market on Saturday about lunchtime. Craig said he thought it was about an hour wait and the line stretched across the road through the traffic lights. There were security guards at the top entrance and bottom exit with all side entrances firmly closed. There was a maximum of about 30 customers in there at one time. Normally the market is a crazy, busy melee of people, everyone pushing to get through the crowds. Stats: Kent County had 2,766 confirmed cases yesterday and sadly, 54 deaths. We continue to slowly climb upwards. L �In Auckland New Zealand, Fall is coming in. ��My mother-in-law, blowing out her candle on her tiny candle cake. Her real birthday cake was much bigger but you can’t blow birthday candles on cakes out any more. And of course, an Oliver moment. ��Here he is at daycare, gazing out the window. What is he thinking about? To continue in Berlin. We visited Alexanderplatz which is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. It has more than 360,000 visitors daily and is a popular staring point for tourists. It was named for Tsar Alexander I who visited Berlin in October 1805. It was extremely crowded, busy, noisy with interesting market booths and full of tourists. ��This was large blow up pool with these zip up balls that children could ride in and move around the pool. It looked like they were having a lot of fun. �This drum band was just amazing. More Berlin experiences tomorrow. As I proofed this edition, I wondered about posting it. Then I decided this is my blogpost and my feelings and it is up to each of you to decide if you want to read it or not. If you do, I’ll see you tomorrow. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-17_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-67 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-17 Title A name given to the resource Day 67: Reallly? Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1fcba5d73bc9533d35bf00639722c948.pdf e859351995c1fa504ba10f5ffdcd076e PDF Text Text Day 68 by windoworks About 30 days ago now, I wondered if we would still be here inside at Day 70. Obviously we will. And possibly Craig and I will be still here for Day 78 and beyond when Governor Whitmer’s Stay Home, Stay Safe executive order ends on May 28. From WaPo: To convince consumers to go out and purchase — or to just go out — is a significant challenge, because it involves their most closely held emotions about life. Consumers started staying at home long before they were forced to by government regulations, because they knew that was the right thing to do. In Georgia, which reopened everything early while publishing misleading statistics about the virus spread and decline, people went out and in the wealthier areas, ignored all distancing regulations. Most interviewed said that they wouldn’t be outside if they weren’t healthy and the coronavirus was probably being beaten up by the Liberals. Here’s the thing though, as Ezekiel Emanuel of the University of Pennsylvania said when interviewed “The data are always two or three weeks old. And we have a hard time understanding that things are different from what we’re looking at.” Crystal Watson of Johns Hopkins University said that we wouldn’t really know how reopening had affected the virus’s spread for five to six weeks. Five to six weeks. Five to six weeks to find out if the virus had spread or not. And as one person in Georgia remarked: Anyway, I’m not in the expendable age group. As someone in the ‘expendable’ age group, I find that dammed insulting. I can’t even begin to discuss the political scene. I don’t have cable television so all my news is from National Public Radio, Washington Post and New York Times. I have online subscriptions only. WaPo bombards me all day with Breaking News. In some ways this virus must be a godsend for them - so many people to interview, so many stories to write. I remember Zoe telling me about going to see the movie Contagion at the movie theater. Remember that scary movie about a quickly spreading pandemic? Zoe said she had to catch the bus home and all the way home, she felt nervous about all the other people on the bus and whether they might be sick. Now the virus depicted in Contagion was a much more virulent virus with a huge mortality rate, but here we all are, sitting on the bus of life and wondering who around us might be sick. Stats: US, confirmed cases: 1,520,000 and deaths topped 90,000 (almost 2,000 people died on Sunday alone). Michigan: 51,142 confirmed cases and 4,891 deaths. Kent County: 2,825 confirmed cases and 55 �deaths. In the state of Michigan, Kent County ranks 4th in virus cases out of 83 counties. This is because Grand Rapids is the second largest city in the state and many more cases appear in urban areas. Yesterday, after an angry and sad morning, I asked Craig to drive us out somewhere near the big lake (Michigan) so we could eat homemade cake, drink coffee and look at the water. He is always willing to oblige, so off we set in torrential rain for the 45 minute drive up the freeway in very poor visibility, for Muskegon. We found a spot next to a marina, and sat watching the lone swan fishing on the lake - still in torrential rain. We didn’t stay too long in case the serious flooding alert began early, and we drove home via Spring Lake. We missed the turn to Eastern Road (to come home through the countryside) and when we turned around we were stuck at the lights while the entire graduating class of Spring Lake High School drove by in their decorated cars and wearing their gowns and caps. That explained the many groups of people standing under umbrellas on the sidewalk with signs and pompoms to shake. ���A long, long line of cars, all tooting and cheering as they rounded the corner. �On their early morning walk, Craig and Murphy are keeping an eye on Blodgett Hospital - whatever is going in there? And Oliver. This morning it is difficult to decide which photo to choose. ��Oliver meets a new friend. Now if that doesn’t cheer you up, nothing will! Today’s flashback. One day (I really have no idea what day) we went into the city to the Museumsinsel (Museum Island). This island is in the Spree River in the heart of Berlin. It has 5 