289 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2f26e57f31b72993b1f6c930bb40cd82.pdf 9232857a807e0be94b283b49ddb42ec0 PDF Text Text Day 426. Its Blursday. by windoworks Now that Craig is retired I have even less idea what day it is. It is actually Tuesday and I know that because I have an Amazon delivery due. This morning we talked about walking to a nearby cafe for coffee (outside) and even perhaps walking to eat dinner outside somewhere close in the days ahead. Part of me just wants to stay inside, safe and sound, because thats worked so well so far. But more of me is feeling bound, constricted, shut away, and I’m tired of it. I can hear myself moaning, but I wonder if you read about me moaning - will you feel free to moan yourself? This has been a journey, you and I. We have struggled through the worst year any of us could imagine and we are still here, soldiering on. We are cautiously emerging into a world we almost don’t recognize; some of us have family and friends who are gone - taken by the virus. Yesterday Craig had coffee with 2 ex students who are now graduated and some years in the workforce. One of them said she had friends who refused to get vaccinated and as a fully vaccinated person, she was finding it very hard to continue the friendship. The news today is terrible. Well, isn’t it always, I hear you ask. As someone who scans all sorts of news sources, there are definitely days that are better than others. So here we go, some good, some bad: CNN: The Pfizer vaccine will now be available to kids ages 12 to 15 after the FDA expanded its emergency use authorization. Pediatricians and pharmacies could start administering the shots as early as Thursday. Experts say getting young teens vaccinated could make a huge difference in snuffing out the pandemic. In India, the country’s ongoing coronavirus catastrophe is threatening to impact the world economy. Analysts are rethinking their predictions for India’s growth this year, which is troubling after the country's recession last year. Not to mention, India and its ships and waterways are crucial for global supply chains. The country also typically produces more than 60% of all vaccines sold globally, but the largest vaccine maker there is shifting to focus on domestic needs. During the first tour I ever took here to the US from Australia, we were on a bus and on our way to New Orleans for the Jazz Festival, we visited Memphis Tennessee. We went there to visit Gracelands, Elvis Presley’s home - but thats another story. The bus driver drove us around Memphis for sightseeing and at one point we went around a large roundabout that had men and women dressed in clothing from the Civil War. I remember the driver replying to our questions: oh they didn’t lose the war - its still going on. And its still going on today. Here’s an extract from The Atlantic about slavery: Regardless of how these individuals fed the people that they owned, regardless of how they clothed them, regardless of if they never laid a hand on them, they were still sanctioning the system … You can’t say, ‘Hey, this person kidnapped your child, but they fed them well. They were a good person.’ How absurd does that sound?” But so many Americans simply don’t want to hear this, and if they do hear it, they �refuse to accept it. After the 2015 massacre of Black churchgoers in Charleston led to renewed questions about the memory and iconography of the Confederacy, Greg Stewart, another member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, told The New York Times, “You’re asking me to agree that my great-grandparent and great-great-grandparents were monsters.” So much of the story we tell about history is really the story we tell about ourselves. And yes, I suppose we are asking people to agree that their ancestors were perhaps not monsters, but condoned monstrous actions and lived in a monstrous way. Will we ever come to terms with past mistakes and strive to be better? Apparently not for the present Republican Party. They have decided authoritarian is the only way to go which rewards the rich and grasping and puts all lesser humans where they belong under their boot. The thing is, and I say this in all earnestness - everyone, no matter who they are, puts their pants on, one leg at a time. Another way to look at it is - we are all made of stardust. Yes, we are and shouldn’t that make us want to be better? Stars shine so brightly. We should aspire to shine too. As Joni Mitchell sang: We are stardust Billion year old carbon We are golden One of the questions from the Australian bank was: how much do you spend on groceries per week? Not knowing the answer for Australia, Craig asked his sister and his sister-in-law. The responses surprised us, not for the dollar amount but for the way they had both changed their diets. Both pairs eat far more chicken, fish and vegetables and very little red meat. Partly for health reasons but also because meat is now so expensive. Here’s an interesting and frankly, alarming, piece: Washington Post: Air pollution from farms leads to 17,900 U.S. deaths per year, study finds. A first-of-itskind analysis links thousands of premature deaths to ammonia, dust and other hazardous particles generated on U.S. farms. The research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences identifies animal-based foods like meat and dairy as the primary culprits, accountable for 80 percent of all food production-related mortality. But most of these deaths could be avoided if farmers better manage waste and fertilizer and Americans reduce their meat intake. The cruise. The next port was Huatulco, Mexico. There were many excursions but the one that Craig and I managed to get on was to swim with the dolphins at a dolphin park. It was a fantastic day. We were given a talk about the dolphins and then we got ready to swim with them. After the swim we had a wonderful Mexican lunch included. I am so glad I got to do this. ����Looking at those photos now, I remember what a fabulous experience that was. Dolphins are extremely social animals. The ones in this park were well looked after and very happy. You could also swim with the sharks but that sounded scary to me. Oliver. �He made a butterfly with paint (possibly using his hands by the look of them). �I’ll leave you with this (where there’s a will, there’s a way). � 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_2021-05-11_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-426 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 2021-05-11 Title A name given to the resource Day 426 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/581390e5076f8ca7ee42cde8d4be3a83.pdf a705c9cd3bd78e8cd74bb14c0c256898 PDF Text Text Day 425. 8 weeks left. by windoworks I was sitting here this morning and I realized that it was so quiet outside and thats become normal. We have had the windows open for about a month now and in former years there would be the sound of people walking by or children talking or laughing while waiting for the school bus. It has been quiet for 14 months now. Of course our neighbors come out and work on their gardens and we chat then, but it isn’t the same. Yesterday Craig’s colleague’s daughter who is a ballet apprentice here in Grand Rapids, came to go for a walk with Craig and then sit on the front porch for a cup of tea with us. Afterwards, we took her inside to show her the house and because all 3 of us were fully vaccinated, we didn’t wear our masks. That’s a big step forward. Later in the day Craig and I packed up the quiche I had made and a small bottle of Proseco to share and we drove out to Grand Haven to park facing the beach and eat our Mothers Day supper. ��We have been to the lake all through this last year. We have waded in the water in the summer and walked through the woods on the shoreline. Through the fall and winter and now the spring, we have driven to the lake in various places and sat and eaten lunch while we watched the waves, then the ice and the snow, and lastly the gradual melting until the beach was revealed again. There are always others in the cars beside us, eating their lunch or snack, talking to the other passengers or just sitting on their own, watching the waves. The lake has been a lifesaver for me. In my saddest moments I am always soothed by the water lapping or pounding on the shore. I am always cheered by its vast expanse. I know there are cities across the other side but I can’t see them or the container ships which ply the Great Lakes. I am so glad to have had 18 years of living near this huge lake. My friend Margaret and her husband drove to Maine to see their daughter and her family. Her daughter had bought them tickets for the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens to see Thomas Dambo’s Giant Trolls. Remember I put some photos in the blog a few days ago? Margaret promised to send me some photos. Here they are: �����And just to show that authorities will use any venue to get you vaccinated: Science Alert: Visitors to Romania's forbidding Bran Castle, widely known as the inspiration for the lair of Dracula, are being jabbed with needles rather than vampiric fangs this weekend in a coronavirus vaccination drive. "I came to visit the castle with my family and when I saw the poster I gathered up my courage and agreed to get the injection," said 39-year-old engineer Liviu Necula. Those who take the jab are handed a certificate hailing their "boldness and responsibility" promising they will be welcome at the castle "for the coming 100 years" - as well as offered a free tour of the "torture chamber". Nestled in a misty valley in the Carpathian mountains, Bran Castle is associated with the 15th-century Romanian prince Vlad Tepes, known as "the Impaler", although he never stayed there. Dracula author Bram Stoker is believed to have been inspired by Vlad and descriptions of Bran Castle when writing his 1897 novel that helped found the modern vampire genre. Romania's government has turned to local vaccination drives and 24-hour "marathons" at major venues like the National Library in Bucharest to get as many citizens as possible immunized. Well how about here in the US? Here’s an important milestone: News & Guts: Pfizer and BioNTech asked the Food and Drug Administration Friday for full approval of the companies' Covid-19 vaccine. If approved, it would be the first Covid-19 vaccine in the United States to hold that distinction. The vaccine was the first to be granted an emergency use authorization, or EUA, in December, for use in the U.S. Vaccines can only be authorized in this manner during public health emergencies — in this case, the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, all Covid-19 vaccines currently in use in the U.S. are being administered through EUAs. A biologics license application — needed for full approval of a drug or vaccine — requires six months of data. “We are proud of the tremendous progress we’ve made since December in delivering vaccines to millions of Americans, in collaboration with the U.S. Government,” Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in �a statement Friday announcing the application. “We look forward to working with the FDA to complete this rolling submission and support their review, with the goal of securing full regulatory approval of the vaccine in the coming months,” he added. If the FDA signs off, Pfizer will be able to market the vaccine. Full approval may also make vaccine mandates "a little more feasible," said John Grabenstein, a former executive director of medical affairs for vaccines at Merck and a former Department of Defense immunologist. An approval could help employers decide, for example, whether to require employees get vaccinated before going back into the workplace. The FDA is expected to take several weeks to review the application. In a general roundup, there’s this: CNN: The US is finally turning the corner on the pandemic, experts say. And if more Americans get vaccinated, we could see a big drop in coronavirus cases and deaths this summer. In India, health workers are racing to administer vaccines as hundreds of thousands of new cases continue to be reported every day. Only about 2.75% of India’s 1.3 billion-strong population is fully vaccinated. And remember, the Tokyo Olympics are still supposed to go on this summer. Japan’s vaccine rollout is not going as quickly as the country anticipated, and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga says it is up to the International Olympic Committee to decide whether the Games will go ahead. I just have to point out that after months of arguing and Prime Minister Suga insisting that the Olympic Games would go ahead, in the midst of most Japanese citizens saying no, he has finally passed the ball to the International Olympic Committee - so all the blame and recriminations can fall on them. At this time it appears that Japan has vaccinated 1.7% of its population. That’s a tiny number. In the US the CDC records 260M people vaccinated. As the US has a population of 331M, it seems that over 2/3 of the population have had at least one dose. And it is making a difference. In Michigan, on April 14 we had 9, 353 new cases. On Saturday we recorded 2,519 new cases. In just under a month, that is a whopping change. This tells me that the only way forward is to vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate. From The Guardian: It could take years to fully vaccinate Australia against Covid-19 unless there is a significant increase in the vaccination rate, a Guardian Australia analysis shows. The federal government’s rollout strategy aims to administer 45M vaccine doses, not including vaccines for those aged under 18. At the seven-day rolling average of under 36,000, it could take almost 40 months to accomplish. Even a doubling of that rate wouldn’t see the rollout completed until the end of next year. I think that’s just the first dose administered. That’s really alarming. This week the US government rolls out the new Pfizer vaccine for 12 - 15 year olds. My neighbors have got their daughter’s name down already. Plus, I believe either Pfizer or Moderna are working on a vaccine for 6 months to 11 years. I am �gobsmacked by this intense 24/7 working routine by scientists. Pfizer is already adapting the rMNA formula for addressing cancers. This morning I read a fascinating article about how the Google office is changing. It was much too long to condense but there were inflatable cubicle walls, round pods for face to face and online meetings, large tent structures for outside work spaces etc. It all looked amazing and reassuring at the same time. My two youngest children work approximately 2- 3 days from home and 2 days a week in the office. Companies are selling or leasing some of their buildings as they just don’t need all that office space anymore. Oh, and locally, you can tell summer is coming because all the restaurants and cafes have packed up their winter igloos and glasshouses and put out the tables and umbrellas instead. I imagine those igloos and glasshouses will come out again next winter. And it wouldn’t be my blog without some nod to politics: News & Guts: “Right now, it’s basically the Titanic. We’re like, you know, in this in the middle of this slow sink, we have a band playing on the deck telling everybody it’s fine. And meanwhile, as I’ve said, you know, Donald Trump’s running around trying to find women’s clothing and get on the first lifeboat.” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) And this really made me laugh. Do these amazingly stupid politicians not think? Oh I just answered my own question. AP: Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is threatening to keep its ships out of Florida after the governor signed legislation banning businesses from requiring that customers show proof of vaccination against COVID-19. The company says the law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis is at odds with guidelines from federal health authorities that would let cruise ships sail in U.S. waters if nearly all passengers and crew members are vaccinated. “It is a classic state-versus-federal-government issue,” said Norwegian’s CEO, Frank Del Rio. “Lawyers believe that federal law applies and not state law, but I’m not a lawyer. And we hope that this doesn’t become a legal football or a political football.”The company owns Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Del Rio told analysts during the company’s quarterly earnings call Thursday that if the company can’t operate in Florida, it can go to other states or the Caribbean “for ships that otherwise would have gone to Florida … we certainly hope it doesn’t come to that.” Del Rio said the company is still discussing the matter with DeSantis’ office. Last month, DeSantis signed an order banning businesses from requiring customers to show proof of vaccination and prohibiting state agencies from issuing so-called vaccine passports that document COVID19 vaccinations and test results. This week, he signed legislation that includes the provision about businesses and gives him power to overrule local measures related to the pandemic, such as mask �mandates. DeSantis said the order and the legislation were matters of preserving individual freedom and privacy. On Friday, the governor’s office did not immediately respond to the Norwegian Cruise Line CEO’s comments. I’ll save the next port for tomorrow but of course I’ll add an Oliver photo! Today I’d like to end with this - just to remind us 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_2021-05-10_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-425 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 2021-05-10 Title A name given to the resource Day 425 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/1685065fd95285faa0466497ab5a8e87.pdf 837977bba504f6fee94e3fa2bdbbf7e3 PDF Text Text Day 424. 7 weeks more to live in this house. by windoworks Happy Mothers Day. I remember my mother saying those time honored words: wait til you’re a mother then you’ll understand! Did I say them to my own daughter? Probably. Although Mum’s words sounded ominous, they also promised wonderful things. There is nothing that compares to motherhood for fantastic highs and mind grinding lows. And you have to take it all, the good and the bad. But even after all the sleepless nights and tiresome days, you would fight to the death to keep your children and the unmitigated joy they deliver to you, over and over. It is one of the greatest gifts of my life. Yesterday was not our shining hour. Sometimes so many things happen in a single day that you just have to shrug your shoulders and laugh. Craig has taken over doing the washing because I have had a lot of back pain and reaching down - well you get the idea. As he put the laundry pod container back on the table, he accidentally knocked over a bottle of lavender oil without noticing, and it rolled along the table, fell onto the basement concrete floor and smashed. Did I mention it was an almost full bottle of lavender oil? I think the aroma filtered out on to the street! The thing about lavender oil is you just have to wait for it to ease off. This morning it seems hardly noticeable but yesterday there was nowhere inside you could escape it! As the day progressed, next, Craig realized he was woefully underdressed in shorts and a rain jacket for our walk in the freezing wind; copied our credit cards etc into one long PDF which he couldn’t separate out, so had to start over again; discovered another form from the Australian bank which needs to be signed in person; realized he had packed the car documents (needed for the sale of our car) in a packing box at the bottom of the three deep and ten wide box pile; and crowned the day by forgetting to fill the gas cylinder which meant the grilled chicken for dinner had to be oven roasted instead. All this is just an indication of how stressed, anxious and brain fogged we both are. Ahh pandemic! So what else is happening? From Washington Post: Former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights during the arrest that led to his death. The federal charges could add additional time in prison or other penalties for the four former officers, independent of state-level convictions. One, Derek Chauvin, was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in a state trial that focused on his use of force in Floyd’s death. The three others — J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao — are facing state charges of aiding and abetting seconddegree murder and manslaughter, in a trial set to begin in late August. Also from Washington Post: Ransomware attack leads to shutdown of key pipeline system, U.S. official says. The system carries 45% of fuel consumed on East Coast. Federal law enforcement and homeland security officials do not yet know �whether the attack on Colonial Pipeline was carried out by foreign government hackers or a criminal group. That’s disturbing. Perhaps we need to concentrate more on alternate forms of fuel. This next one is very interesting. Will this lead to independence for Scotland? A severing with the rest of the United Kingdom? Washington Post: Pro-independence parties poised to win majority in Scottish election, setting up clash with Boris Johnson over referendum. “The only people who can decide the future of Scotland are the Scottish people — no Westminster politician can or should stand in the way of that,” said Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon, who is expected to remain Scotland First Minister. And after panicking about where the Chinese rocket debris would land: Washington Post: Debris from Chinese space rocket booster reenters atmosphere over the Indian Ocean near the Maldives, Chinese authorities report. The Long March husk, at 21 metric tons and almost 100 feet long, was one of the largest objects to ever reenter Earth’s atmosphere on an uncontrolled trajectory. There were no immediate reports of damage. Does that mean reports of damage will come later? And am I selfish to be grateful it didn’t come down anywhere me? In the midst of all this, astronauts are being trained to go to the moon. Perhaps I’m naive, but I thought we had already done that. At the same time, research continues into electrons and muons. While most of us try to get through each day successfully (not break anything or damage ourselves; eat and sleep and converse with others) there is a group of people working on those areas of life I find hard to comprehend I am impressed but I’m not sure I understand it. Here’s a piece from scitechdaily: We know there are things that must exist outside of the Standard Model because it cannot describe everything that we know about the universe and its evolution. For example, it does not explain the prevalence of matter over antimatter in the universe, and it doesn’t say anything about dark matter or many other things, so we know it’s incomplete. And we’ve tried very hard to understand what these things might be, but we haven’t found anything concrete yet. And in case you didn’t know: The Standard Model of particle physics is the theory describing three of the four known fundamental forces (the electromagnetic, weak, and strong interactions, and not including gravity) in the universe, as well as classifying all known elementary particles. Wikipedia �Well thats the end of the science lesson for today. And this next thing is both a warning and will make you laugh; CNN; Four-year-old Noah Ruiz loves two things: Popsicles and SpongeBob. And when he discovered both objects of his passion had been combined into one fruity and delicious icy treat, he did the only sensible thing: he ordered them. To be exact, he ordered 918 of them. From his mom's Amazon Prime account. Without telling her. Noah's mom, Jennifer Bryant, had let Noah use her laptop for remote learning when his iPad wasn't working. She was busy in another room when Noah evidently navigated his way into her Amazon Prime account, which she shares with her sister who lives nearby. Noah eating one of his 918 SpongBob popsicles Does Noah’s mum have a freezer big enough to keep them all frozen? Our next port was Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala. By this point I was not feeling well. I had a dreadful cough and the heat outside was awful. We had a balcony on our cabin and I tried to jam the door open. It just made the air conditioning work harder. It was at this point that I realized that I was cruised out. I didn’t think I had Covid-19, I had no temperature and my lungs weren’t congested. I stayed mostly in the cabin while Craig went on an excursion to Iximche, about 2 hours bus ride from the port. Iximcheʼ is a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican archaeological site in the western highlands of Guatemala. Iximche was the capital of the Late Postclassic Kaqchikel Maya kingdom from 1470 until its abandonment in 1524. The architecture of the site included a number of pyramid-temples, palaces and two Mesoamerican ballcourts. Excavators uncovered the poorly preserved remains of painted murals on some �of the buildings and ample evidence of human sacrifice. The ruins of Iximche were declared a Guatemalan National Monument in the 1960s. For many years the Kaqchikel served as loyal allies of the Kʼicheʼ Maya.The growing power of the Kaqchikel within the alliance eventually caused such friction that the Kaqchikel were forced to flee the Kʼicheʼ capital and found the city of Iximche.The Kaqchikel established their new capital upon an easily defensible ridge almost surrounded by deep ravines.Iximche developed quickly as a city and within 50 years of its foundation it had reached its maximum extent. The rulers of Iximche were four principal lords drawn from the four main clans of the Kaqchikel, although it was the lords of the Sotzʼil and Xahil clans who held the real power. Wikipedia There’s more but you can research it for yourself. Remains of the central plaza and the temple with steep and narrow steps �The main temple and more steep steps �A sacrificial stone where I think the human sacrifices took place. �The Royal Palace �The ball court. The ball game was an important ritual in Mayan and Aztec culture. Players had to get a heavy rubber ball through a ring on the side of the court using only their head and shoulders and not their hands. Players who lost the game often lost their lives as well. They sometimes played one on one and sometimes small teams. It was similar to gladiator games in Rome - players often played to the death. So not basketball, then. �A general view. �The view of the dock from our �cabin I did venture across after lunch to the visitors center and sat and listened to this excellent band for a while. Oliver. In line with Mothers Day, here’s a photo Zoe posted �� 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_2021-05-09_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-424 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 2021-05-09 Title A name given to the resource Day 424 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/e81aee1b33acf5eb0c1a98bd5b07668a.pdf f259da8cb7c05ba8f1cce89dafd9b8f0 PDF Text Text Day 423. Saturday May 8 by windoworks Well its been a busy week. Yesterday we drove out to Grand Valley State University and Craig photocopied a document in the deserted Honors College. Then we went to Facilities where Craig dropped his key and his keycard. And just like that, his time at GVSU was over. It was an odd feeling. I had entered ArtPrize on about the 3rd year. My piece was a large 4 panned window collage, titled “beyond here lie monsters’. Each pane was an element of deep space. It was an homage to Big History and the title came from ancient world maps. The map makers didn’t know what lay beyond the edges of their known world and so they wrote that cautionary phrase. We do not really know what lies beyond the scope of the Hubble Telescope - maybe monsters. Craig loved this window and so he bought it from me and took it out to his office at GVSU. Craig and I have decided to formally donate this Art Prize piece to GVSU. That way, the Art Galleries will process it, add a placard or whatever to it, and take care of it in perpetuity. ��The sitting Vice President It seems that being in charge and in power is all the Republicans care about. Oh that, and money, and did I mention power? And of course, money. It is terrible to think that what I believe and how I vote doesn’t matter to this political party. We all have to vote for them or no one. And once in power, they will control this country completely. Think about that. �Moving on. NPR Troll-hunter alert in Boothbay, Maine: This summer, five ginormous monsters are taking up residence at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, courtesy of artist Thomas Dambo. These gentle giants are the newest additions to his tribe of dozens of trolls now inhabiting mountains, forests and parks around the world, from China to Puerto Rico. Think Where the Wild Things Are meets "Three Billy Goats Gruff" — the 15to 30-foot-high sculptures made out of scrap wood have earned Dambo the title "one of the most prominent recycle artists in the world." On a recent day in the Maine woods, a small army of Geppettos in hoodies saws, drills and hammers away �at the massive body of the "root troll," as Dambo refers to it. Standing on ladders or perched on the troll itself, they fasten hundreds of pieces of wood of various shapes and sizes onto an interior frame. The wood comes from all over: discarded shipping pallets from a hardware store, scraps from a nearby lumber yard and debris from fallen trees. Birk, as Dambo eventually names him, stands 30 feet high. His sprawling limbs stretch 30 feet wide. His feet alone are almost as tall as I am. Nearby, a massive pile of twigs and branches will be sculpted to form Birk's beard. ��Aren’t these fantastic! Here’s a cheering piece: News & Guts: For residents at one West Palm Beach, Florida apartment complex, the Trump name represented way more drama and notoriety than they were interested in. Which is why the condo formerly known as Trump Plaza has been renamed The Plaza. Tenants at the dual-tower complex on the Intracoastal Waterway, with condos that sell for between $1-4 million, voted for the renaming shortly after the Jan. 6 Insurrection. The Condo board had already sent out an email advising that a name change would be beneficial to protecting property values, a sign that the Trump brand name was toxic. Jeff Barr, the head of the condo association said his neighbors wanted no part of the constant controversy surrounding the former president. “The residents preferred a name for the condo that was generic, low-key and didn’t attract attention of any kind. Our original name of ‘The Plaza’ filled that need.” Every day, Craig and I seem to battle an overwhelming sense of fatigue. We both sleep pretty well (our new mattress is comfortable) but for some reason we are exhausted by 9pm each night. Here’s an explanatory piece from NPR: In recent weeks, Dr. Kali Cyrus has struggled with periods of exhaustion. "I am taking a nap in between patients," says Cyrus, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University. "I'm going to bed earlier. It's hard to even just get out of bed. I don't feel like being active again." Exhaustion is also one of the top complaints she hears from her patients these days. They say things like, "It's just so hard to get out of bed" or "I've been misplacing things more often," she says. Some patients tell Cyrus they've been making mistakes at work. Some tell her they can "barely turn on the TV. 'All I want to do is stare at the ceiling.' " Others say they are more irritable. While some people who have had COVID-19 report brain fog and fatigue as lingering symptoms of their infection — what's known as long COVID — mental health care providers around the U.S. are hearing similar complaints from people who weren't infected by the virus. And many providers, like Cyrus, are feeling it themselves. This kind of mental fog is real and can have a few different causes. But at the root of it are the stress and trauma of the past year, say Cyrus and other mental health experts. It's a normal reaction to a very abnormal year. And while many people will likely continue to struggle with mental health symptoms in the long run, research on past mass traumas suggests that most people will recover once the coronavirus pandemic ends. Long-term anxiety can also exhaust the body. We evolved as creatures, people that run from predators in the animal kingdom.To have anxiety as a way to predict and run from threat. When we're anxious, our hearts race and our muscles tense up as we prepare to fight a predator or run from it. But you can only run �a 100-yard dash for a short amount of time. Not a year, and not a year where they keep moving the finish line. We can't do that. Eventually our muscles and our body say, 'No, I'm tired.' New Zealand will lift the temporary halt in the Trans Tasman bubble between NZ and New South Wales later today. Evidently there have been no new cases in Sydney and the mask mandate etc., in Sydney, will lift on Monday. Here’s a chart of vaccinations in NZ: ��After starting small it does seem to be on track to climb fast. In moving across to the other side of the world developments: I now have a joint bank account in Australia with zero funds because the bank has to eyeball us before allowing us to transfer funds into the account. Really? Craig is working his way steadily through the mountain of paperwork to be pre approved for a mortgage. And a friend of Zoe’s (and ours) has an AirB&B apartment under her house which she has offered to us at a reasonable rent while we organize a new house. We have reached that moment where we are discussing plans for the first month out of jail, er, I mean quarantine. And if anyone’s counting, its 50 days until we move out of this house and into a nearby hotel. Last night we watched the next episode of Gardeners World. As always I found it cheering and calming and I wish we had a big property for Craig to play with. I have been watching Grand Designs, a program where people build or refurbish impossible buildings. They always run far over the deadline and the project nearly always runs over budget. Last night I watched 2 men refurbish and extend an abandoned water tower in the heart of London. I enjoy watching these programs but I couldn’t take the stress of doing one myself. So, to Craig’s excursion in Corinto. Cerro Negro is an active volcano in the Cordillera de los Maribios mountain range in Nicaragua, about 10 km (6.2 mi) from the village of Malpaisillo. It is a very new volcano, the youngest in Central America, having first appeared in April 1850. It consists of a gravelly basaltic cinder cone, which contrasts greatly with the surrounding verdant hillsides, and gives rise to its name, which means Black Hill. Cerro Negro has erupted frequently since its first eruption. One unusual aspect of several eruptions has been the emission of ash from the top of the cone, while lava erupts from fractures at the base. Wikipedia �At the bottom - thats Cerro Negro behind �Craig �Ascending - wow, thats steep! At the top �The �crater The view from the top �About to descend. That tiny yellow box down the bottom is the bus �Looking back up from the bottom. Tomorrow, Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala. Oliver had a haircut - his first one at a hairdressers. ��With his short �back and sides That’s all folks! 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_2021-05-08_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-423 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 2021-05-08 Title A name given to the resource Day 423 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/c78c51ac519a705cc04961f98ace8d18.pdf 96aefc41d81aaad3fd34f9a1a3444736 PDF Text Text Day 422. by windoworks Yesterday I was talking via FaceTime to my counselor (yes, I have a counselor, and yes, I speak to her every week - its one of the ways I attempt to keep myself sane). Anyway, she noticed that the wall behind me was bare. Its a sign of what our house is beginning to look like. I keep taking small things down from places all around the house and giving them to Craig to pack away. I am so worried I will forget something. Craig has moved to practicing his saxophone in the spare room closet which still has enough stuff in it to help muffle the sound. The rooms are so bare, they echo. I wonder if I will have forgotten about some of my treasures by the time I unpack them again, much later this year. �But now, two awards: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been named one of seven John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s Profile in Courage Award recipients for her effort to address the COVID-19 pandemic. “It is my honor to accept this prestigious award on behalf of every Michigander who stepped up to help their family and community through the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Whitmer through a statement. Woo hoo Governor! And also: So proud of these Michigan women. Remember I told you about a huge increase in gun sales? Here’s a story from CNN: Troubling incidents of school-related violence rattled two communities yesterday. In Rigby, Idaho, a sixth-grader allegedly pulled a handgun out of her backpack and started shooting in a hallway, injuring two fellow students and an adult. The district superintendent said an event like this is the "worst nightmare a school system can face." In Columbia, South Carolina, a Fort Jackson trainee is in custody after allegedly hijacking a school bus full of students on its way to an elementary school. According to video and the sheriff, the suspect boarded the bus, held a rifle to the driver and told him to drive to the next town. The 18 children on board and the driver weren't hurt. The suspect faces kidnapping, armed robbery, carjacking and other charges. �Last night about 9:15pm I heard a series of pops outside. Immediately my Facebook feed had questions about gunfire somewhere close by. It could have been fireworks but who goes out of their house to investigate? Not me. And so to the virus. First up, a truly worrying story from Japan. Craig and I are transiting through Japan on our way to Australia: Bloomberg: A petition calling to cancel the Tokyo Olympics gathered support in Japan on Friday, as the government prepared to extend the state of emergency in the city and beyond to control the spread of the virus. A Change.org petition titled “Cancel the Tokyo Olympics to protect our lives” had gained more than 200,000 supporters by late afternoon. “The spread of the virus has not been stopped at all in Tokyo, the rest of the country or the world,” the petition reads. “Vaccination is so far limited to certain regions like the U.S. and Europe, so it is not a definitive way of stopping infections. Are we going to hold the Tokyo Olympics even if it puts lives and jobs in danger?” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has been determined to press ahead with the Tokyo Games, already delayed a year due to the pandemic, billing the sporting extravaganza as an opportunity to declare victory over the virus. Voters disagree. A survey by the Asahi newspaper last month found just 28% wanted the event to go ahead in July, while 34% wanted it postponed again and 35% wanted it canceled outright. Several regions of Japan have had problems staging their legs of the Olympic torch relay, while participants including celebrities have in many cases dropped out. The governor of the southwestern prefecture of Fukuoka, Seitaro Hattori, on Thursday became the latest local leader to say that carrying out the relay would be extremely difficult, Jiji Press reported. The campaign for cancellation comes as Japan struggles to vaccinate its people -- it has immunized less than 2% of the total population, according to data collected by Bloomberg, the least among OECD countries and behind places like Myanmar, Bangladesh and Rwanda. Meanwhile......... �CNN: About 185 million Americans could be fully vaccinated by September, according to the latest vaccination models. That’s roughly 88% of the adult population, but experts say it's a race against time to fend off a winter surge as virus variants like the one driving the crisis in India become more prominent. Booster shots may also be needed in the coming months to keep up immunity. India reported 414,188 new Covid-19 cases today, a new daily high. Brazil has topped 15 million Covid-19 cases, but there’s some hope on the horizon after the government announced it will buy an extra 100 million Pfizer vaccine doses. �Crammed hospitals in India. You know me. I could talk for hours about the importance of masking in public venues, getting vaccinated, yadda, yadda, yadda. But you’ve heard it all before so I’ll refrain. Instead, here are the last 3 changes to life from Washington Post: Being bored By Benjamin Storey and Jenna Storey According to the philosopher Blaise Pascal, “Our unhappiness arises from one thing alone — that we cannot remain quietly in our rooms.” Terrified by the prospect of boredom, we work to make the most of every minute. When the shutdown first hit, our nerves twitched restlessly in the absence of our usual occupations — schlepping the kids, scheduling meetings, squeezing in a few minutes at the gym. So we redeployed our spreadsheets to track toilet paper shipments and strategized about evading the banana rationing. Then, having armed ourselves with an embarrassing excess of supplies, we faced hours we could not instrumentalize. So we lived with boredom. As it settled in, we started to notice things — odd neighbors, old friends we rediscovered online, books we’d loved but largely forgotten. We sprawled on the floor with our children, following the questions that wander through young minds: What happens if you sneeze in a submarine? �Do beans have souls? Such childlike questioning, untethered to time, contains a lesson. Children can be maddeningly indifferent to the clock — folding their socks can take them five minutes or five hours. They delight in time, precisely because they do not mind it. The shutdown taught us that boredom is the narrow portal through which we must pass to become present in the moment, as children are. And that such presence brings happiness. Ironically, the shutdown produced innovations — like remote work even on “snow days,” formerly a gift of unplanned time — that make disconnecting from the press of obligations all the harder. So, unless we remember the hidden benefits that boredom brings, our liberation from quarantine will trap us ever more tightly in the joyless empire of busyness. Benjamin Storey and Jenna Storey are the authors of “Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment.” Telecommuting By Sam Schwartz I grew up in the 1950s watching Disney cartoons. Years later, after driving a New York taxicab and then working as a New York City traffic engineer, a familiar image kept coming up from one of those cartoons: “Motor Mania,” wherein the Goofy character, under the alias Mr. Walker, begins his day as a genteel suburbanite heading downtown. But when he gets behind the wheel, his fangs come out and he morphs into Mr. Wheeler — a road-rage-driven monster. As soon as he gets out of his car, he’s Mr. Nice Guy again. Sound familiar? With any luck, post-pandemic life will mean that more of us will continue working from home, leaving more of us as Walkers — not harried, angry Wheelers. Road rage didn’t go away during the pandemic (and sadly the rate per mile driven of traffic fatalities jumped by 20 percent). But for those of us fortunate enough to be able to work from home, mostly, we didn’t encounter it. I’m sure that, like me, a lot of us have been relieved to skip the daily battle on our streets and highways, time spent getting to jobs that can easily, thankfully be done from the comfort of home. So, before we reflexively return to rush hours, gridlock and jousting with less-than-competent drivers, let’s savor (and maybe keep) what may be these last few weeks as Mr. or Ms. Walker before going back to being twice-daily Mr. or Ms. Wheelers. “Gridlock Sam” Schwartz is a former New York City traffic commissioner and the author of “No One at the Wheel: Driverless Cars and the Road of the Future.” @GridlockSam Better home cooking By Carolina Gelen As someone working in food media, I noticed a surge in demand for content during the pandemic. Some people struggled to find any pleasure in putting food on the table. For others, staying at home clearly helped them discover a new passion. �So many people were drawn to cooking — and experimenting — in their kitchens. Sometimes this was out of necessity: They’d panic-bought some random ingredients during a quick grocery run and now had to improvise. Other times, people cooked to feel connected, taking online workshops to meet fellow enthusiasts and to chat with their favorite chefs. They saw a viral food trend on Instagram or TikTok, so they joined in making hot chocolate bombs and baked feta pasta. They missed a dessert from their favorite restaurant, so they had to re-create it. People started to pick up techniques that they used to get only from professional bakeries or coffee shops: mastering the mysterious alchemy of feeding a sourdough starter or foaming milk for a beautifully elaborate latte. When every day looks exactly the same as the last, paying attention to simple things — making better coffee in the morning, planning a fancy homemade dinner for you and your partner, decorating a layer cake — helps relieve the cabin fever. I hope that sense of care and adventurousness lives on, even after people feel free to dine out. Carolina Gelen is a recipe developer and Food52 resident. Instagram: @carolinagelen Those last words touched a chord in me: When every day looks exactly the same as the last, paying attention to simple things — making better coffee in the morning, planning a fancy homemade dinner for you and your partner, decorating a layer cake — helps relieve the cabin fever. I don’t know about you, but I began baking the plain bread and fruit bread we eat every day for breakfast. This morning Craig said the magic words: thats the last of the fruit toast. Lunch and dinner are two milestones in each day and are always thoughtfully considered. And after a friend told me she found gluten free couscous in her local supermarket, I went online and ordered 2 boxes and at the same time 3 bags of GF toasted stir fry noodles, and very accidentally, 8 (yes 8) boxes of Red Lobster’s famous cheese biscuit mix because they sell a gluten free version. I’m not sure how I ordered 8 boxes, but I made one box up yesterday and they’re really good. Only 7 more boxes to go. I have to step away from Amazon. Here’s a word from Liz Cheney, the sole voice of reason in the Republican Party: ‘Trump is seeking to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work’. Or in other words from the insane recount in Arizona under very suspicious circumstances: ��Crooked Media: The Justice Department has written to Arizona’s Republican Senate President Karen Fann to express concerns about the chaotic GOP-backed election audit in Maricopa County. Ballots and voting systems were removed from the custody of election officials—a potential violation of federal law—and handed over to the profoundly unqualified contractor Cyber Ninjas, which has been just…leaving those things laying around. (When it’s not putting them under UV lights, for no clear reason.) Cyber Ninjas also said it would be knocking on doors to “confirm” voter registration addresses, which, the DOJ wrote, sounds a bit like illegal voter intimidation. I really have reached the ‘no words’ moment with the Republicans. I don’t think they’re actually practicing politics. If this was a sci-fi film I had paid money to see, I’d be demanding my money back - and the 4th season of The Handmaid is starting to look alarmingly feasible. I will continue the cruise flashback tomorrow but here’s some Oliver photos to compensate: ���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_2021-05-07_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-422 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 2021-05-07 Title A name given to the resource Day 422 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/d99cc724a6602eb339354289606288b6.pdf 0560d114f8b0fdabba4b77729449da29 PDF Text Text Day 421. by windoworks So here we are. This morning I went to Blodgett Hospital for a bone density scan. In the 2 or so weeks since my mammogram, the rules have changed again. Although the mask I was wearing was a brand new one out of the box, at the entrance I had to use hand sanitizer, throw my own mask in the trash, and take a new one from the hospital supply. Once again, I was the only person waiting in my section, and the radiologist came and got me promptly. She weighed me (sigh), and then measured my height. 