museums all more or less clustered together: the Altes Museum (Old Museum), the Neues Museum (New Museum), the Altes Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery), the Bode Museum and the Pergamon Museum. We visited every museum except the Altes Museum. But first we visited the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) which is also on Museumsinsel. The view from the top of the church dome looking down at the Spree River. No, I didn’t climb up there, but of course Craig did. ����This is a gorgeous cathedral, begun in 1894 and completed in 1905. There was a church built first in 1451 and 1905 was the 4th building on the site. It was reinaugurated in 1993 after the removal of war destructions. I didn’t notice any damage or reconstruction. It is a beautiful church with especially gorgeous stained glass windows. We’ll look at the museums beginning tomorrow, after I have attempted to sort out the relevant photos. Just remember, as an opinion writer said recently: the way out is much harder than the way in. Stay safe. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-18_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-68 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-18 Title A name given to the resource Day 68 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/12d147a65a732d3a4d0b235005edbb80.pdf 3f5553544ce0575caf475d85a83fb7b8 PDF Text Text Day 69 by windoworks On this Friday at midnight, 2 regions (7 & 8) in Michigan will be allowed to reopen bars and restaurants. That is the Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan (where Traverse City is). These two areas have had very small virus numbers and even smaller deaths. Of course the rules for reopening are pages and pages long and the number of seated customers per square foot is very carefully calculated. The Governor’s concern was that everyone in the south would drive up there immediately and maybe some will, but hopefully most Michiganders will think first. Grand Rapids is Region 2 and the greater Detroit area is Region 1 and I am guessing that we might be the last 2 areas to reopen. In the meantime, some local restaurants who had to close temporarily to quarantine and deep clean due to a staff member being sick, are reopening for take out again. The range of delicious restaurant food on offer in Grand Rapids is just amazing. During this pandemic I think all businesses have to think fast and be nimble, as Governor Whitmer is fond of saying. Everyone either offers curbside pickup (yes you can buy clothing, shoes and books and pick it up at the curb) or free delivery, or both. In fact, its becoming harder to keep track of what we have ordered and paid for, and when it is being delivered. I have become the Chief Purchasing Officer (CPO) in this house, while Craig is now the Head Gardener and Historical Advisor (HG&HA) as well as his side job of University Professor And speaking of gardening, two developments: Craig painstakingly dug out and seeded the first trial patch of meadow in the back garden and, he harvested half of the prolific red radish micro greens and we shared some with our neighbors. Remember those? The seeds we were supposed to germinate in trays inside due to their fragility? The ones Craig planted directly into the garden instead and then had to cover them over during 4 frost alert nights? They’re prolific and delicious! First time micro greens growing luck, I guess. In virus news: The public University of South Carolina has staked out an intriguing plan: Bring students back to campus in August, teach in person for three months and switch to remote instruction after Thanksgiving. Schools nationwide face extraordinary pressure to reopen campuses to ensure they maintain enrollment and collect tuition revenue. But many are delaying announcements about fall plans until June or July as they game out tricky scenarios about how to house and teach students without running undue health risks. We receive a weekly update from President Mantella at GVSU. They are discussing some budget adjustments as well as how to teach in the fall. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to take all factors in to �consideration (student nervousness, virus resurgence, adequate sanitation, housing safety etc) never mind faculty expectations, fears etc. Again, we’re back to that old chestnut: we just don’t know. Long haul flights may not be available until next year at the earliest. This is an area we are interested in. And even when they do resume, the choice will be one flight from Chicago to Auckland New Zealand - 17 hours with prepackaged food left on your seat before you board, no blankets, no pillows and probably no seat back entertainment (high contagion areas). Oh and that will be after you go through immigration and customs and have your temperature taken and perhaps show your doctors letter saying you’ve been tested and are negative. Carryon luggage may be severely restricted or banned. Choice number 2: travel across to Los Angeles to fly to Sydney Australia, 3 flights and 3 airports and 3 transits (Grand Rapids - Chicago - Los Angeles - Sydney). Something to think about. Yesterday was another cool, windy and wet day, and on his early morning walk, Craig and Murphy went to one of Murphy’s favorite spots: Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids. The lake was wild and very muddy from all the storm water pouring into it. No ducks for Murphy to stare at although she looked and looked. �On the way home, Craig saw these signs. ��I really want both of them. I’ll have to look online. Today’s Oliver photo. It’s so hard to choose! ��Watching Meryl Streep sing because its never too early to enjoy good musicals. Every morning in Sydney, Zoe FaceTimes us as she is feeding him breakfast. He does love to eat and there’s always that little time lag before the food hits his tummy and his brain tells him he’s full. Some mornings he cries indignantly when the bowl is empty. At the end of the session, Craig and I sing a song to him - more often than not, The Wheels on the Bus. He loves music and he smiles and bounces in time. And then we say goodbye. As Craig says: its my favorite movie of the day. More