3 years ago at my last scan I was 5 foot, 3 and 1/4 inches. This morning, I was 5 foot 3 and 3/4 inches. Well thats exciting! I’ve stopped shrinking and I seem to be growing. Quick round up of the news: the Greater Sydney Area is masking up and dealing with smaller group gatherings, just in time for Mothers Day. Biden has a fundamentally dark assessment of Vladimir Putin; Biden’s administration supports lifting intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines, arguing it will speed production. This means developing countries can rapidly produce their own generic vaccines rather than wait months or years for sufficient doses. Beleagured Liz Cheney: “History is watching. Our children are watching. We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process. I am committed to doing that, no matter what the short-term political consequences might be,” writes the House Republican conference chair, whose GOP colleagues have increasingly called her unfit for her leadership role. If you’re wondering why her colleagues think she’s unfit - its because she won’t support the Big Lie that the election was stolen. And speaking of the Republican Party, here’s a quote from President Biden: News & Guts “It seems as though the Republican Party is trying to identify what it stands for and they’re in the midst of a significant sort of mini-revolution. I think the Republicans are further away from trying to figure out who they are and what they stand for than I thought they would be at this point.” And Facebook has to decide whether it wants to make Trump’s ban permanent or let him back in. New York Times: Facebook’s suspension of Donald Trump will continue for now, the company announced yesterday. But it still has not resolved the central problem that Trump has created for social media platforms and, by extension, American democracy. The problem is that Trump lies almost constantly. Unlike many other politicians — including other recent presidents, from both parties — he continues to make false statements even after other people have documentedtheir falseness. This behavior undermines the healthy functioning of American democracy, �particularly because Trump has such a large following. His lies about the 2020 election are the clearest example. They have led tens of millions of people to believe a made-up story about how Joe Biden won. They have become a loyalty test within the Republican Party. In several states, Republican legislators are using Trump’s made-up story to justify new laws that make voting more difficult, especially in heavily Democratic areas. There is a direct connection between Trump’s lies about the election and the weakening of voting rights. The next two changes from Washington Post: Appreciating essential workers By Benjamin Lorr Back when the pandemic began, and all of reality felt up for grabs, at least one thing seemed clear: Many people could be “patriotic” by staying home and locking themselves up — and others had to actually go out and do things. Yes, this meant nurses and doctors. Praise them with pots and pans at 7 p.m.! But a new class of “essential worker” emerged, too: our grocers, pharmacists and transit workers; truck drivers, warehouse workers, delivery women. Those for whom the pandemic was not a pause, nor a frenzy, but business as usual. Even the most basic American lifestyle relies on them: a largely invisible collection of �behind-the-scenes workers, not glamorous enough for an Instagram marketing campaign nor yet worthy of a livable minimum wage. While many of us were busy planning trips to the grocery like they required military precision — or when a neighbor confided that he was holding his breath while passing strangers on the street — these workers were still there, protecting the miracle of the supply chain. Dropping packages at doors. Stocking produce on the shelves. Ringing the register in front of stranger after stranger, with no way to hold their breath through it all. It didn’t take long to move from “essential worker” to “hero.” And while it seems kind of definitional that heroes opt into their heroics — as opposed to being conscripted by economic necessity — we can leave learning the distinction between heroism and extortion for a 2021 goal. Right now, I’m just glad for awareness. May we keep an understanding of how much we depend on these workers, and someday soon, may that awareness bring them higher wages, basic benefits and a status equal to all they deliver. Benjamin Lorr is the author of “The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket.” @benjaminlorr Spending time outdoors By Dana Milbank This pandemic has been for the birds. No, really. Shortly after the world shut down in March 2020, I was gardening in the backyard when I heard a loud flapping sound above. A helicopter? No, the invader was a wild turkey, and it had landed, awkwardly, in my American elm tree. City-dweller that I am, I hadn’t known turkeys could fly that high. With human activity at a standstill, nature was reclaiming the capital in magical ways. This lost year has been miserable: over half a million dead, millions out of work, and countless more feeling isolated and depressed. Count me among the last group. But I’m grateful that the confinement forced me to rediscover nature. Research shows that time spent outdoors reduces stress and improves concentration, but my rationale was less noble: I had nowhere else to go. In the (touch and go) effort to keep sane, I’ve walked 765 miles, my AllTrails app tells me, through local parks; I use another app, LeafSnap, to identify plants. (A Japanese photinia? Wait, no, a Chinese photinia!) I’ve climbed Old Rag in Shenandoah National Park, hiked the Appalachian Trail in West Virginia, cycled on the C&O Canal in Maryland and paddled alongside dolphins off Delaware’s Cape Henlopen. In winters before the pandemic, I enjoyed the great outdoors primarily through windows. This time I pulled on wool socks and YakTrax and crunched through mud and ice. Kayaking on the Anacostia River in late February, I came upon a bald eagle taking a bath near the New York Avenue Bridge. A few weeks later, I found a great blue heron fishing in the shadow of RFK Stadium. And just a few days ago, downriver in Anacostia Park: a whole flock of wild turkeys. Without thinking, I gave them a friendly wave. These are my pandemic pals. Dana Milbank is a Washington Post opinion columnist covering national politics. @milbank �Speaking of walking outdoors �Here I am at the end of this stand of trees, in a newly discovered cemetary. �The cruise. After the church and the dancing we got back on the bus and drove to the Alfonso CortesCorinto History Museum. I took many photos of the artifacts. Here’s just a few. ������And no, I have no idea. I couldn’t read the cards because they were all in Spanish. Craig’s adventure tomorrow. Oliver �Working... �Wait for �it....... �Ta Da! 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_2021-05-06_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-421 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 2021-05-06 Title A name given to the resource Day 421 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/ed94e5bc8331755d755af04859c96073.pdf 4f34714af05b0bef94ebe1691ae02929 PDF Text Text Day 420 – or 61 days left, if anyone’s counting. by windoworks Good morning. Today the national focus is on getting everyone vaccinated. I believe that is the only way countries will be able to open up again and life might return to some sort of After Times normal. Washington Post: In the most significant update to distribution since President Biden took office, the White House is changing how it allocates unused vaccine doses. States are allotted vaccines based on population, though some states do not order their full allotment. Now, unordered vaccines will no longer carry over week-to-week; instead, the White House will shift those remainder vaccines into a federal bank that can be tapped by other states. Biden said Tuesday he has set a goal of getting at least the first dose of the vaccine into 70 percent of Americans by July 4. Teenagers and those who have been unable to access vaccines will be the focus of campaigns in coming months, he said, as will those who are reluctant to get a shot. How do you change the minds of Americans who don't want to get the vaccine? The White House, public health charities and researchers are using polls and focus groups to find the messages that resonate most. For one skeptic-turned vaccinated American, the switch was the realization that if she became ill, she wasn't sure who could care for her child. �And: �But for all of us fully vaccinated, raise your hand if you’re finding it difficult to be comfortable, even doing the things the CDC has said we’re allowed to do. Hmmm. I can’t see you but I’m sure some of you are waving your hands in the air. Here’s a piece from The Atlantic: Some Americans find themselves stuck, unable to let go of the comfort blanket of early-pandemic guidelines despite the fact that fully vaccinated people can safely ease up on many precautions. • Post-vaccine inertia is real. “You can’t just turn off that anxiety; it’s got to power down,” one psychologist told our reporter Katherine J. Wu. • A subset of liberals can’t quit lockdown. “Some progressives have not updated their behavior based on the new [public-health advice],” Emma Green writes. “And in their eagerness to protect themselves and others, they may be underestimating other costs.” �• But public-health officials shouldn’t wait around for herd immunity. Juliette Kayyem, a former disasterpreparedness official, argues: “Cautionary public-health guidance risks losing its impact if it fails to acknowledge what the American public surely can see: We are winning the war against COVID-19 in the United States.” I read an interesting article about how many of us are now languishing rather than flourishing. Foolishly I took the 10 point questionnaire and I am firmly in the languishing camp - because I answered honestly. I didn’t find the advice about transitioning from languishing to flourishing helpful or practical. But at least I know I’m languishing now. Oh well. Yesterday, in line with the new, braver, us, we bought our lunch from Terra Bagels (smoked turkey with the fixings) and drove to Holland to see the tulips. Last year the organizers made a loss as the parades were canceled and the shops weren’t open, although the tulips all bloomed on schedule. The Holland Tulip Time Festival has happened in May since 1929. Its an integral part of West Michigan life. This year, I don’t think there were parades (certainly not yesterday) and there were food trucks of all kinds parked all over downtown. The stores were all open and the tulips were blooming. We walked around the main park after we had eaten our lunch in the car. ���These are just a few of the tulip beds. It was cold and breezy but the colors lifted our spirits. Craig was very interested as he planted tulips in our back garden meadow, and they are gorgeous. Here’s the next 2 changes from Washington Post: Spending time with pets By Lara Bazelon The pandemic has created a pet boom. People who had never considered sharing space with a four-legged creature now speak in the awed tones of religious converts. Puppies are suddenly everywhere: bounding joyfully up the street, standing on their hind legs for a treat at the local coffee shop, and happily chewing through unused yoga mats and low-hanging rolls of toilet paper. Some of the humans on the other end of the leash for the first time are people who professed to hate animals. Yes, I plead guilty. Like so many of us who worked from home during the pandemic, I am excited to return to my office with the promise of busy, buzzing days with students and colleagues popping in and out. Yet I haven’t missed that daily interaction as much as I feared I would. Kittle, my mop-haired bichon poodle, is a constant companion. In my covid office, a.k.a. my bedroom, he is ever present, looking up at me soulfully from the nest he has made in the pillows. Peering at other people over Zoom, I see their pets, too: napping on the couch, asleep in their laps, walking across the computer screen, tails wagging in a friendly hello. �These furry friends have comforted us during the endless, frightening and uncertain days. They have also humanized us. It’s hard to yell at opposing counsel when a labradoodle is licking his face. And that’s a good thing. So hello, three-dimensional people, and a fond farewell to your pets Gimli, Pepper, Hank, Sparrow and Beebs. I will miss you. I won’t be saying goodbye to Kittle, though. Come the fall, he will be making regular trips to the office. I can’t imagine life — or work — without him. Lara Bazelon, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law, is the author of “A Good Mother,” a novel that will be published in May. @larabazelon Online ordering at in-person restaurants By Tim Carman Quick response, or QR, codes have gone from fad to survival tool during the pandemic. They’ve allowed restaurant customers to scan little black-and-white boxes with their phones and call up menus, cocktail lists and specials, all without anxious exchanges between diner and server. These innovations have been a matter of safety, even if they generally go against the ethos of a hospitality industry built on customer interactions. But there are a number of reasons restaurants would benefit from hanging on to those contactless menus and checkout systems. QR codes can allow diners to pay their bills at the table, a process that eliminates the traditional three-step dance: The server presents the check, returns to pick up your credit card and then brings the receipt for you to sign. It’s a lot of legwork for the server and can turn into a “Waiting for Godot” scene for diners. A QR code checkout would let diners leave the restaurant faster, which in turn would let owners turn over tables quicker. There are more benefits, too: QR codes save paper. They cut down on duplicate credit card receipts. They allow chefs and sommeliers to update menus without felling more trees. QR codes would also reduce credit card fraud, which is a risk every time you hand over plastic to a stranger. Perhaps you don’t want your phone to be such an intimate part of your dinner out? I get that. The device already intrudes on too much of our lives. But used once at the beginning, and then the end, of your meal, your phone could become an important piece of the 21st-century dining experience. Tim Carman is a food reporter at The Washington Post. @timcarman In an aside: my daughter absolutely agreed with the Soft Pants piece yesterday. More changes tomorrow. Here’s really interesting tidbit: NPR When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first recommended wearing masks during the early part of the pandemic, people bought so many sewing machines that retailers had trouble keeping them in stock. �And people then segued into making clothes. For myself, I buy all my clothes online, usually at sales which seem to be happening constantly. It will be odd to try clothes on in a store, in the future. and no, I don’t have a sewing machine. Those days passed along with camping vacations. Next in Corinto, Nicaragua. When we all came out of the church, they put on a dance display for us in the church grounds. �����Notice how we are all crammed under the trees? It was so hot. Then, before our next stop, there was time for shopping, of course. Oliver �Eating at soccer practice. �Today I’ll leave you with this which just demonstrates how uneducated some politicians actually are: 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_2021-05-05_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-420 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 2021-05-05 Title A name given to the resource Day 420 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/4640f606e8814b9761b6b98fae12e2b0.pdf 012e815abd50e180b6c5fb77dbf68e7a PDF Text Text Day 419 by windoworks �In Denmark, the law requires owners of large farmland to plant 5 % of their land with �flowers What an excellent idea! And I love wildflower meadows. for bees Yesterday our excursion (in the rain) was to the South Kent Landfill with a car full of all the trash that nobody wanted. Next Thursday, the Salvation Army is coming with their truck to pick up the furniture we are not taking back to Australia. Our living room will look very bare! First up, from Crooked Media: The FDA will authorize the use of the Pfizer vaccine in kids 12 to 15 years old by early next week. So that’s the good news. Here’s something I want to talk about: Washington Post The Australian government is threatening to fine or imprison anyone who returns to Australia from India. Critics say the punishments are racist, but Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison contended the motivation was “about health” in an interview Monday with Australian radio. First of all, they’re ‘threatening’ not promising to imprison. But that threatened imprisonment is for up to 5 years. Now I understand that the virus is totally out of control in India and it doesn’t look like they’ll get it under control any time soon. But as each international flight into Australia is met far away from the terminal by police or military, and as every passenger is then escorted to a quarantine facility, wouldn’t the better idea be to allow planes in from India and then isolate those passengers in a strictly supervised and isolated facility for up to a month? With attendants fully clothed in PPE? In the US I believe all incoming flights from India have been banned for the foreseeable future. Of course, here in the US if you fly back in from overseas, you are instructed to isolate until a negative covid test comes back. There’s a whole world of difference between instructed and physically compelled to isolate. This leads me to a worrying development. Using Australia and New Zealand as examples - if you cut off your country from the wider world and yet progress at a snail’s pace to vaccinate your population, you can’t open your borders any time soon. The price of keeping the virus out as much as possible is complete isolation from the rest of the world. That isolation has huge financial consequences. You have to take out all financial predictions for tourism and rely solely on exports and domestic tourism for financial security. People are astonished when I tell them that we are returning to Australia to live because visiting is no longer an option. We are classed as Repatriating Australians and its lucky that we obtained new Australian passports a couple of years ago when we could no longer enter Australia using our American passports. �Many years ago I took some Philosophy classes at university. My friend and I did so well we were invited to do Honors in Philosophy. For various reasons we both declined but it remains a feather in my cap. I’m telling you this because Philosophy was where I first encountered The Slippery Slope. A slippery slope argument, in logic, critical thinking, political rhetoric, and caselaw, is an argument in which a party asserts that a relatively small first step leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant effect. Wikipedia I can see the slippery slope in banning all flights from India into Australia on pain of imprisonment. Likewise, I see a slippery slope in (I think) Florida, where they have imposed huge restrictions on mail in voting - only to realize this negatively impacts a large number of Republican voters. The state GOP answer? Oh, that restriction won’t apply to Republican voters. Wait! What? And, Florida begins that steep, skippery slide........... Meanwhile, in Brazil Covid-19 has caused 1 out of every 3 deaths this year, and less than 10% of the Brazilian population has been vaccinated so far. Well that’s bad. But here in the US, there is this tiny ray of hope: Crooked Media: Los Angeles County reported no new coronavirus deaths on Sunday and Monday—a likely undercount, but an incredibly hopeful sign. The next 2 installments of how our lives are changed from Washington Post : Soft pants By Maura Judkis Before the pandemic, pants were sorted by fabric, function and fit. There were so many types: wool trousers, corduroys, chinos, leggings, jeggings, sweatpants, yoga pants and, inevitably, jeans with their many subcategories: skinny, boyfriend, distressed. But the pandemic has pared all that taxonomic specificity away, leaving us with only two kinds: Hard and Soft. Soft Pants are often terry cloth- or Lycrabased, and they always have elastic or drawstring waistbands. Hard Pants are any pants that have buttons, zippers, or itchy or unstretchy fabric. Soft Pants are a gentle embrace of the calves. Hard Pants are leg prisons. I used to be a person who wore pencil skirts and sheath dresses and all sorts of beautiful, uncomfortable things. A person who believed Karl Lagerfeld when he famously called sweatpants “a sign of defeat.” But when we began working from home, I quickly became a person who owned “nice” sweatpants (cool, tailored joggers for outdoor socially distanced hangs) and “house” sweatpants (old ones with pilled fabric that gave me pancake butt). I wore workout leggings and did not work out. Newly able to sit cross-legged in my desk chair or strike a yoga pose between calls — you can’t do that in a pencil skirt — I found that the words flowed more easily. Minor discomforts, like a too-tight waistband or a seam that digs, emit a constant low hum in your brain. When you eliminate them, you free up that space �for more important things. Wearing Soft Pants, you don’t think about how your clothing feels at all. Choosing Soft Pants does not necessarily mean rejecting fashion. We can have it both ways: clothes that make us look good and conform to business-casual office attire norms, but still feel comfortable. We can’t all wear elegant three-piece Louis Vuitton pajama ensembles, as actor Daniel Kaluuya did for the virtual Screen Actors Guild Awards. But maybe we’ll be more creative and productive in sweatshirt suit jackets and terry cloth joggers, leggings and stylish, shapeless sack dresses. Let all fabrics be stretchy, all waistbands elastic. Let our Soft Pants make our minds sharp. Maura Judkis is a staff writer for The Washington Post’s Style section. @MauraJudkis Watching live television By Jacob Brogan Like many of my fellow millennials, I learned to watch television in my own way and in my own time: I programmed the VCR to record “X-Files” episodes on Friday nights as a teen. I mainlined whole seasons of “Sex and the City” on DVD in college. I ravenously consumed Food Network shows on Hulu as I cooked in my 20s and 30s. When I watched something while it was airing — as I did for the two great TV bloodbaths of the 21st century, “Game of Thrones” and “The Bachelor” — it was typically because I had to write about it for work in the hours just after. That changed almost immediately in the early months of the pandemic. Despite the array of streaming services on our television’s home screen, my girlfriend and I found ourselves scouring the broadcast listings for something, anything, to fill our evenings. Hungry for events that might interrupt the monotony of our days, we tuned into award shows that we would have otherwise read about afterward, and athletic competitions that we would have mostly ignored. Even the worst programs — most notably, the baffling dating show/singing competition “Listen to Your Heart” — brought a rhythm to our weeks, reminding us that time was passing, however tediously. The real appeal of live television during the pandemic was the tenuous sense that we were doing something that other people were doing, too. Sometimes we would text along with friends — happy to know that we needn’t fear spoilers, since they were watching with us — and sometimes we’d simply scroll through Twitter together, observing as the discourse took shape. “Television, in its liveness, its immediacy, its reality, can create families where none exist,” wrote the media theorist Jane Feuer. She worried that this togetherness was illusory, a pernicious tool of corporate power. If so, it is an illusion I have come to treasure despite myself, and one that I will continue to embrace, happy as I am to remember that we share our world with others, strangers and kin alike. Jacob Brogan is an assistant editor with Outlook at The Washington Post. @jacob_brogan There seems to be confusion still about what we can do as fully vaccinated people. Here’s the CDC’s excellent layout: What You Should Keep Doing For now, if you’ve been fully vaccinated: �• You should still protect yourself and others in many situations by wearing a mask that fits snugly against the sides of your face and doesn’t have gaps. Take this precaution whenever you are: o In indoor public settings o Gathering indoors with unvaccinated people (including children) from more than one other household o Visiting indoors with an unvaccinated person who is at increased risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 or who lives with a person at increased risk • You should still avoid indoor large gatherings. • If you travel, you should still take steps to protect yourself and others. You will still be required to wear a mask on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States, and in U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and stations. Fully vaccinated international travelers arriving in the United States are still required to get tested within 3 days of their flight (or show documentation of recovery from COVID-19 in the past 3 months) and should still get tested 3-5 days after their trip. • You should still watch out for symptoms of COVID-19, especially if you’ve been around someone who is sick. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, you should get tested and stay home and away from others. • You will still need to follow guidance at your workplace. • People who have a condition or are taking medications that weaken the immune system, should talk to their healthcare provider to discuss their activities. They may need to keep taking all precautions to prevent COVID-19. So our next port was Corinto, a town on the North West Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. �Our first stop was at a Catholic �Cathedral. �Beautiful wooden ceiling �Looking down the length of the �church �So many saints and icons ��A black Jesus on the �cross �When we first entered the church there was a mass christening going on. So many babies and toddlers in white. There were elements that puzzled me but my companion on the tour was a Catholic priest and he explained everything. To be honest I think I’ve forgotten it all except the part about the huge family and friends parties afterwards where everyone drinks, eats and generally has a good time. More of my tour tomorrow. Oliver �Watering the plants with Great Aunt Bernie. �In the ‘is this a step forward?’ category: CNN: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley, the top US general, has dropped his opposition to major policy changes on how the military handles sexual assault and is open to removing the chain of command from involvement in investigations. An Independent Review Commission, created by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, is carrying out an urgent 90-day review of Pentagon policies and procedures on sexual assault. Milley until now had said sexual assault is a leadership issue and must be handled within the chain of command. But he dropped his opposition after seeing attempts to effectively reduce or end sexual assault within the ranks fail. A Defense Department survey estimated more than 20,000 sexual assaults in the military in 2018. 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_2021-05-04_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-419 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 2021-05-04 Title A name given to the resource Day 419 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/ff3dd73d06fbb0afaa92fe47d80d432e.pdf d9305e43d30621f3e0a8e5f2694fd86b PDF Text Text Day 418. 9 weeks left. by windoworks CNN: People rest, at right, after getting Covid-19 vaccinations under the 94-foot-long, 21,000pound model of a blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. So here we are. This week we are driving to Holland to see the Tulip Time Festival; giving away some of the furniture we will not be taking with us; having continuing conversations with banks in Australia and I’ll be getting my hair cut again. Yesterday Craig dismantled the closet cupboard bequeathed to us by the house’s former owners. It was in my study and years ago I asked Craig to take the doors off so I could use it to store art supplies in. Some months ago he tried to put the doors back on, but time in the basement had led to them being warped and although Craig spent the best part of an afternoon trying - they just wouldn’t go back on. The dismantled closet is out the front of our house as free wood - but no takers so far. The basement is now eerily empty, and we do tend to rattle around our house. I found an interesting article in the Washington Post. Its an opinion piece and is called:The Habits We’ll Keep - the pandemic made us change our lives. Here are 11 ways we won’t change back again. Its a long piece so I’ll present it over the next few posts. When we speak of the end of the pandemic, we tend to imagine it as a “return to normal.” And by “normal,” we mean we will slip back into the blithe ways of being we once took for granted: We will slouch into movie theater seats, invite co-workers over for dinner, hug our parents and shout to be heard �in loud bars. Much as we crave that familiar safety and ease, though, many of the habits that we acquired over the past year — some in the service of survival, some in the name of comfort, others in simple pursuit of pleasure — will remain with us. These are the things we’ll keep, not because the pandemic forced them on us but because they are improvements on our pre-pandemic ways. — Jacob Brogan 1. Wearing masks when we’re sick By Daniela Lamas Like many doctors, I was uncertain about the benefit of masks at the start of the pandemic. But as the data began to accumulate, so too did the masks in my home. Now, a year after this pandemic began, there are masks everywhere — on door handles and in drawers, at the bottom of my bag and in the pockets of my jackets. I’ll be excited, eventually, to live without them — to read facial expressions again, sense the wind on my lips and feel that particular freedom that comes from being able to enter a room without covering my face. And yet. We now know that these politicized little pieces of material actually save lives — including other people’s. Cases of the flu and other respiratory illnesses are at a striking low this year, and while that is probably a result of multiple factors, including physical distancing and hand hygiene, wearing masks is undoubtedly one component. Which is why I am going to continue to wear a mask in my daily life to protect others, long after this pandemic is over. Not all the time. Definitely not in open, outdoor areas. But in many offices in America, coming to work sick was expected, even a norm. Now, if I have a cough or a cold and am entering a crowded indoor area, like a movie theater or a mall or an airplane, or coming to work at the hospital, I will make sure to put on that mask. If we have learned anything from this past year, it is the extent to which we are all interconnected. So I will keep those masks around. I will see them not just as a reminder of this devastating pandemic but also as a promise that we can be better. Daniela Lamas is a pulmonary and critical-care doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. @danielalamasmd 2. Streaming theater By Diep Tran I used to see about 150 live theater performances a year. When Broadway shut down on March 12, 2020, it felt like the curtain had closed on an important part of my life. And not just mine: overnight, the entire performing arts industry shuttered; nationwide, around 1.4 million people lost their jobs. Then the theater community did something astonishing: It went digital. Michael Urie performed the one-man show “Buyer & Cellar” in his living room; Oscar Isaac pretended to spank Marisa Tomei in a Zoom live reading of “Beirut.” Eventually, original productions started popping up, such as “Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical,” a creation that I’m still convinced was a fever dream, and “Circle Jerk,” which had me cackling alone in my room as �the cast pilloried Internet meme culture. These projects showed that you don’t need high production values to make great theater — just committed performers and a riveting script. It was theater at its very essence. Theater has always been restricted by place. But now that even “Hamilton” has a streamable version, you no longer have to be in the room where it happens. Theater companies, large and small, have been investing in camera equipment; D.C.-based Woolly Mammoth, for example, is staging an entire virtual season. When in-person performances come back, $200 and a plane ticket should not, once again, become the prerequisite for seeing a Broadway show. The theater world should retain its pandemic strategies for making its work affordable and accessible, no matter the viewer’s location or economic bracket. Let’s retire the shaky bootlegs: Give us the show in HD, and we’ll live-tweet the hell out of it. Diep Tran, the former features editor of Broadway.com, is the industry news writer for Backstage and the managing editor of Viet Fact Check. @diepthought More tomorrow. How is India doing? I hear you ask. Not well. CNN: India is on the brink of recording 20 million coronavirus cases as it continues to buckle under its worst outbreak yet. Authorities also reported more than 400,000 daily cases for the first time on Saturday and a record-high number of deaths yesterday. Multiple states in the country are preparing to go into “complete lockdown” in the coming days. Many have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not properly preparing India for the crisis, and he has often painted a rosy view of the nation's pandemic response when numbers were saying otherwise. In an election in a key battleground state, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party just suffered a defeat, with the results seen as a test of whether the second wave of Covid-19 has impacted support for Modi. I decided to look at other hotspot countries. Here’s what’s happening in South America, from The Guardian: South America produced some of the most horrific episodes of the pandemic last year, with mass graves dug in the Brazilian Amazon and bodies dumped on pavements in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil. But at the end of 2020 there was some hope that with the onset of vaccination the worst might have passed. Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, even claimed the crisis had reached its “tail-end” in December. Such predictions have proved grotesquely misguided. Brazil’s death toll has since more than doubled to more than 400,000, after an explosion of infections caused a catastrophic healthcare collapse. At least 100,000 Brazilians have died in the last 36 days and 100,000 more are expected to lose their lives before July. Many of Brazil’s neighbours are also in dire straits, including Uruguay, which was once heralded as a regional success story but in April suffered its deadliest month. On Thursday Argentina, Paraguay and �Colombia all registered their highest daily death tolls with 561, 505 and 106 fatalities respectively. The mayor of Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, urged residents to stay at home, warning they faced “the most difficult two weeks – not of the pandemic, but of our lives”. The situation in authoritarian Venezuela is harder to gauge, but also appears to be deteriorating.Last week South America, home to 5.5% of the world’s population, suffered nearly 32% of all reported Covid deaths. “What’s happening is a catastrophe,” Argentina’s health minister, Carla Vizzotti, admitted as her country’s Covid restrictions were extended until late May. A man cycles past shuttered businesses during the strict lockdown in Bogotá, Colombia. Photograph: Fernando Vergara/AP Many specialists suspect South America’s current collapse is largely the work of the more contagious P1 variant that emerged late last year in the Brazilian city of Manaus and has spent 2021 rampaging across the continent, from Lima to Buenos Aires.The vaccination of older age groups offered some hope that future waves would be less deadly – but even that was not assured if new variants appeared. The coronavirus cannot be underestimated. If it was capable of doing this in 2021, it could easily do it again in 2022. Oliver. It was mask day at Daycare. ��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_2021-05-03_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-418 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 2021-05-03 Title A name given to the resource Day 418 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/5116a92c092aaa99abbde43d50825261.pdf 402c3e3f5854023f35efe8c43d852984 PDF Text Text Day 417 by windoworks And really, that’s all I have to say about the subject. Today seems to be all about swings and roundabouts. Its a useful phrase because - If you say that a situation is swings and roundabouts, you mean that there are as many gains as there are losses. What do I mean? Well here in the US the scientists are concluding that when you add those who have had Covid and have antibodies and those who have had at least one vaccination shot, we are almost reaching herd immunity. All the signs are there: declining numbers; smaller outbreaks with rigid containment; �people continuing to be vaccinated; places relaxing restrictions and slowly opening up in a controlled way. But there is a disturbing new trend - NPR After spending much of the past year tending to elderly patients, doctors are seeing a clear demographic shift: young and middle-aged adults make up a growing share of the patients in COVID-19 hospital wards. It's both a sign of the country's success in protecting the elderly through vaccination and an urgent reminder that younger generations will pay a heavy price if the outbreak is allowed to simmer in communities across the country. "We're now seeing people in their 30s, 40s and 50s — young people who are really sick," says Dr. Vishnu Chundi, an infectious disease physician and chair of the Chicago Medical Society's COVID-19 task force. "Most of them make it, but some do not. … I just lost a 32-year-old with two children, so it's heartbreaking." Nationally, adults under 50 now account for the most hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the country — about 35% of all hospital admissions. Those age 50 to 64 account for the second-highest number of hospitalizations, or about 31%. Meanwhile, hospitalizations among adults over 65 have fallen significantly. More than 30% of the U.S. population is now fully vaccinated, but the vast majority are people older than 65 – a group that was prioritized in the initial phase of the vaccine rollout. The only way to stop this is for everyone to be vaccinated. Here’s what’s happening overseas, from the New York Times: Global coronavirus cases are surging, driven by India and South America. The number of new daily cases has exceeded 800,000 for more than a week. The spike is largely driven by the outbreak in India, which now accounts for more than 40 percent of the world’s new cases. The U.S. plans to halt travel for non-U.S. citizens from India starting Tuesday. Vaccines in India are running short, hospitals are swamped and cremation grounds are burning thousands of bodies every day. Health experts and political analysts say that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s overconfidence and domineering leadership style bear a huge share of the responsibility for the crisis. Meanwhile, Indians living abroad are frantically seeking to help sick relatives. Much of South America is also faring poorly. Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Colombia all rank among the 20 nations with the highest number of Covid deaths per capita. Yesterday I read a devastating piece about India, and although it looks long, I did cut it down. Please read it all. Washington Post Avani Singh hops on Zoom around 11 p.m. every night with her mother in New Jersey and uncle in India, strategizing how to keep her coronavirus-stricken grandfather alive. They already managed to get K.S. Walia, 94, out of a New Delhi emergency room where Singh said a worker demanded an $8 bribe to keep �oxygen running. A different hospital where her grandfather is now admitted said the family would need to find oxygen and remdesivir, a drug that reduces recovery time, themselves, Singh said. Before starting a new search last weekend, Singh, a 28-year-old consultant, walked her dog in her Arlington, Va., neighborhood where people lined up to get inside a rooftop tiki bar and a group pedaled by on a party bike, drinking beer. She returned to her apartment and stayed up until 2 a.m. scouring Instagram for phone numbers of Indians who might have oxygen and getting no replies to a flurry of messages. Singh is among thousands of Americans struggling to help Indian relatives survive a catastrophic coronavirus surge that has caused the health-care system to collapse. The desperation of families in India has spread across time zones and borders as families fend for themselves in search of hospital beds, oxygen canisters and basic medication. “There was a huge disconnect where I felt very angry that the world isn’t paying attention, and would it be different if it was White bodies piling up on the streets?” Singh recalled. “How am I supposed to go about my normal day?” This is the split-screen pandemic in the U.S., where vaccine selfies flood social media feeds and newly vaccinated families are reuniting as many are struggling to help loved ones with coronavirus around the world access medical care. The ongoing crisis in India and the fallout in the United States illustrates how the global pandemic will continue to inflict misery even if infections plunge inside American borders. A nation of immigrants, and one so interconnected to the world through family, trade and culture, America still reels from lives lost as coronavirus ravages a mostly unvaccinated world, including in South America, where a variant-driven surge in Brazil has rapidly spread to other countries. “It’s almost like you’re living in two realities: one where things are getting better in the United States, and one abroad, where the situation is terrible,” said Sadaf Jaffer, the former mayor of heavily South Asian Montgomery Township, N.J. “It’s an extra burden that people who have connections on the other part of the world bear because they know how bad things are there.” Because India is so global, any strain of virus that gains set advantage — more contagious, more deadly or able to spread more efficiently — will not only become dominant there, but quickly become global. And thats my fear - that countries struggling to contain the virus will keep reinfecting the rest of the world. The only answer is a global coalition to address COVID-19. It just won’t work if some countries recover, some countries shut down their borders, and some countries are led by politicians who refuse to believe the virus exists. Under these circumstances the pandemic will continue to rage, on and off, for years. In this common goal of ending the worst pandemic in a century, no-one is safe until everyone is safe. Here’s today’s statistics: total world cases recorded, 152M. Deaths, 3.19M. I’m sure that’s an undercount, especially in places such as India. �Here’s a meme to make us all laugh: Costa Rica: �The ship was docked at Puntarenas instead of another closer port because of a large fire which was blowing smoke out into the bay. If you look at the top of this photo, you can see some light smoke. ��It was hot so I paddled at the water’s edge �A sightseeing trip? ��The lovely beach - see the smoke above? �Watching Puntareanas disappear from our cabin balcony. More cruise tomorrow. Oliver �I think Oliver tries to make everything a scooter. �About a month ago, I gifted Dan our coffee deliverer, one of my windows which he had admired for some time. He has hung it on the fence in his garden. ��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_2021-05-02_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-417 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 2021-05-02 Title A name given to the resource Day 417 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/bd3694a79d57e7957dad904477cd3304.pdf 214ef58bac6797d65ab41e06fc9571d9 PDF Text Text Day 416. Saturday May 1. by windoworks Another month has gone. Some days it is painfully slow and some days fly by fast. More and more of my friends are fully vaccinated. As our departure approaches, we are planning to get together safely outside in small fully vaccinated groups to say goodbye. Of course in a small group (8 at most, counting Craig and I), we would be safe inside too, but in order to make everyone comfortable, we will be outside. We are taking baby steps forward. It is hard to explain to friends and family in other countries just how profound the change to our everyday behavior is. We have been living as safely as possible for over 12 months. I cannot adequately describe the fear at the onset of the pandemic and the Michigan lockdown. Every normal activity outside the house was seen as life threatening. We waited to fall ill, as did many of our friends. That fear went on for 11 months, until we were vaccinated. Every email or text ended with the words: stay safe and stay well. Every cough or sneeze might be the onset of Covid. Craig and I talked about what we would do if one of us caught the virus and ended up in hospital alone and perhaps on a ventilator. We made Worst Case Scenario plans. We did this because it was irresponsible not to do it. I’m telling you this because if you live far away in a low virus risk area, it can be hard to understand the constant worry and apprehension from living in a recurring surge state. The vaccine is literally a lifesaver and a sanity restorer and a door opening device. The more people vaccinated all around the world, the more life comes back to something resembling the Before Times. Here’s a piece from CNN: The real-world data on the Covid-19 vaccines is clear: they are stunningly effective. The vaccines essentially take death and severe disease off the table. They dramatically reduce the risks of getting Covid and transmitting the virus to other people. They are powerful weapons against all of the circulating variants. In short, they are the clear ticket to normality. Yet that message isn't getting through. Vaccine hesitancy continues to be an enormous problem in this country. Now that all adults ages 16 and over are eligible for the vaccine in the US and approximately 42% of Americans who want the vaccine have gotten at least one dose, the biggest hurdle to achieving herd immunity -- and to resuming normal life -- is the ground game of encouraging vaccine uptake among unvaccinated people. Of course, risk mitigation -- masks, distancing, and ventilation -- is still critical for unvaccinated people, and for vaccinated people in public indoor spaces, until everyone who wants the vaccine has been offered one. Moreover, no two people's risk or risk tolerance is exactly alike. But most people understand that health is more than the absence of disease. We need a hard right turn on the narrative about vaccines. People need incentives to take one. We must empower people with facts about vaccine efficacy and shift the media's bad news bias to one of evidence- �based optimism about post-vaccination life. We need visible public confidence in the vaccines' stunning efficacy and trusted messengers to deliver nuanced advice to vaccine-hesitant folks. But meanwhile in India, the unimaginable is happening. These are cremation fires and these sites are used again and again, all day long. First up, from Washington Post: The devastation in India is fueling growing anger at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi has overruled health experts to hold election rallies, and he did not cancel a religious festival attended by millions. Daily infections there have risen to record highs, recently to 379,000 new cases. The White House announced Friday afternoon that it would ban travel from India, beginning Tuesday, for those who are not U.S. citizens or residents. And more form NPR: Some scientists have been sounding the alarm about India's virus uptick since late February. Bhramar Mukherjee is one of them. She's a biostatistician at the University of Michigan who's designed models that show India's reported infections will peak in late May. She predicts India could be confirming as many as 1 million new cases a day and 4,500 daily deaths by then. "There has been tremendous data denial. People didn't want to believe, and the government didn't want to �believe, that this was actually going to explode," Mukherjee told NPR. "There was also a sense of premature celebration and exceptionalism." Another model of India's current COVID-19 wave has been conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. The institute's director, Chris Murray, told NPR that India may be detecting only 3% or 4% of its daily infections. So when India confirms about 386,000 infections, as it did Friday, that may really mean it's seeing about 10 million infections, according to the institute's modeling. But here is some good news for the US. Washington Post; A spring wave of infections has crested in the U.S. Forty-two states and D.C. reported declining caseloads for the past two weeks, and the national rate of new infections dropped to where it was in October. Deaths and hospitalizations, too, are waning, though those lag behind new cases. Some hotspots remain — in the Pacific Northwest, for example — but public health specialists have given their wary approval to the overall trend. “There could be smaller, local flare-ups, but in general, things are looking really good as we move into the summer,” University of Florida biostatistician Natalie E. Dean told The Post. The White House said Friday that 100 million U.S. adults, nearly a third of the population, are fully vaccinated. Overseas, though, outbreaks continue to be dire. Yesterday Michigan recorded 3,804 new cases and the 7 day average is 4,249 - half of what it was 2 weeks ago. The state’s positivity rate has dropped to 5.8%. While that is still too high, it has dropped out of the truly alarming level of at least 15%, 2 weeks ago. Our red state is gradually fading to nearer pink. Our next (and last) cruise was to Costa Rica and beyond. Our friend and colleague Neil, contacted Craig in a state of agitation, saying one of his lecturers for the Costa Rica cruise had pulled out at the last moment. Could we join the cruise in Costa Rica please? Because it was Neil we said yes. We did wonder about this new virus that seemed to be spreading out of China, but we went anyway. The cruise had begun in Miami and had sailed through the Panama Canal and on to Costa Rica. Costa Rica is a rugged, rainforested Central American country with coastlines on the Caribbean and Pacific. Though its capital, San Jose, is home to cultural institutions like the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, Costa Rica is known for its beaches, volcanoes, and biodiversity. Roughly a quarter of its area is made up of protected jungle, teeming with wildlife including spider monkeys and quetzal birds. ― Google �We arrived in San Jose in the late afternoon and found our beautiful hotel. Here I am, sound �asleep the next morning and Craig took this sneaky photo through the sliding glass doors. �The hotel grounds were �gorgeous. And I did walk around the grounds with Craig after breakfast �Our Uber car was tiny and the air conditioning was on the fritz so we drove the hour and a half to the coast with all the windows down and the pollen laden air howling through the car. �And here we are at our ship. More tomorrow. Oliver �Get vaccinated. Wear your mask inside stores etc. Summer is coming. � 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_2021-05-01_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-416 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 2021-05-01 Title A name given to the resource Day 416 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/3cdedd09d2cc92f860301f402d555499.pdf 98b19f9704e73dfa0a8c36af75a64689 PDF Text Text Day 415 by windoworks It took me a moment too. Smile - because you’re allowed to keep your mask off outside. India continues to struggle. Craig was listening to NPR this morning and their Mumbai correspondent Lauren Frayer, said she had been isolated inside her apartment for at least 30 days. The restrictions will be �looked at today, but no one knows what will happen. There are photos of empty streets, a truly unsettling sight in India. I’ve been here in Mumbai - I’ve never seen it without hundreds of people. My counselor was listening to a podcast and the podcaster was saying that any final return to ‘normal’ life wouldn’t happen until 2024. He said that this summer could be better but there would probably be another surge in winter, later this year. Also, on NPR this morning, there was the view expressed that many countries will take years to vaccinate most of their population. But what about new variants, I hear you asking. Well, Pfizer and Moderna are already hard at work on booster tweaks. �Because I am angry. The more I think about it, the angrier I get. Its that blameless anger which is even harder to cope with. We’ve all had our normal lives and freedom taken away. It has gone on for so long that I struggle to remember my Before Times life. Yesterday at 11:30am Craig said to me: normally you would have been at a Women’s City Club lunch and speaker at this time, chatting to all your friends. It brought me up sharp. I had forgotten about that. My life has closed down to the same routine every day. I could get angry or upset - and for the longest time I did, regularly. But now time moves in a blur of one day following the next. Long ago, Craig would say as we went to bed: another day we survived, but he hardly ever says that anymore. I think about plagues that happened hundreds of years ago, and how wealthy people stayed locked inside their estates with no visitors in case they carried the infection. Of course being fully vaccinated we have more options than before. We can carefully visit art museums, we can eat take out and we can see small numbers of fully vaccinated friends. I thought about going to the Annual meeting of the Women’s City Club, not to stay, just to say goodbye, but there’s zero socializing. You walk in and sit at a table with 3 others - and there you stay until the meeting and lunch are over. I tried thinking of alternatives until Craig said: you’re not comfortable with this, are you? And so I gave up. I think about Oliver and what he will think when he first sees us as big people and not the little people on Mummy’s iPhone screen. I think about sitting in a restaurant or cafe with family and friends, and �truthfully, I just can’t imagine it. I have lived and am still living such a cautious, careful life here in the US that I can’t imagine anything else. And here’s the thing: when we leave the US and hopefully make it to Sydney Australia without trauma, there we will be . By that I mean, no one else but returning Australians will be allowed in. There is a Trans Tasman bubble in place between Australia and New Zealand but nowhere else. And until most people in all countries are vaccinated and given booster shots, there will be no tourism. Many countries depend on tourism financially. Apparently Disneyland is opening today as is New York City. The stores have all been open here in Michigan for some time, but there is not a lot of face to face shopping going on. We went to Kohl’s last week to buy a suitcase. It was the first big box store we had been in for over a year. You could have fired a cannon down some of the aisles and not hit a soul. Their inventory looked sparse and overpriced and we went home and I ordered my suitcase online from the company. It is arriving today and it was much cheaper than in the stores. That, in a nutshell, spells the probable end of malls and big box stores. In another long lasting change, we get our 3 pounds of coffee beans delivered to the door every two weeks. I am reminded by email each time. We leave the check in the basket by the front door and Dan leaves the bags of coffee in the basket. There are a myriad of food delivery services as well as people who will shop for your groceries for you. At the end of our block there is a group of lockers called Cubi. You contact the providers on the Cubi list, order and pay for what you want and they will text you when you order is complete and locked inside your locker, waiting for you to retrieve it. Yesterday there was a long thread on FB about unmasked people in stores, particularly grocery stores. In our area, this is almost never a problem - we all seem to follow the rules without squabbling. But the one universal place to shop and feel safe was Trader Joe’s where they still only let 25 into the store at one time, where you must wear a mask and where you still stand back behind the blue line while they pass your groceries through the checkout. And best of all, they have 2 truck deliveries every day and they restock the shelves constantly. In other news, Biden gave an address to the nation. Here’s a piece from Crooked Media: The address steered clear of any partisan language or culture war fuel, so Republicans have gone ahead and reacted to a different, imaginary speech. GOP Race Spokesman Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) ran through a litany of grievances in his rebuttal, and argued that while Biden “seems like a good man,” the country feels pretty divided, and who else’s fault could that be? In a Fox News interview on Wednesday night, House Leader Kevin McCarthy repeated the thoroughly debunked lie that Biden is out to abolish red meat, with no pushback from Sean Hannity. �There have been suggestions that in order to stop the nonsensical idea that President Biden is going to take away your hamburgers, Jen Psaki, the White House Press Secretary should begin each press briefing by eating a hamburger. And in other news from Crooked Media: Texas’s energy market wasn’t the only deregulation nightmare that contributed to the catastrophe in February: The state is one of just six in the country with no statewide requirement for carbon monoxide alarms in homes. During Texas’s historic freeze, thousands of Texans unwittingly released poisonous gas into their homes as they improvised to stay warm, and at least 11 people died. Many of them didn’t have alarms in their homes or apartments, because none were required in their jurisdiction. Black, Hispanic, and Asian Texans accounted for 72 percent of the poisonings. In spite of a decade's worth of warnings, and recent proof that those warnings were right, Texas lawmakers have not leapt into action to fix this. They happen to be considering a broader overhaul of state building codes which would require carbon monoxide alarms in some new homes, but not in anything built before 2022, and local governments would still be able to opt out. Hmmm. Some years ago, the Grand Rapids Fire Department began a scheme funded in part by the city, to install smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms in any household as requested. We have them all over our house and each one is in the proper designated place. The chief fire officer also told me off for drying my tea towel on the oven door handle - it leads to more house fires than you can imagine. I have never done it since. New York Times: More than 100 colleges across the United States have said they will require students to receive coronavirus vaccines in order to attend in-person classes in the fall, according to a New York Times survey. Those requirements come as coronavirus cases have continued to climb steadily this spring at U.S. colleges and universities. More than 660,000 cases have been linked to the institutions since the start of the pandemic, with one-third of those since Jan. 1. Major outbreaks continue on some campuses, even as students have become eligible for vaccines. Salve Regina University in Rhode Island canceled all in-person events for at least a week after more than 30 students tested positive in seven days. Wayne State University in Detroit, a city that has been one of the worst U.S. coronavirus hot spots, suspended inperson classes and on-campus activities in early April. Of course some students object that it is an invasion of their personal freedom. I think the answer is easy: face to face classes for the vaccinated and online classes for those wishing to protect their personal freedom. I could begin a rant about others preserving their personal freedom at my expense - but I’ll leave that there. �Oliver ��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_2021-04-30_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-415 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 2021-04-30 Title A name given to the resource Day 415 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/0edac43361d6c457fdea6c3631f9e79a.pdf 7663a553ae346cfa8564a2d99f612304 PDF Text Text Day 414 by windoworks Last night President Biden delivered his first national speech, marking his first 100 days in the White House. This is an historic photograph- for the first time both the Vice President and the Speaker of the House are women and all three are Democrats. From CNN: President Biden delivered his first address to Congress last night, on the eve of his 100th day in office. The President focused his speech on what his ambitious and sometimes politically divisive policy changes can do for Americans. He made no apology for passing the massive coronavirus relief bill without Republican support and called on legislators to swiftly act on other top-line issues, like police reform and infrastructure spending. While his biggest priorities have been domestic, Biden also said by addressing issues like green energy production, the US is staying competitive with the rest of the world. As the President spoke, Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi completed a historic tableau behind him, marking the first time two women have occupied both those positions. Here is a roundup of virus news from ClickonDetroit: DETROIT – The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Michigan has risen to 833,891 as of Wednesday, including 17,467 deaths, state officials report. Overall, new cases have slowed over the last 10 days. The state’s 7-day moving average for daily cases was 4,167 on Wednesday -- lower than one week ago. The 7-day death average was 60 on Wednesday, slightly higher than the last two �weeks. The state’s fatality rate is 2.1%. The state also reports “active cases,” which were listed at 189,000 on Wednesday. More than 626,000 have recovered from the virus in Michigan. Michigan has reported more than 6.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered as of Wednesday, with more than 48% of residents having received at least one dose. According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 32 million cases have been reported in the U.S., with more than 574,000 deaths reported from the virus. Worldwide, more than 149 million people have been confirmed infected and more than 3.1 million have died. More than 84 million have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University. The true numbers are certainly much higher, because of limited testing, different ways nations count the dead and deliberate under-reporting by some governments. There seems to be some discussion over wearing masks. The CDC says that wearing them outside is not necessary unless it is a crowded situation. I remember Dr Fauci’s advice from some time ago, saying that the rule for masking outside was: if you were close enough to a stranger who could blow out the candle on the cake you were holding - then wear a mask. Otherwise no mask outside. Craig and I try to walk every day and usually we have a mask in our jacket pockets. We hardly ever put them on. We do still move over to the far side of the path and walk single file as people pass by going the other way. I sometimes wait in the car while Craig goes into the grocery store and I watch the automatic masking routine of every customer. Some put their mask on in their cars and some wait until they are almost at the door to the store. In the beginning, people would rip the mask off their face as soon as they exited the store. Now shoppers often wear them until they have unloaded their cart, returned the cart to the cart bay and then gotten in their car - then they take their mask off! Masks hang from the rear view mirror, are pushed down onto the neck, dangle off one ear and peep out of pockets. Stores that used to have notices which read: you must wear a mask unless you have a medical condition that prevents it, now read ‘all customers must wear a mask to enter this store’. I guess too many people tried the medical condition ploy. And have you noticed that the ‘Karen’ phenomena has mostly disappeared? Those angry women screaming about their rights and deliberately coughing on innocent staff members and other customers? Perhaps they caught the virus. As you know, we have been avid cruise fans because of Craig’s lecturing. The cruise ship industry has been hammered. Cruise lines keep setting new start up schedules, only to push them back, further and further. I can see how all crew must be fully vaccinated, all passengers fully vaccinated and all ships adapted for safe cleaning procedures. But what to do about shore excursions? Most destinations won’t allow tourists yet and vaccination rates in a lot of countries are low. But two new things have happened. First are ghost ship cruises. �Many cruise ships have anchored in the British Channel. They have a skeleton crew of about 100 onboard and every few weeks they have to sail to port to refuel. Anchoring in the British channel is far cheaper than being tied up in port. So an enterprising passenger ferry captain has begun ghost ship cruises. He takes passengers out for a 2 and half hour cruise around all the nearby anchored cruise ships. The captain of one of the cruise ships parked off the Dorset coast has even started to wave back at his tours using what he describes as a six-foot-long hand made of plywood. �What an extraordinary sight! The second thing is cruising around the British Isles without ever getting off the ship. The idea is a resort type vacation with fabulous food, entertainment etc, but only views rather than excursions ashore. Evidently these cruises sold out quickly. �Its a remarkable thing to think about the crew on these ships - just the same as a lockdown or quarantine, except at sea. I believe there are cruise ships docked or anchored offshore all over the world, and I wonder - is that part of our life now firmly in the Before Times? In other news, in the section “it always catches up with you” there are these two stories. First: NBC Three men accused in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have been indicted on charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. The new charges against Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., and Daniel Joseph Harris center on an alleged plan to blow up a bridge near Whitmer's vacation home in order to hinder police, according to a superseding indictment. Fox and Croft allegedly inspected the underside of the bridge for a place to put explosives in September while they were on their way to conduct "nighttime surveillance" of that home, the indictment alleges. Croft and Harris also allegedly blew up or tried to blow up improvised explosive devices, including a test of how well shrapnel would work against people. Fox is accused of ordering $4,000 worth of explosives from an undercover FBI agent. Ahh, Michigan. And second: CNN:Federal agents executed search warrants yesterday at the apartment and office of Rudy Giuliani, former President Trump’s personal lawyer. Giuliani has been the focus of a long-running criminal investigation concerning his activities in Ukraine, including whether he conducted illegal lobbying for Ukrainian officials during Trump’s presidency to try to damage the reputation of then-rival Biden. A search warrant for a lawyer like Giuliani would require a sign-off by the highest levels of the Justice Department, and generally, it is unusual for prosecutors to execute a search warrant on a lawyer at all. But they’ve done so before -- most notably, in this case, against another former lawyer for Trump, Michael Cohen. Giuliani hasn't been charged and has denied wrongdoing. Its never good when federal agents search your home. Our second Caribbean cruise ended in San Juan, Puerto Rico - and I have no photos from the day. I look at these photos and wonder if I will ever see some of these places again. I am glad that I have been to so many places in the world and I have the photos to remember them by. I have one last cruise to share with you, but not today. Oliver. ���Have you been vaccinated yet? 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_2021-04-29_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-414 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 2021-04-29 Title A name given to the resource Day 414 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/36c57434f54a783687e3924da1e3005a.pdf a0c893c3cb9f76ad25a8dfe25e21f63f PDF Text Text Day 413 by windoworks On this day last year from my blogpost: the CDC posted an amended list with 6 new symptoms of Covid19. Doctors in the ER or ICU noticed a new problem: the virus was able to cross the blood brain barrier. More and more evidence is coming out that people with COVID-19 are suffering from cognitive effects, such as brain fog and fatigue. And researchers are discovering why. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, like many viruses before it, is bad news for the brain. In a study published Dec.16 in Nature Neuroscience, researchers found that the spike protein, often depicted as the red arms of the virus, can cross the bloodbrain barrier in mice. This strongly suggests that SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19, can enter the brain. The study could explain many of the complications from COVID-19. When you have the COVID infection you have trouble breathing and that's because there's infection in your lung, but an additional explanation is that the virus enters the respiratory centers of the brain and causes problems there as well. Now, one year later, to recap, here are the symptoms of COVID-19: COVID-19 affects different people in different ways. Infected people have had a wide range of symptoms reported – from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19: Fever or chills Cough Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing Fatigue Muscle or body aches Headache New loss of taste or smell Sore throat Congestion or runny nose Nausea or vomiting Diarrhea Look for emergency warning signs for COVID-19. If someone is showing any of these signs, seek emergency medical care immediately: Trouble breathing Persistent pain or pressure in the chest New confusion �Inability to wake or stay awake Pale, gray, or blue-colored skin, lips, or nail beds, depending on skin tone It is concerning that some people refuse to be vaccinated. In the US, we have 231M doses given (as of 2 days ago), 95.9M fully vaccinated which translates to 29.2% of the population. The number that are refusing to be vaccinated is close to 25% of all citizens. Now if that number remains static and the other 75% get fully vaccinated, then the US will be close to herd immunity. It is galling to see people refuse the vaccine when places like India are desperate for enough doses to help to get the crisis under control. From a correspondent of the New York Times: NEW DELHI — Crematories are so full of bodies, it’s as if a war just happened. Fires burn around the clock. Many places are holding mass cremations, dozens at a time, and at night, in certain areas of New Delhi, the sky glows. Sickness and death are everywhere. Dozens of houses in my neighborhood have sick people. One of my colleagues is sick. One of my son’s teachers is sick. The neighbor two doors down, to the right of us: sick. Two doors to the left: sick. “I have no idea how I got it,” said a good friend who is now in the hospital. “You catch just a whiff of this…..” and then his voice trailed off, too sick to finish. He barely got a bed. And the medicine his doctors say he needs is nowhere to be found in India. What we’re witnessing is so different from last year, during India’s first wave. Then, it was the fear of the unknown. Now we know. We know the totality of the disease, the scale, the speed. We know the terrifying force of this second wave, hitting everyone at the same time. What we had been fearing during last year’s first wave, and which never really materialized, is now happening in front of our eyes: a breakdown, a collapse, a realization that so many people will die. I’m sitting in my apartment waiting to catch the disease. That’s what it feels like right now in New Delhi with the world’s worst coronavirus crisis advancing around us. It is out there, I am in here, and I feel like it’s only a matter of time before I, too, get sick. �A crematorium ground for Covid-19 victims in East Delhi, on Friday. The only way forward out of this global pandemic is to vaccinate everyone in the world. Everyone. Men, women and children. As fast as humanly possible. Here, in Michigan, vaccinations are available everywhere. Yesterday in the pharmacy section of Meijer, I walked past a young man who had just reached the pharmacists window. She asked him: how can I help you today? And he replied: I’d like a Covid vaccination please. As I walked away, I heard her reply: certainly sir. There is no wait, no need for appointments. You can look up the nearest vaccination center and just go there. Across the States, they are using convention centers, football grounds, fairgrounds, empty buildings anywhere they can find to set up a clinic. And each large site is run with military precision. The site we attended ran like clockwork and I have heard nothing but praise for the convention center clinic downtown. But apart from the virus, America seems to be displaying elements of the Wild West. From NPR: First-time gun owners, young and old from across the country, are helping to push record levels of gun sales for what looks like the second year in a row. "My gun store has had a run like I've never seen before," said Todd Cotta, the owner of Kings Gun Center in Hanford, Calif., in the state's agriculturally rich Central Valley. "It was just an avalanche of new gun buyers for the first time." These buyers are white, Black, Asian and Latino and come from all political beliefs. And they're being driven by uncertainty, fear and a need to feel safe. Gun sellers across the country said the pandemic and civil unrest over the past year �have pushed customers to feel they must take control of their families' protection. Fears of Congress passing new gun control legislation in the wake of a rash of mass shootings since March are also adding fuel to the buying craze, industry insiders said. People lining up to purchase a gun. Okay. ��Yesterday we drove out to Grand Haven. We bought take out sandwiches form Morningstar Cafe and ate them watching the waves on Lake Michigan. Then we drove to Kirk Park and walked to the lakeshore. Craig had some of his father’s ashes left and he put most of them in the lake. Then we drove to Grand Valley and he delivered some posters he discovered cleaning out his study and then he walked into the ravine and put the rest of the ashes on a log, to be blown away by the wind. After some more errands we came home. We are comfortable with socializing in a small group outside and eating take out food, but not eating inside a restaurant or cafe. We are cautious. Caribbean: The next morning we docked at Road Town in the British Virgin Islands. Road Town, located on Tortola, is the capital of the British Virgin Islands. It is situated on the horseshoe-shaped Road Harbour in the centre of the island's south coast. Wikipedia �Anchoring off Road Town �On the dock, waiting to board our boat for the first part of Tortola by sea and land �This whole area was a favorite haunt for pirates, including Blackbeard. �While we looked at the islands and the sea, we drank Rum punch, of course. �Back to the dock for Part 2: Tortola by land �Tortola is a beautiful island but very steep in places �Craig and I were sitting next to our friends from the South who screamed with fear at the steep drop offs, or squeezed their eyes shut. I spent a lot of time saying, we’re all right, you’re okay. I’ve never met such nervous women. What are they like when they fly? �The steep road down Oliver. He has discovered what a satisfying tune he can play on his toy piano with his tummy. Craig is ecstatic - an avant garde musician in the family! ��To end today I’ve included this: Now there’s a thought. � 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_2021-04-28_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-413 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 2021-04-28 Title A name given to the resource Day 413 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/2d48a2b556bf393a408fdaf0823b5c0c.pdf d9b14f2f0d0c1dd7a95887a8f1e1c18d PDF Text Text Day 7,459. 0h all right – day 412. by windoworks My mother-in-law shares some funny emails with me, most days. Yesterday one of the emails had a series of memes and this one made me laugh and say ‘exactly!’ at the same time. �First up, The Atlantic: COVID-19 cases have reached a terrifying new global peak, with India experiencing the bulk of the surge. “What is taking place in India isn’t so much a wave as it is a wall,” our staff writer Yasmeen Serhan reports. “Charts showing the country’s infection rate and death toll … depict curves that have shot up into vertical lines.” In the U.S., case rates have lulled, in part thanks to mass vaccination. But as Yasmeen writes, “Uncontrolled outbreaks anywhere pose a threat everywhere, including vaccine-rich countries such as the United States.” That could explain why the Biden administration announced today that it plans to share 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine with other countries. • Vaccine nationalism is doomed to fail. As Yasmeen warned last year: “Without equal vaccine distribution, public-health experts warn, the pandemic could continue to live on residually for years, bringing with it even more death and further economic collapse.” • Officials in India are raising alarms about another mutation of the virus. That wouldn’t be a problem if we had a universal coronavirus vaccine that could protect against all variants—and the race to make one is on, James Hamblin reports. (Short break while I lie on the floor and scream - aaaahhhh!) And this is followed by: Crooked Media: The White House announced on Monday that the U.S. will share up to 60 million AstraZeneca doses with other countries, once the vaccine clears federal safety reviews. That’s great news both for poorer countries battling horrific outbreaks and for everyone around the globe who would be affected by the emergence of more dangerous variants, but spare a thought for the Fox News producers currently trying to fit “Why Is Sleepy Joe Sending All Of America’s Life-Saving But Also Deadly And Freedom-Violating Vaccines To Foreign Terrorists?” on a chyron. No, I didn’t know what a chyron is either. I had to look it up: an electronically generated caption superimposed on a television or movie screen. �Hmm. Now where did I put that teapot? Okay, so some 13 months in and people have begun to let their hand washing routine slide. One expert suggests that we need to make it a routine item - like taking off your shoes when you enter the house. CNN: "If you show up at my house, the first thing I say is, 'Hey, take your shoes off and would you mind washing your hands?' Our house rules are we wash our hands before we eat, we wash our hands after �going to the bathroom, and we wash our hands when we come inside from an activity, such as going into work or returning home." That seems reasonable. Now, here’s cheery note from Crooked Media: Some 92 percent of Americans who received a first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines have come back for the second shot—a very solid rate of follow-through for a two-dose vaccine, by historical standards. And just to remind you of what you can and can’t do: �Two nights ago Craig took this photo of the moon over our house. �I think this is my favorite. �What else is happening in the world? From Washington Post: Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Monday that the Justice Department will open an investigation into the Louisville Police Department, after the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, whose killing was among the flashpoints that sparked mass protests across the nation last summer. Garland’s announcement comes days after he announced a similar investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department following the death of George Floyd. Also from Washington Post: EPA moves to give Calif. permission to set own tailpipe climate emissions limits, giving state leverage over U.S. mileage standards The step, coming days after the Transportation Department withdrew Trump-era restrictions of state tailpipe emission rules, could help pave the way for a broader climate deal. The administration’s actions will give the populous state with big climate ambitions more leverage in discussions between car company executives, autoworkers and federal officials over national mileage and greenhouse gas emission standards for new passenger vehicles. Today will be warm for this time of the year. So Craig and I are going to go out to Grand Haven to look at the lake, eat a take out lunch from Morningstar Cafe and then walk through the forest at Kirk Park. We are becoming more adventurous, but we are still washing our hands. St Kitts and Nevis. Saint Kitts and Nevis is a dual-island nation situated between the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. It's known for cloud-shrouded mountains and beaches. Many of its former sugar plantations are now inns or atmospheric ruins. The larger of the 2 islands, Saint Kitts, is dominated by the dormant Mount Liamuiga volcano, home to a crater lake, green vervet monkeys and rainforest crisscrossed with hiking trails. ― Google �Nevis Peak is a potentially active volcano which is located in the centre of the island of Nevis of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis in the West Indies. The stratovolcano rises to a height of 985 metres (3,232 ft) and is the highest point on the island. There have been no eruptions since prehistory, but there are active fumaroles and hot springs on the coastal slopes of the island, and these represent low-level volcanic activity. Wikipedia �In the museum which featured Alexander Hamilton. The music from Hamilton was the �soundtrack inside the museum. �Alexander Hamilton was born on January 11, in either 1755 or 1757, on the island of Nevis �in the British West Indies. (There is a dispute among historians about his actual birth year.) Today, Nevis and St. Kitts are one country, known as the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. His father was from Scotland; his mother from Nevis. Hamilton left the region as a teenager to live in North America. Hamilton’s skills as a writer let him leave the Caribbean In August 1772, Hamilton’s letter to his father about a hurricane that struck Saint Croix was reprinted in a newspaper, the Royal Danish American Gazette. The locals were so impressed that they took up a collection to send Hamilton to a college in the British North American colonies. Princeton rejected Hamilton, but King’s College (later known as Columbia) accepted him. Hamilton wrote roughly 51 of the 85 essays of the Federalist Papers, which are still consulted today by scholars and the Supreme Court. Hamilton’s authorship wasn’t made public until after his death in 1804. Next a scenic drive ��I literally can’t remember why this church and graveyard were important - perhaps the first established �church? �While I went on this excursion, Craig went on a hiking excursion in the rain forest on the slopes of the volcanic mountain. Their guide in the rain forest. The last of Caribbean Two tomorrow. Oliver. In a new development, Oliver now says ‘bye bye Gandad, bye bye Mimi’ at the end of our FaceTime. He hasn’t quite mastered l or r yet. He calls himself Owwie. �And this made me laugh: �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_2021-04-27_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-412 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 2021-04-27 Title A name given to the resource Day 412 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/95afd3e132c4399c4c02568d92b9b645.pdf 0fd955225b76424f0077474022cc2578 PDF Text Text Day 411. 10 weeks left. by windoworks Some mornings I feel just like this. When I was 13 my mother died after a long battle with cancer. Two weeks after the funeral, my father sent me to boarding school, about 3 hours drive away. For someone who had never had to share a bedroom, to be in a dormitory with 30 other girls and sharing a cubicle with a stranger, was very difficult. My father had promised my mother on her deathbed, so what else could he do? I am telling you this because I am reminded now of how those first weeks dragged. Finally, the matron in charge (a large, overbearing woman in a white nurses uniform and cap), looked at me sympathetically and told me to buy the biggest calendar I could find and to cross off the days. Did it help? I don’t remember. But last week I made Craig find the biggest calendar (which turned out to be a really small one), so I could cross off the days. But I have reached that awkward place. I am trying to keep going until we safely leave and I am also becoming sadder each day at leaving our friends. Yesterday, Craig put a couple more things outside and they have all gone except the wooden high chair that a house plant sat on. Craig did try to break it up, but it turns out that it was very sturdily made. My neighbor commented to his wife that we must have nothing much left in our house, as he watched all the furniture etc come out. He’s right and I never realized how depressing empty bookcases and built in shelves can look. �We also realized that in 9 weeks time we will become nomads. Eventually we will have a new house, but from early July to perhaps September or October, we will be living with relatives. Craig is deep in discussion regarding a mortgage with an Australian bank while trying to sort out retirement details here. I have found myself looking at things and thinking: I must fix that - and then I remember, this isn’t my house any more. Here’s some news from India: CNN: Countries are pledging aid to India as it fights a deadly pandemic wave. India today reported 352,991 new cases and 2,812 virus-related deaths, marking the world's highest daily caseload for the fifth straight day. Covid-19 cases have risen astronomically in India since March. In response, the US will deploy supplies and support, including ventilators, PPE and rapid diagnostic test kits. The UK, Germany and neighbor Pakistan, as well as tech giants Microsoft and Google, have also pledged supplies and relief. And here’s one of the reasons why India is faring so badly, from New York Times: Confident they had beaten Covid, government officials relaxed restrictions on virtually all activities, including weddings, political rallies and religious gatherings. The northern town of Haridwar held one of the world’s biggest gatherings this month, with millions of people celebrating the Hindu festival Kumbh Mela. Meanwhile in Michigan: New York Times: The vaccinations of older people do not explain rising hospitalizations among people younger than 60, including those in their 20s and 30s. Public health experts say the outbreak — driven by the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus, which is more contagious and more severe — is spreading rapidly in younger age groups. And across the state, doctors and nurses are increasingly reporting a concerning trend: Younger patients are coming in more often with serious cases of Covid-19. “I am putting more patients in their 20s and 30s and 40s on oxygen and on life support than at any other time in this pandemic,” said Dr. Erin Brennan, an emergency room physician in Detroit. Dr. Olusola Ogundipe, an infectious-disease fellow, said he noticed that some of his younger patients also had a tougher time emotionally with their condition. “They have a feeling of immortality,” he said, “and so I think it does take younger people by surprise.” And I really don’t understand why people don’t get this: New York Times:“The restrictions were our pause button,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “As soon as you press play, you are going to see the virus race back as quickly as it can.” �And moving off the virus topic, here’s an interesting piece from CNN: A North Carolina sheriff says he wants body camera footage of Andrew Brown Jr.'s fatal shooting to be made public and will file a motion for it as early as today. Brown, a 42-year-old Black man, was shot and killed Wednesday by sheriff's deputies as they tried to serve him with an arrest warrant. Meantime, body camera footage of a police shooting last week in Virginia has been released. An unarmed man named Isaiah Brown was shot by a sheriff's deputy about an hour after the same deputy gave the man a ride home. These incidents, along with last week’s police shooting of 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio, are casting even more scrutiny on police practices at a time when calls for police reform are ringing through the country. Capitol lawmakers are expressing optimism that bipartisan cooperation on a police reform bill may lead to real results. This better be the tipping point! During my chocolate class, Craig did some hiking: Beautiful beaches to swim at. �At Fort Rodney looking out at the Martinique Passage many naval battles were fought in this passage in the 18th and 19th centuries. ��This sailing ship followed us around the Caribbean. Saint Kitts and Nevis tomorrow. Oliver. Yesterday when we FaceTimed, Oliver was very upset. Zoe had been cutting his fingernails and she accidentally nicked the skin on one. He wouldn’t let her put a bandaid on it, so Craig pretended he had an owie and put a bandaid on his finger. Zoe got one on Oliver’s finger but eventually after shouting ‘off’ he got it off himself. By that time it had almost stopped bleeding. So we were able to cheer him up by singing some of his favorite songs and he forgot about his finger. �The speed demon. Thats it for today. I’ll leave you with this: �� 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_2021-04-26_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-411 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 2021-04-26 Title A name given to the resource Day 411 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/764dbef8c5220067d7fed8badd4167ec.pdf 8bdfce87fda396073a7af3183f34087c PDF Text Text Day 410 by windoworks Oh, I can really relate to this. In 9 weeks today we move into a nearby hotel, while we pack up the house and our furniture etc., is packed into container and shipped back to Australia. We are still not confident that our flights will go, but we are moving forward anyway. �In Michigan virus news, the positivity rate has dropped to 6.8%. This is still high but nowhere near as high as it was. The graph of new cases shows a steady decline and the weekly average of new cases has dropped to 5,000+. I am cautiously optimistic, but we have been here before. We’ll see. Yesterday we put out assorted electricals such as lamps, fans, a rice cooker etc. Everything went except a bedside table and an extraordinarily large and heavy window I was once given from another artist. It had resided in the basement and I think Craig struggled to move it anywhere. We have empty bookcases all over the house and rooms are getting so empty of bric a brac that the whole house echoes. I have begun emptying out drawers and making ruthless decisions. Of course, some items have been packed long ago and they are just too hard to find again, so although I know I own them, I’m learning to do without them. Here’s some news from the outside world: New York Times: India now accounts for nearly half of all new Covid cases in a global surge. But experts say the number is just a fraction of the virus’s real reach in the country. As Indian officials reported nearly 350,000 new infections on Saturday, a world record, hospitals are unbearably full, oxygen supplies are dangerously low and people are dying in line waiting to see doctors. The sudden surge in recent weeks has cast doubt on India’s official Covid-19 death toll of nearly 200,000. Reports from cremation grounds, above, suggest a far greater number. India’s crisis is wreaking havoc on �the global vaccination effort, especially in Africa, after the government in Delhi restricted exports of doses to deal with its own outbreak. Now the U.S. is under pressure to release vaccine supplies that Indian vaccine makers say they need to expand production. And tucked away was this gem: Crooked Media Some amazing vaccine news that’s gotten lost in the shuffle of all the amazing vaccine news: A new malaria vaccine looks like a breakthrough. The vaccine, developed by Oxford University's Jenner Institute (of AstraZeneca vaccine fame), showed up to 77 percent efficacy in a trial of 450 children in Burkina Faso over 12 months. It’s the first shot to reach the WHO’s goal of a malaria vaccine with at least 75 percent efficacy. If it’s proven to be safe and effective in a Phase III trial, it could save a whole lot of lives: Malaria sickens around 230 million people a year and kills around 400,000, the majority of whom are children under age five. For over a year now, we have been coping with the global pandemic. But other concerns are now being addressed, such as the climate crisis. During Trump’s presidency he refused to acknowledge the climate crisis and he removed the US from the Paris Accord. President Biden has worked extraordinarily hard to address the problems left behind by the Trump Administration. Here’s a piece about addressing the climate crisis from the New York Times: President Biden’s climate goals carry a big risk — or a big potential payoff. Scientists say that his pledge to cut America’s climate warming emissions in half by 2030 is technologically feasible and ecologically imperative. The speed of the economic transition away from fossil fuels, however, risks exposing vulnerabilities in the nation’s electricity system and unsettling its transportation sector. But the rewards could be high: lower risk of catastrophic climate change, new jobs and renewed global leadership for American companies. Separately, a major U.N. report to be released next month will declare that slashing emissions of methane, the main component of natural gas, is far more vital than previously thought to ward off the worst effects of climate change. We are wondering if the conviction of Derek Chauvin was a one off or was this the tipping point? (noun) the point at which a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change. For generations, the American criminal justice system has operated by an old playbook in cases of police violence. The case of George Floyd upended that. Instead of dissecting his background, Floyd was presented as a full person.Derek Chauvin, who declined to take the stand and was convicted in Floyd’s murder, remained an aloof figure, shown on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nine and a half minutes. Some prosecutors saw Chauvin’s trial as a turning point in how Black victims are portrayed. Others found �it to be an exception. We’re also watching developments out of Elizabeth City, N.C., where seven sheriff’s deputies were put on leave after they shot and killed Andrew Brown Jr., a Black man, on Wednesday. The governor called for the release of body-camera footage. On our last excursion in Castries on our first Caribbean cruise, I had gone on the aerial tramway and Craig had gone on a trekking and climbing excursion. For this visit I chose a chocolate making course. Castries was a popular destination as you can see by the 4 cruise ships docked �A governors house? Someone important anyway �The gorgeous view from the chocolate factory �All ready with our aprons �on �Our table helper grinding my cocoa beans for me. It was a long and tedious business. The other table - no one is looking at the view �My chocolate bar after resting in the fridge. �There was a wonderful gift shop which we wandered around while waiting for our chocolate to set. We drank some strong Rum Punch - although the ladies from South Carolina needed some extra rum in their drinks. I really enjoyed this excursion, we had so much fun. I often wonder how such tourist spots have been doing over the past year? We don’t hear much from the Caribbean. Here’s the latest from the CDC - Level 4: COVID-19 Very High Travelers should avoid all travel to these destinations. I couldn’t copy and paste the map but here’s the link: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/map-and-travel-notices.html#print Oliver. Oliver visited Mick who lives upstairs and met his pet snake Pearl. He then sat at Mick’s electric piano and tried to play something but ended up dancing to some recorded music. �Look! He’s even got his hands right! �If you haven’t already, go and get vaccinated. 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_2021-04-25_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-410 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 2021-04-25 Title A name given to the resource Day 410 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/34b6d3ce45a23212c9c402f09e4d446c.pdf 4db1504e5d2b58ab068fa94b54f205d6 PDF Text Text Day 409. Saturday April 24. (she, her, hers) by windoworks Remember that piece from Craig which described the history of pandemics? It was actually written for both his classes, and this week, they gave home their answers. To remind you, here’s his questions: Longer term impact? How will this pandemic change the world? I have cherry picked the answers. And remember, these answers are from 1st year Honors students, who see the world significantly differently to many of us. The responses are divided into headings. Health and Science We will increasingly apply mRNA vaccine science to other illnesses. We have a greater understanding of how illness affects others. We used to praise kids and workers for going to school/work when they were sick – soldiering on! Now we understand how dangerous this was. Telehealth will become the norm. So much more awareness of personal space! Mental Health Increased self-reflection has led people to think about meaning of life for the first time in a long time. In the future there will be a greater appreciation of what is really important in life. For so many people being alone has revealed mental health problems they never realized they had. More people will need therapy in the future. People will struggle with interpersonal relationships in the aftermath of the pandemic. Human Activities/Culture The benefits of the ‘Anthropause’ will lead to great environmental awareness. More people have developed hobbies, become more creative. We have found so many work arounds for education and entertainment. But we have also realized how precious human interaction is. Many symbolic milestones are no longer important (graduating high school/college etc) We might also see a turn to religion. People will want to spend money on concerts etc. as soon as they are available, because who knows how long this will last! We will be better prepared for the next pandemic (authors note: will we?) We will become more dependent on technology for interpersonal communication in future. Politics/Cultural Divide Racial/cultural divide revealed by the pandemic will only widen. Spread of conspiracy theories because of isolation has exacerbated cultural divide. Because of the pandemic, GenZ has realized that it is important who you vote for at all levels. Presidents �matter, governors matter, city mayors matter. Remote voting must expand because of pandemic; we need an election month, not a day! Education Technology has saved education during the pandemic. Online learning will only become more important in the future. Plus there will be no more snow days! How will lack of social interaction impact children’s social skills in the long term. Will they lose the ability to talk face to face? Because of expansion of online learning many school buildings and infrastructure will become redundant. More education will be online, but not feasible for elementary school – this must be F2F. Pandemic will further widen the educational/economic divide. Robots will be programmed as teachers. Economy/Work Pandemic could lead to weakening of US economy and influence, and the rise of Chinese influence. Developing world will be further set back by the pandemic. Remote work has allowed for a reset of work/life balance. Companies will have to take this balance more into account in the future; provide better facilities at work; perhaps 4-day work week. Businesses will become more efficient, will cut unnecessary expenses (e.g. business trips will be greatly reduced). Many businesses have realized that various departments and workers are redundant in their search for increased efficiency More work will be outsourced; more will work from home. Workers will be increasingly replaced by disease-resistant AI. Office buildings will be emptied. Pandemic will speed up the death of malls and retail stores. Many new industries have developed because of the pandemic (Zoom etc). Many people have worked out how to make good money out of social media (influencers, Tik Tok etc.); plus there are many more private investors in the stock market. Astonishing increase in marketing through social media influencers and TikTok stars. Paid time off if sick must increase; US must adopt European practices for sick days. The whole world will become more digitalized. Crypto currency will expand, leading to a cashless society. Most shopping will be online in the future. Increased respect for essential workers, including grocery workers, who will be paid appropriately. Technology Social media was sometimes ridiculed by older generation; now everyone realizes its value. �Increasing reliance on social media for inter-personal communication. But at the same time, we have come to realize the importance of genuine inter-personal contact. Responses collected from my first year Honors students April 21/22 2021 Its interesting that the most responses was to the Economy/Work section. One of the students who works in a mall at a clothing store, said she spends hours cleaning the store and steam cleaning the clothes that people have tried on. In another example outside of these classes, a friend of mine who owns 4 restaurants has igloos for diners. Each igloo is cleaned thoroughly after the diners have left, and then left for an hour before new diners sit in it. What a huge new workload on retail and the food industry! I cannot imagine trying on clothes or shoes inside a store - and the thing about online shopping is that if it doesn’t fit, you can send it back and have your money refunded. (I learnt that in this last year). Here’s an update from Washington Post: During the 2020 campaign, Trump repeatedly claimed electing President Biden would trigger a depression. That hasn't happened. Republicans warned of a stock market collapse under Biden — instead, the Dow Jones rose more after Biden's election win than it did after Trump's. And Republican attacks on the $1.9 trillion pandemic stimulus package have resonated little beyond the GOP base. And a quick news roundup: just days before his hunger strike would have killed him, Alexey Navalny, the Opposition leader, has ended the strike. He was able to see a doctor from outside the prison where he is being held. The Perseverance rover converted carbon dioxide into oxygen on Mars, marking the first time breathable air has been made on another planet, NASA announced Wednesday. Debris from an Indonesian Navy submarine that disappeared this past week with 53 people aboard has been found deep in the Bali Sea, confirming fears that the vessel sank and cracked. And finally, Russian troops began pulling back to their permanent bases Friday after a massive buildup that caused Ukrainian and Western concerns. Yesterday I listened to a panel on NPR talking about the length of the pandemic. The biggest problem continues to be vaccinations. It is fantastic that the US is actively planning ways to vaccinate everyone, including the most reluctant. Yesterday Dr Adam London, Kent County’s Chief Medical Officer, encouraged us all to talk to friends, neighbors and relatives and convince them to be vaccinated. He asked us to post on social media once we were vaccinated under the heading: #sleevesup. It is more than 6 weeks since Craig’s and my second dose. The panelists said, the problem was that many countries are unable to secure enough vaccine doses to significantly vaccinate their population. Its a problem because Covid-19 loves a fresh unvaccinated population to infect, multiply and mutate. They had no answers just the stark evidence of the problem. And this is where the answer to the question how much longer will this pandemic lastresides - as long as it takes to vaccinate at least 75% of the world’s population, before a more serious mutation appears. To me, the answer to the question: will we wear masks in social situations for the rest of our lives? Is probably yes, here in the US. �Caribbean cruise: We sailed away from Jost Van Dyke and spent the next day sailing to St Lucia. It was New Years Eve and to enjoy our sumptuous dinner, we had to wear these party hats. �I liked �mine. �Craig wasn’t so sure. There was music and dancing after dinner on the pool deck. �And then it was midnight with champagne. A new year begins. Castries tomorrow. Oliver �Nearly always smiling. �Today I’ll leave you with this from Carl Sagan. Worth thinking about. � 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_2021-04-24_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-409 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 2021-04-24 Title A name given to the resource Day 409 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/b3b48c76dce4ebf3df58f67db0caf86d.pdf 6402522ec2e01045898933ed06dd90d2 PDF Text Text Day 408. (she, her, hers) by windoworks To begin today, here is a photo of Auckland, New Zealand on a beautiful fall morning. Auckland is built on 53 dormant volcanoes and this photo was taken from the top of one of them. You can see the island of Rangitoto in the distance - another dormant volcano. I always thought most volcanoes were extinct (and some are) but more are just dormant. Rangitoto is Māori for 'Bloody Sky'. New Zealand really is a beautiful country and if they ever open their borders again to tourists - its more than worth the flight time. And that’s the big question starting to occur to everyone. The CDC posted a 4 page summary of countries, most of which were tagged Level 4: do not visit. A scattering of countries were tagged Level 3: use caution, Australia being one of them. But this is academic - nobody can visit Australia or New Zealand as a tourist at this time, or a number of other countries such as Japan. The US is currently leading the world in vaccinations with 40% of all Americans having received at least one dose. And speaking of vaccinations yesterday when I had my mammogram, the woman asked me which arm I had the vaccine in. I answered the left arm and asked why. She said the doctor wanted to know. The answer is in the next item, but my results came back as normal by lunchtime - a record of efficiency. I know this piece is long, but its worth reading. AARP If it has been at least two weeks since you received your last dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, �congratulations! You are now considered “fully vaccinated.” You are armed with our best weapon against a virus that has killed more than 2.6 million people worldwide and upended our lives in unimaginable ways. 1. You still need to wear a mask Even though COVID-19 cases are down from their peak in January, the coronavirus is still circulating in the U.S., and new and more contagious variants have emerged. So wearing masks and social distancing are still important in helping slow its spread until we can reach herd immunity — when an estimated 70 to 85 percent of the population is vaccinated. 2. You could still catch COVID-19 This is the other reason experts don't want you to put aside your mask just yet. Although all three vaccines authorized for emergency use in the U.S. were found to be highly effective against severe disease and death from COVID-19, there's still a chance you could get infected with the virus. The whole point of a vaccine is that it prevents you from dying or ending up in the hospital. But you may still get sick. 3. You could infect someone else There's also a small chance that you could get infected with the virus and not even realize it, and then you could transmit it to someone who is not vaccinated. 4. You can visit friends and family Fully vaccinated people can gather indoors with others who are also fully vaccinated, without wearing masks or physical distancing if you choose, the CDC says, because the chance of anyone getting infected would be remote. You can also spend time inside with unvaccinated people from a single household without wearing masks or physical distancing if you choose, the CDC says, as long as no one is at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease and no one lives with somebody who's at increased risk as well. That means you can visit (and hug!) your unvaccinated children and grandchildren 5. You don't have to quarantine after exposure You do not have to quarantine or get tested after an exposure to someone with the coronavirus, as long as you aren't experiencing any symptoms, the CDC says. If you develop a cough, fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea or other symptoms of COVID-19, however, you should get tested. 6. You should keep your vaccine record card handy In the future, you may need proof of vaccination to travel, work in certain industries or attend large events. Several other countries already have a validation system in the works, and a number of private companies in the U.S. are working on creating a digital passport that would include your vaccination status. Obviously, your vaccine card is your main proof right now. �7. Travel is still discouraged Even though the number of airline passengers has been rising, the CDC continues to recommend against travel, even for those who are vaccinated. In explaining the decision on March 8, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said: "In terms of travel, here's what we know: Every time that there's a surge in travel, we have a surge in cases in this country. We know that many of our variants have emerged from international places, and we know that the travel corridor is a place where people are mixing a lot. We are really trying to restrain travel at this current period of time, and we're hopeful that our next set of guidance will have more science around what vaccinated people can do, perhaps travel being among them." 8. It's a good time to go to the doctor or dentist Countless Americans put their health care on hold due to the pandemic. Now that you're vaccinated, it's time to schedule that colonoscopy, dental cleaning or elective surgery you've been putting off. Being vaccinated, now is the safest it has been to have surgery in well over a year. The only screening you may want to hold off getting right away is your mammogram. Many women develop swelling in the lymph nodes in their underarm after vaccination, the CDC says. Although the swelling is a normal sign that your body is building protection to the coronavirus, it could cause a false mammogram reading. For that reason, some experts recommend waiting four to six weeks after you are fully vaccinated to get a mammogram. 9. You may need a booster shot There are two reasons we might need a booster shot: If our immunity wears off naturally or if the virus changes so much that the immunity we have from the current vaccines proves inadequate. Chances are that we will have to get some kind of COVID-19 shot on a regular basis, perhaps once every three years or every year, like the flu shot. 10. A return to normal hinges on herd immunity Before life can get totally back to normal, experts say that first we need to reach herd immunity — when enough Americans are vaccinated to significantly slow the spread of the virus. Estimates of when we will reach that point range from this summer to early 2022. Factors that will affect that timeline include the percentage of Americans willing to get the vaccine, how quickly a vaccine for children is authorized and how well the vaccines work against more contagious variants of the virus. And speaking of vaccinations: Washington Post Except for a lull during winter storms, vaccination rates had climbed steadily in the United States. Until now. The seven-day average of daily coronavirus vaccinations dropped by 11 percent when compared with the previous week. Half of all eligible Americans have had at least one dose, and demand may be �easing despite the millions who are not yet vaccinated. Health experts say the next phase of vaccinations will be more tailored, such as door-to-door administration and targeted outreach to communities. Sadly, after an entire year of almost normal living, Perth in Western Australia is locked down for at least 3 days due to a small number of virus cases but with possible larger community spread. Now, for something different: Feadship's new superyacht Project 817 is guided through the canals of Holland while en route to the North Sea. Courtesy Tom van Oossanen Imagine living in one of those houses that border that canal! So, the next morning we sailed into Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. Jost Van Dyke is one of the main islands in the British Virgin Islands, which are part of a volcanic archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The island is known for its yacht anchorages, like the sheltered bay at Great Harbour. Casual bars and restaurants dot the sandy beaches here and at nearby White Bay. Bubbly Pool, a naturally foaming sea pool, is in the island’s northeast. ― Google. It seemed to be mostly a party island to me. �Sailing into the harbor �We drove up over the winding hilly road to the far beach �Everyone was partying �We walked to the far end to wade in the water �Looking down at another beach on our way back to the ship. Oliver ��Last night we had take out dinner from a local Japanese restaurant. We toasted the end of Craig’s teaching career here in the US with a bottle of sparkling wine. The end of an era. 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_2021-04-23_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-408 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 2021-04-23 Title A name given to the resource Day 408 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/6145ee64694f79dcbe2620602c282e45.pdf b548d4ad82ad723a809d505b77459c59 PDF Text Text Day 407 by windoworks I’m writing later today because I had to have a medical appointment this morning. We are back to no visitors allowed as the Covid variant is causing a surge in Michigan. It is funny how you get used to having your temperature taken with that thermometer gun which doesn’t actually touch your forehead. And then you sit in a carefully spaced out seat in the waiting room. But the big news of the day is that this is Craig’s last day of teaching at Grand Valley State University. He is giving a zoom keynote address in a week or so, and he has to buy himself a new Mac laptop and then return the college one to GVSU. I think his students have come to terms with him leaving and most of his colleagues are have accepted his retirement. It will be odd, but in some ways it allows us to concentrate on all the tasks going forward. Its still all about the virus. India is not doing well: Washington Post: India on Thursday recorded the world’s highest number of new coronavirus infections in a 24-hour period since the beginning of the pandemic, reporting a staggering 314,835 cases, as a surge tears through communities and inundates the nation’s hospital infrastructure. The single-day case count surpasses a previous record set by the United States, when more than 313,000 infections were reported on Jan. 8, according to data compiled by The Washington Post. The massive outbreak in India has been blamed on more contagious variants of the virus, as well as an early relaxation of restrictions and a slow-moving vaccination campaign. It seems to me that Michigan may have crested the peak and is beginning to descend the other side. Of course we have July 4 looming before us, but hopefully more people will be fully vaccinated by then. The new big concern is children aged 6 months to 16 years. Pfizer has asked for FDA clearance for their vaccine for 12 -15 year olds. Moderna has asked for permission to conduct the following trial: Moderna announced that the first participants have been dosed in the Phase 2/3 study, called the KidCOVE study, of mRNA-1273, the Company’s vaccine candidate against COVID-19, in children ages 6 months to less than 12 years. Each participant ages two years to less than 12 years may receive one of two dose levels (50 μg or 100 μg). Also in Part 1, each participant ages six months to less than 2 years may receive one of three dose levels (25 μg, 50 μg and 100 μg). An interim analysis will be conducted to determine which dose will be used in Part 2, the placebo-controlled expansion portion of the study. Participants will be followed through 12 months after the second vaccination. Vaccine effectiveness will either be inferred through achieving a correlate of protection, if established, or through immunobridging �to the young adult (ages 18-25) population. Evaluation of vaccine safety and reactogenicity is also a primary endpoint of the study. Their plan is to begin vaccinating all children 6 months to under 12 years by early 2022. Now the biggest problem is anti-vaxxers. President Biden has begun calling it ‘your patriotic duty’ to be vaccinated. What the diehard Republican holdouts doesn’t understand is that Trump is already fully vaccinated. He received his first shot before he left the White House. So here’s my question: if he kept insisting that the virus was nothing - why did he get vaccinated? There is information surfacing that Trump was much sicker with Covid than anyone realized. His lungs showed some lung infiltrates (associated with pneumonia) and his oxygen level went down to the 80s. Those are 2 indicators of severe Covid. He was given the best medication available and some oxygen. There was some talk of putting him on a ventilator. Will we ever know if this is the truth? Probably not. Crooked Media: A Nebraska study on asymptomatic coronavirus infections in schools suggests that school infection rates may be higher than we thought. In the first phase of a pilot program that screened students and staff without symptoms weekly, participating schools had infection rates that were two and a half times higher for staff and nearly six times higher for students at schools using conventional, limited testing. The program also found school infection rates that were 10 times higher than reported within the surrounding counties. The study didn’t look at whether those infections were contracted at school or brought in from outside, but the findings make pretty clear that ramping up proactive testing at schools should be a priority either way. Meanwhile, in other news: CNN: President Biden kicks off a two-day virtual climate summit today with 40 of his foreign counterparts to discuss ways to combat the climate crisis. The White House is hoping the event will reassert America’s climate credibility, which was fractured in recent years. Biden will back up the efforts by revealing an aggressive new pledge to halve US carbon emissions, hoping other countries will follow. Meanwhile, the Senate confirmed Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general after Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski broke ranks to join Democrats in the 51-49 vote. And Vice President Kamala Harris cast her first tie-breaking vote related to a Biden administration nominee, voting to advance the nomination of Colin Kahl as the Pentagon's undersecretary for policy. And: WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Debbie Stabenow was selected to receive the prestigious Bryce Harlow Award, which honors an elected official whose career is built on championing the principles of integrity, dedication and professionalism — echoing the work and life of the late Bryce Harlow. In their announcement, the Bryce Harlow Foundation details Senator Stabenow’s work as a leader in creating jobs, supporting American workers and lowering the cost of health care. �The new big thing is vertical forests. Verticale in Milan. I’m guessing that is vertical wood or forest in Italian. This is the Bosca �In China The benefits of vertical forests are already well understood, and include sequestering carbon, producing oxygen, reducing the heat island effect, providing sound deadening, improving the building's energy efficiency, and adding protection to the envelope. The Bosca Veritcale in Milan is tended by full time gardeners who are lowered down the buildings on ropes. Is this our future? And on this note, I am so pleased to report the Gardeners World has resumed on TV and we have watched the first few episodes. One of the most telling segments was about a female TV presenter, whose husband fell so ill last year with Covid, that he was put into an induced coma by the medical staff. Meanwhile, she was isolated at home with her children, and to keep their spirits up, they began transforming their backyard into a garden. They grew flowers, herbs and vegetables, all with the hope that Daddy would be home soon - and how excited he would be to see their garden. In last week’s episode, Gardeners World returned to see how the family were doing. The garden was just starting to wake up after winter, but the husband was still in hospital in an induced coma - a year later. I felt so bad for her, but she was managing to smile and to keep going. Such grit. Our next stop in the Caribbean was Samana, in the Dominican Republic. Samaná (Santa Bárbara de Samaná) is a town on the Samaná Peninsula, in the Dominican Republic. It overlooks Samaná Bay, which �plays host to thousands of humpback whales during winter’s mating season. Nearby, the Whale Museum's prime attraction is a huge whale skeleton. The town's waterfront promenade, the Malecón, has restaurants and bars. In the bay, Cayo Levantado is a tiny island known for its palm-lined beaches. ― Google First up, Craig’s expedition. It took an hour in a fast speedboat to cross the bay from the port to the Samana National Park. Samana Bay in a national park at the eastern edge of the Dominican Republic. These are limestone outcrops that rise out of the bay. �The outcrops have been colonized by rainforest and a huge variety of �birds. Rainforest and seabirds everywhere �Extensive mango swamps which are tidal. �There is a cave complex in which early indigenous peoples created cave art. These are �wading birds images drawn by the Taino People - more than 1,000 years ago. �Exploring the caves with our �guide �An image of a face carved into the soft limestone by pre-Columbian peoples. On the way back in the speedboat there was a torrential downpour and Craig and his companions got soaked. More tomorrow. Oliver �Oliver peeping into the worm habitat. He said ‘There’s the worm! Hi �wormy’ �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_2021-04-22_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-407 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 2021-04-22 Title A name given to the resource Day 407 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/429c8a2830437b991d3f18b74ddfc80d.pdf 13f9f9a4ccc97a83e87ae2ddf36aa208 PDF Text Text Day 406. (she, her, hers) by windoworks Yesterday I watched the judge in the Derek Chauvin trial open a manila envelope and read the jury’s verdict. They found Chauvin guilty on all 3 counts. The judge then polled each juror and asked is this your decision? We couldn’t see the jury but we could hear each ‘yes’ response. Then to confirm it, the judge asked the jury to confirm their judgement as a whole - to which all said yes. Chauvin looked curiously blank throughout this. Of course he was wearing a mask, but his eyes showed no emotion. He was handcuffed and taken to jail to await sentencing. There is much more I could say about this and the resulting Black Lives Matter movement which echoed around the world, but it has all been said by so many others. Here’s an interesting piece from the New York Times: The murder conviction of a police officer is an exceedingly rare event. There have been only seven murder convictions of officers for fatal police shootings since 2005, according to Philip Stinson of Bowling Green State University. That suggests the chances of a killing by the police leading to a murder conviction are about one in 2,000. Yet a jury in Minneapolis yesterday convicted Derek Chauvin of second-degree murder (as well as two other charges) for killing George Floyd last May. A typical sentence for that felony in Minneapolis is 12½ years in prison, although prosecutors have asked for more and the maximum is 40 years. A judge will sentence Chauvin in about eight weeks. Chauvin’s conviction does not automatically signal a new era of police accountability. The Floyd case was the exception of all exceptions. A video, watched around the world, showed Chauvin pressing his knee onto Floyd for more than nine minutes. That footage led to weeks of protests that were among the largest in U.S. history. And at the trial, the so-called blue wall of silence — that is, many officers’ willingness to protect colleagues, regardless of their misbehavior — crumbled. “For so many, it feels like it took all of that for the judicial system to deliver just basic accountability,” President Biden said late yesterday. There were 3 other officers present at George Floyd’s arrest and deadly restraint and not one of them said or did anything to stop Chauvin. For their complicity, they are awaiting trial in August - and I don’t think its looking good for them. And here’s the final word from Crooked Media: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison neatly summed up the significance and limitations of Chauvin’s conviction: “I would not call today's verdict justice, however, because justice implies true restoration. But it is accountability, which is the first step toward justice.” George Floyd is still gone, and police officers across the country continue to inflict violence on Black Americans while shielded from consequences. Today’s verdict brought a measure of accountability; we’ll stay on the streets for justice. And from Stephen Colbert: “Today is one stop on a journey that began last May and led to protests calling for that accountability in every town and every city in America. But this is just one stop. There is more work to be done, and it’s �work that all of us should be committed to, because as Ben Crump, the Floyd family lawyer, reminded us today, justice for Black America is justice for all America.” Last night I watched President Biden talking about the conviction and I felt he was talking from the heart and he was talking to me. Of course, Biden sometimes misspeaks and he is nowhere near perfect, but I don’t think that is what you want in a leader. I think you want a person who shoulders responsibility, tries to do their best every day, and cares about the people under their sphere. To my mind, so far, Joe Biden fits that description. He is working to turn things around, and here are two important steps: CNN: The largest coal miners union in America is backing President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion green energy plan. It may seem like a case of strange bedfellows. But the coal industry would benefit from the Biden proposals to rebuild bridges, ports and airports -- likely boosting demand for steel, which typically uses coal as a key ingredient. The infrastructure plan also calls for expanding access to broadband in rural areas where many coal mining communities are located. The president of the United Mine Workers of America also said the plan would create lots of new job opportunities. In a completely different infrastructure realm, the Biden administration kicked off a 100-day effort to beef up cybersecurity in the nation's power grid, calling for industry leaders to install technologies that could thwart attacks on the electricity supply. This comes after a cyberattack in Florida that sought to compromise a water treatment plant. I was going to post the statistics for yesterday, but at some point the numbers become meaningless. For Michigan and Kent County, there seems to be a slight easing of numbers of new cases (average cases per day down to 6,000+, rather than 7,000+). Are we over the hump? I don’t know. Now the authorities are battling vaccine reluctance in young people. CDC: Since COVID-19 vaccine distribution began in the United States on Dec. 14, more than 211 million doses have been administered, fully vaccinating over 85.3 million people or 25.7% of the total U.S. population. However on a global scale, things are not so good. Washington Post: Global coronavirus cases have reached their highest levels yet, and the consequences of this surge are especially dire in India, which accounts for a third of new infections worldwide. Hospitals there are overwhelmed. A cremator in the Indian city of Surat told The Post his facility receives 100 bodies a day, five times more than typical, and the round-the-clock use has melted steel pipes in two of the crematorium's six chimneys. It's possible the 250,000 daily cases in India could double within a month, one biostatistician said. Melted the steel pipes. Wow! And from Crooked Media’s Light At The End Of The Email:New Jersey will join 19 other states and Washington, DC, in offering an “X” gender identifier on driver’s licenses. Okay, so Grand Turk: �There was a church service going on inside. Everyone was dressed in their best clothes and �the singing was wonderful. We could have gone in, but all of us just peeked through the door. I took this photo mostly for the Pianist parking sign. When your church services involve fabulous singing, you need to treat your pianist well. �Craig went swimming. I think I might have �waded. This cactus closely resembles the red fez worn on a Turkish man’s head - and is the reason for the island being named Grand Turk. My mind just wandered off and thought about Grand Beret or Grand Bonnet or Grand Helmet or ..... �As you can see, I didn’t cross the yellow line on my way back to the ship. �Craig lecturing onboard. �Oliver �Walking with Great Aunt Bernie. �Its freezing out there. No, I mean literally freezing. Wear a mask. Get vaccinated. 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_2021-04-21_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-406 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 2021-04-21 Title A name given to the resource Day 406 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/cfa41a590a48524beeb4a53450465e0c.pdf 712ca294687206ca5aee4b7fd37f49bf PDF Text Text Day 405. (she, her, hers) by windoworks Its amazing what a difference a new mattress makes! This first piece is alarming: CNN: India has reported six consecutive days of more than 200,000 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total over the last week to a staggering 1.5 million. The country now has the second highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, ahead of Brazil, which reported over 13.9 million cases (the US has 31.7 �million cases). However, nonstop cremations in India -- the grim consequence of coronavirus deaths -have led some to believe India’s official Covid-19 data is understating the crisis. Meanwhile, the US State Department announced it will update its travel guidelines to more closely align with CDC recommendations. That means approximately 80% of countries worldwide will now fall under the highest travel advisory level, Level 4: Do Not Travel Perhaps it is time to look at the history of plagues/pandemics. Craig has given the following summary to both his classes and asked them to think about the consequences of our present pandemic. I am reprinting this with permission from Dr. Craig Benjamin: How Pandemics Change the World. Historians who study epidemics realize that these events always lead to great changes. Here are some historical examples to help you think about some of the possible longterm impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Antonine Plague – Rome and China (165-180) 15 years altogether. • Smallpox; brought back to Rome by soldiers campaigning in Iraq • Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus died from the virus (hence the name of the plague) • Two distinct outbreaks over 15 years, with a ‘plague-free’ period between • Greco-Roman physician Galen wrote first ever ‘scientific’ description of symptoms • Helped push Roman Empire into the chaotic crisis of the early third century • Same plague hit Han China – contributed to the collapse of the Han Empire Plague of Cyprian – Roman Empire (250-270) 20 years altogether. • Yellow fever or Ebola; broke out in Ethiopia and spread to Rome via Egypt • Devastated city of Rome and the empire for two decades • At its peak 5000 people were dying each day in Rome; depleted Roman army and caused massive labor shortages • Cyprian, Christian Bishop of Carthage, wrote a detailed description of symptoms • Christians were scapegoated, but impact on pagan society was worse • Christians responded in a more thoughtful way in how they buried their dead • Pagans feared that this plague marked the end of their world • Half a century later Christianity was officially recognized in the Roman Empire, so this plague had a dramatic impact on the entire ideological framework of the ancient world Plague of Justinian – Byzantine Empire (541-549) 8 years altogether. • Bubonic plague; developed in Africa, traveled to Constantinople via Egypt • Named after Byzantine Emperor Justinian who contracted the plague but survived • Historian Procopius recorded that at its peak the plague was killing 10,000 people per day in Constantinople �• Killed 25-60% of population of Europe • Agriculture sector collapsed and prices of grain soared • Byzantine government’s response was to increasingly rely on monastic infrastructure • Huge impact on Christian ideology; monasteries developed hospitals, and Christianity quickly became a religion of philanthropy, which it has been ever since Black Death – Europe and Middle East (1347-1351) 4 years altogether. • Bubonic plague; spread from Eastern to Western Eurasia via Mongol Silk Roads • Carried by fleas that traveled on rats • Mongol siege of Genoese colony of Kaffa in Crimea helped spread plague to Europe • Once in Europe virus aerosolized and spread rapidly • Killed 75-200 million; Florence and Northern Italy particularly hard hit • So many laborers died this led to end of feudalism and transition to a wage labor system • Italian intellectuals turned away from Medieval obsession with death and religion, focused instead on the values of liberal humanism; led directly to the Renaissance • E.G. Petrarch and Boccaccio; both survived the plague and used this to create the first great works of Renaissance literature; artists followed their lead Influenza Pandemic – Global (1918-1920) 2 years altogether. • Mutation of influenza virus; started in trenches of Western Front and spread globally • First global pandemic; affected everywhere on earth (including Arctic, Pacific Islands) • Killed 50-100 million people; my grandfather contracted the virus in the trenches but survived • High infection rate and severe symptoms; mortality rate of 10-20% of those infected • Came in a series of waves • Killed a huge percentage of heathy 18-40-year-olds (e.g. in one day in 1918, 80 out of 400 workers in one US textile factory died) • Led to huge labor shortage; so surviving workers demanded better wages and working conditions; forced governments to enact labor welfare policies like workers comp • Also changed gender composition of the workforce; contributed to 19th amendment giving women the vote • Culturally led to the Roaring 20s – economic boom, movies, radio, jazz age, urbanization, Charleston, endless parties, Gatsby, flapper fashions, sexual revolution Covid 19 Pandemic – Global (2019-20..??) who knows? • Ongoing global pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome) • First detected in Wuhan China in December 2019; spread rapidly around the world • As of late-April 2021 has killed 3+ million people • Led to massive global social and economic dislocation; but also to remarkable breakthroughs in vaccine science �• Also led to a plague of misinformation, fake news and conspiracy theories • Revealed massive racial and geographic inequalities in access to health care • Massive impact on cultural performances (drama, music etc); and on religious services • Largest interruption to sporting events and education (at all levels) since WWII • Longer term impact? How will this current pandemic change the world? I am reminded of the saying - the more things change, the more they stay the same. And just in case you thought things were getting better: (CNN) The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta says its Asian small-clawed otters tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19. The aquarium announced on Sunday that it tested the otters after they showed "mild respiratory symptoms including sneezing, runny noses, mild lethargy, and coughing." The seven creatures are being cared for off-exhibit. Despite being geriatric, they are improving and expected to make a full recovery, the aquarium said. "Our Asian small-clawed otters are under very close monitoring by veterinarians and animal care team members," Dr. Tonya Clauss, vice president of animal and environmental health at Georgia Aquarium, said. "We are providing supportive care as needed so they can eat, rest and recover." It turns out that cleaning surfaces is nowhere near as important as good ventilation. In Australia, a family of 3 in quarantine caught the virus. After lightning speed investigation, it appears (however unlikely this seems) that they caught the virus through the shared ventilation system with the infected people in the �adjacent hotel room. So, new, safer quarantine quarters are being sought - with (I hope) independent ventilation systems. Excuse the language, but a fair point. I misspoke yesterday about the Derek Chauvin trial. Yesterday the court heard closing arguments before the jury retired to deliberate. They were asked to bring a suitcase of clothes as they will be sequestered until they reach a verdict. Personally, I thought what the defense presented was weak. Grand Turk. We were talking about this excursion yesterday and Craig asked me why I was wearing a backpack. Then we remembered that I had volunteered to be an attendant on the excursion, so I had a backpack with emergency supplies in it. Because they were working on the main road, we had to travel over small side roads which were in an appalling condition. �Wild horses were everywhere and they are protected. �The deep blue line on the horizon is where the shelf stops and the deep ocean trench begins. This trench is the Turks Islands Passage. The trench is 30 miles wide and over 7000 feet deep. �Wild donkeys - also protected. �A chance to stretch our legs and unkind our �backs. The Grand Turk Lighthouse More Grand Turk tomorrow. Oliver. �Today, I’ll leave you with this. Stay safe out 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_2021-04-20_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-405 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 2021-04-20 Title A name given to the resource Day 405 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/182b252708606eba86af1e76b4501b40.pdf 7a8e958a17ada0d7f1c8ea08d33aebf5 PDF Text Text Day 404. 11 weeks left. (she, her, hers) by windoworks Its been an emotional morning. Zar (my son who works at Stuff.co.NZ) sent a link about the trans Tasman Bubble opening between Australia and New Zealand with no quarantining. There were videos which I sobbed through. A koala and a kiwi hugging. There were drag queens. There was interpretive dancing. And there was a whole lot of Dave Dobbyn. After more than a year apart, Kiwis and Australians were eager to roll out their welcome mats to those crossing the ditch on the first day of the trans-Tasman bubble. Airlines and airports on both sides of the ditch celebrated the occasion with gusto, with Air New Zealand serving up 24,000 bottles of bubbly, and Wellington Airport painting “welcome whānau” in enormous letters at the end of the runway. �Whanau means family, but family in the widest sense of the word. Melbourne Airport decided to share its excitement for the quarantine-free travel arrangement through the medium of interpretive dance, with a troupe of masked dancers using clear balloons to symbolise the bubble. Travellers arriving into Sydney Airport were also in for a visual spectacle, as they were greeted by a group of drag queens. �A traveler posing with the drag queens. Meanwhile in Auckland, those waiting in the arrivals hall for their loved ones on the first flight into New Zealand were treated to a marathon performance of Dave Dobbyn’s Welcome Home/Nau Mai Rā. Jetstar had its own tribute on display at Auckland Airport – a table draped in both the Australian and New Zealand flags, with a pavlova placed on top. Following the arrival of the plane, airport and airline bosses came together for a ceremonial cutting of the cake. Passengers arriving into Wellington on Air New Zealand’s first flight from Sydney were immediately greeted by the faces of their loved ones, on a giant screen that showed people waiting in the arrivals hall. �In other news, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter successfully flew on Mars. The first time an aircraft has flown on another planet. Think about that. In the clamor of other news, the significance of this is enormous. What will we do next? I am presenting this next piece because it gives me so much hope. New York Times: A vaccinated person’s chances of getting Covid are about one in 11,000. The chances of a getting a version any worse than a common cold are even more remote. But they are not zero. And they will not be zero anytime in the foreseeable future. Victory over Covid will not involve its elimination. Victory will instead mean turning it into the sort of danger that plane crashes or shark attacks present — too small to be worth reordering our lives. That is what the vaccines do. If you’re vaccinated, Covid presents a minuscule risk to you, and you present a minuscule Covid risk to anyone else. A car trip is a bigger threat, to you and others. About 100 Americans are likely to die in car crashes today. The new federal data suggests that either zero or one vaccinated person will die today from Covid. It’s true that experts believe vaccinated people should still sometimes wear a mask, partly because it’s a modest inconvenience that further reduces a tiny risk — and mostly because it contributes to a culture of mask wearing. It is the decent thing to do when most people still aren’t vaccinated. If you’re vaccinated, a mask is more of a symbol of solidarity than anything else. Coming to grips with the comforting realities of post-vaccination life is going to take some time for most of us. It’s only natural that so many vaccinated people continue to harbor irrational fears. Yet slowly recognizing that irrationality will be a vital part of overcoming Covid. “We’re not going to get to a place of zero risk,” Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, told me �during a virtual Times event last week. “I don’t think that’s the right metric for feeling like things are normal.” After Nuzzo made that point, Dr. Ashish Jha of Brown University told us about his own struggle to return to normal. He has been fully vaccinated for almost two months, he said, and only recently decided to meet a vaccinated friend for a drink, unmasked. “It was hard — psychologically hard — for me,” Jha said. “There are going to be some challenges to re-acclimating and re-entering,” he added. “But we’ve got to do it.” And how did it feel in the end, I asked, to get together with his friend? “It was awesome,” Jha said. �The US has gone mad. Here’s evidence: CNN: Shootings across the US made for a harrowing, heartbreaking weekend of gun violence. Three people were killed and three injured in a shooting at a Kenosha, Wisconsin, tavern. A person of interest has been located and is facing a charge. In Austin, Texas, three people were killed after an apparent “domestic situation,” and the suspect -- an ex-sheriff's detective -- is still on the run. In Columbus, Ohio, one person was killed and five wounded in a drive-by shooting at vigil for a gun violence victim. The US has recorded at least 50 mass shootings since the Atlanta-area spa shootings on March 16, which left eight �people dead. We’re also learning more about last week’s Indianapolis shooting, in which police say a 19year-old killed eight people at a FedEx facility. The suspect legally bought the two assault rifles used in the attack after he'd been investigated by the FBI due to his potential for violence. ��The jury is now deliberating in the Derek Chauvin trial. The country is holding its breath, waiting. On December 27, 2019, we boarded a cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale. We sailed into the edge of a storm and it was rough sailing for all the next day. On the morning of the 29th we docked at Grand Turk. Grand Turk Island is the capital island of the Turks and Caicos archipelago, in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s dotted with the remains of salt ponds and windmills from the island’s sea salt industry, prevalent from the 17th to 20th century. The 19th-century Grand Turk Lighthouse is perched on a rocky bluff in the north. Beaches with clear water ring the island, which is home to wild horses and donkeys. ― Google �Carefully docking the �ship Ready for the day �Yes, I did have to walk all that way to our �bus Thank goodness for no windows. It was so hot! �This is a replica of Friendship 7 flown by John Glenn. Friendship 7 made it's water landing �close to this island and the flight was tracked from this island. Look at that gorgeous water and those golden sands. More Grand Turk tomorrow. We have booked our hotel in Chicago and in Grand Rapids. This weekend we cleared out the garage and the basement and most things went to a new happy home. Best moment: the little boy who got the desk chair on wheels and rode it down the road to his house. This morning our new mattress arrives. We’ve reached the ‘there’s something to do every day’ stage and the more that leaves the house, the emptier it is and the more it echoes. Oliver �Watering the seeds. �Stay safe. Its crazy out 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_2021-04-19_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-404 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 2021-04-19 Title A name given to the resource Day 404 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/aebcb949a01a48162604dd2d792cf224.pdf 5d3921abc075b2906ef59afc4a6acd99 PDF Text Text Day 403 First up: by windoworks ��Queen Elizabeth sits in strict Covid isolation during the funeral. New York Times: A somber farewell to Prince Philip. Queen Elizabeth II said goodbye to her husband of more than 73 years, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at his funeral on Saturday at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. The Rev. David Conner, the dean of Windsor, noted Philip’s life of service and “his unwavering loyalty to our queen.” The ceremony was a subdued affair, with only 30 royal family members in attendance. All eyes were on Prince William and his brother, Prince Harry, looking for a slight easing in the family rift; the two walked out of the chapel together. Philip’s coffin, transported in a Land Rover Defender, custom-made to his specifications, was lowered into the vault beneath the chapel. The funeral marked a poignant dress rehearsal for the far more consequential passing of the queen. She turns 95 on Wednesday. Craig and I watched most of the ceremony yesterday. It was a perfectly coordinated affair, as only the British monarchy can do. In Before Times it would have been a massively orchestrated, daylong event. People would have lined the route of the coffin, standing in silence. The service would have been broadcast live as well as a jumbo TV in nearby Kensington Gardens. Everything would have been draped in black. The entire Royal Family would have walked behind the coffin, but probably not the Queen. It brought to mind Diana’s funeral. Who can forget the wail of sorrow as the coffin carried on a gun carriage came out from Kensington Palace? �Yesterday’s funeral was very quiet and respectful. 4 singers (3 men and one women) sang beautiful songs, 4 buglers played the Last Post and 4 Fanfare trumpeters played a funeral fanfare. One of the most emotional moments for me was the lone piper near the end of the service who played a lament. Such a talented piper. Like all Royals, Phillip was entombed in a lead lined coffin. This preserves the body better. I’m not sure why you would want to preserve Phillip’s body - but it certainly explains the strain on the coffin bearers faces. Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, is 72 years old. He is now assuming his father’s position of helper to the Queen. There is endless discussion if she will abdicate in favor of Charles. I would be surprised. The Queen views her role as a lifelong one and Charles will only become King on her death. For years now, there has been discussion about the role of the Monarchy and the drain on the economy. The British Monarchy is known as a constitutional monarchy. This means that, while The Sovereign is Head of State, the ability to make and pass legislation resides with an elected Parliament. Although The Sovereign no longer has a political or executive role, he or she continues to play an important part in the life of the nation. Here’s a brief explanation of the role: As Head of State, The Monarch undertakes constitutional and representational duties which have developed over one thousand years of history. In addition to these State duties, The Monarch has a less formal role as 'Head of Nation'. The Sovereign acts as a focus for national identity, unity and pride; gives a sense of stability and continuity; officially recognises success and excellence; and supports the ideal of voluntary service. The pandemic is far from over anywhere in the world. Michigan continues to be an appalling hot spot, red zone, call it what you will. Last week in nearby Hudsonville, the Education Board held a meeting where they had to lock the doors because they couldn’t fit any more of the 50 parent protesters in the room. The parents were protesting the school mask requirement. They protested because their children, who are attending face to face classes, have to wear a mask inside the school buildings. I can’t even. The Guardian: The US state of Michigan saw 8,955 new Covid-19 cases as of Friday, marking “the second highest single-day case total in Michigan since the start of the pandemic”, ClickOnDetroit reports. Michigan has now seen 779,777 confirmed Covid-19 cases, with 16,771 deaths, and leads the US in new infections. In an article in the Wall Street Journal, there is a discussion about being honest about our pandemic feelings. The author wrote: I think it’s OK to talk about this. We should feel comfortable acknowledging vulnerability, conceding our doubts. Admitting struggle doesn’t make you a whiner; it’s quite the opposite, it’s a ferocious display of �strength. I’m hopeful that a year sequestered will turn us into more empathetic listeners, overpowering the judgment economy, which is still in full, cruel bore. How hard is it to listen? And then they went on to talk about how we will all be as the end of the pandemic nears. Still: it’s not going to be instant. It’s not going to feel like flipping a switch. Hidden traumas abound. I presume we’re all a little different now. How can we not be? This past year has challenged everyone in unforeseen ways, and a lot of us are just coming to terms with it. There are probably changes still imperceptible. Hopefully, some of the change is for good. How lovely would it be if we all got a little more forgiving of each other, and of ourselves, too? How beautiful would it be if we all became better neighbors? Patience remains important. So does grace. The road may be opening up, but the road remains long. Who knows when the pandemic will end? When herd immunity is reached? When the whole world is vaccinated? When you try to consider those questions, you quickly realize there isn’t an answer. In the end, there is only hope. BY EMILY DICKINSON “Hope” is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops - at all And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard And sore must be the storm That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm I’ve heard it in the chillest land And on the strangest Sea Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me. Oliver �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_2021-04-18_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-403 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 2021-04-18 Title A name given to the resource Day 403 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