Berlin. Instead of sorting through my Berlin photos yesterday, I spent half an hour putting all 1000 photos of Oliver into a folder. So lets see what I have, �����Today its all about the Berlin Wall. This was a guarded concrete barrier that divided Berlin (physically and ideologically) from 1961 to 1989. I always thought the Wall divided Berlin in half but it divided West Berlin from East Berlin and West Berlin was surrounded by East Berlin and East Germany, so it actually zigzagged around in a sort of circle. There was a wide space on the east side of the Wall which contained anti-tank trenches, beds of nails etc. Along the Wall itself were guard towers which had powerful searchlights and sirens. The Wall was built to protect East Germany from anti fascists. It seems to me that the Wall separated families from each other and caused unnecessary hardship. No one tried to escape to East Berlin but many tried to get to freedom in West Berlin. You could cross to East Berlin with the proper pass and the top photo shows the warning board for Checkpoint Charlie, the American crossing. Today it is in the middle of an upscale busy shopping street, Friedrichstrasse, and for a fee you can have your photo taken with actors pretending to be Soviet crossing guards. In the next photo I am standing on a marker for the Wall. This metal trail winds around Berlin, showing where the Wall was situated. In the third photo, Craig is standing next to a painted block from the Wall. Behind him is a Wall exhibition but we didn’t go in. Lastly, this is a section of the Wall in the eastern side of Berlin (East Berlin). This section has been preserved in place and has become an art exhibit. There were many Wall sections, all painted and decorated but this one took my fancy. Note the wire keeping tourists back from the art. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. Maya Angelou I”ll just leave it there. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-19_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-69 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-19 Title A name given to the resource Day 69 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/010023de2e36ca6758d855bbf097a384.pdf 2f095bd2e2267206ac82dd30d18f4a4e PDF Text Text Day 7 by windoworks This morning it occurred to me that the cruise CB was booked to lecture on in late July and early August, sailing around exciting ports in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, will probably be cancelled. I was reading online that there are still a number of ships out there, some with confirmed cases and some without, struggling to find a port that will let them dock and offload their passengers. That seems like a good plot for a movie. I have also heard stories of family members being stuck in other countries far from home, unable to find their way back to their loved ones. Yesterday the Administration said they were trying to get everything under control and it might take months. CB’s college closed almost completely yesterday with only absolutely essential staff members remaining at work. They are now making arrangements for online enrollment for the Fall semester - and here we are, not even officially in Spring yet. Nearly everyone I know is engaged in some sort of reorganization or cleaning of their home. Jobs that have been ignored for years are now a welcome activity for each long isolated day. I know CB is waiting for me to start rearranging the furniture and the kitchen cupboards. Yesterday was a lovely sunny day and so CB, Murphy Brown and I went for a drive. We would have stopped somewhere to walk but the antibiotics I am just finishing say no exposure to sunlight so walking will have to wait until the end of the week. And also yesterday, in a flash of inspiration, the family and I discussed setting up the B&L Bookclub online. There’s AW and ZL in New Zealand, AB and ZB in Australia, EB in England and CB and myself here in the States. We chose a book and we’re discussing it online on Friday April 3. Our niece EB is quarantined with her partner in Cornwall England. She probably has a rotten cold (yes, flus and colds are still doing the rounds) but she was sent home just to be careful. which is my public announcement for the day: If you’re not sure, stay home. You know, its the silence that gets me. There is the faint hum of traffic, but nothing else. No screen doors banging, no lawnmowers, nothing. Just quiet. Our streetlight across the road from our house flickers on and off - well more off than on now. We asked for it to be repaired about 6 weeks ago and I don’t like our chances now. It makes the street eerily dark in the middle of the night, yet another unsettling development. ��Thingvellir National Park in Iceland. Iceland is divided by the Mid-Atlantic Rift. Apparently this is the only place in the world where the rift is above sea level. On one side is the North American plate and on the other side is the Eurasia plate. Where we are standing is the Rift Valley. These tectonic plates move apart at a rate of 2.5 centimeters a year and this causes earthquakes in the area every day, mostly too minor to be felt. Iceland was settled predominantly by the Norse in 874 but they were different clan groups with different ideas and values. As Thingvellir was a good midpoint for the island it was chosen as an Assembly point and in 930 CE (Common Era) over 30 ruling chiefs met to discuss law and create a commonwealth. It became an annual assembly where disputes were settled, criminals punished and news was shared. It was called the Althingi and it continues today but relocated to Reykjavik as the national government. At Thingvellir you can see old foundations if you look carefully. It felt strange to be standing between two continental plates. I’m so glad I did it. Well, tomorrow then. Today I am going to investigate Group FaceTime. I’ll let you know. Stay safe and warm and inside. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-03-18_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-07 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-03-18 Title A name given to the resource Day 7 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng