430 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/23b53d92f83e3571cf84c2b16d426250.pdf 525108ae5618094b08959ee865eb8498 PDF Text Text �� https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a9caf663ee0c927fd59bb3fa9c2fad93.pdf aea4fbfc28b178984274d8896a24cfa0 PDF Text Text Febary the 25 1862 Dear Sisters i tak thy present ostony[?] [?] of in forming you whar i am i am in marlan[?] at [?] but I shell Haring[?] before long I hav ben to [?] I hav sin sum of them rebelsd who hav got to of them in the rom whar whe stay tha as durty [?] [?] whe went out to get som ha [hay] for the hors whe gin [?] sam not i went out and cramp[?] som of old prat tirkes last nit it is fun[?] whe went out to get the mail whe expected the [?] day or to moro[?] [?] tel but that I writ he was hear with me wont we hav fun doo?] you have eny [?] with winter I shel haf to stop ritin to you now for i cant think of eny thing to rit you most bea a god[good] girl til al of the [?] girls to ceap got cerg til i com hom i will drow ny leter to A [?] so Got by when you rit direct to Washing D.C. from your brother P. Th. Godfrey � 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 Civil War and Slavery Collection Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Slavery--United States African Americans United States--Politics and government--19th century Description An account of the resource A selection of correspondence, diaries, official documents, photographs related to the American Civil War and to the institution of slavery, collected by Harvey E. Lemmen. The collection includes a selection of documents from ten states related to the ownership of slaves and abolition, correspondence and documents of soldiers who fought in the war and from family members and officials, diaries and letters of individuals, and a collection of mailing envelopes decorated with patriotic imagery. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lemmen, Harvey E. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472">Civil War and Slavery Collection (RHC-45)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/470">John Bennitt Diaries and Correspondence (RHC-43)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/471">Nathan Sargent Papers (RHC-44)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/478">Theodore Peticolas Diary (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/476">Civil War Patriotic Envelopes Collection (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/479">Whitely Read Diary (RHC-52)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1804-1897 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg; application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image; Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1804-1897 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 RHC-45_CW1-4852-3 Title A name given to the resource Jefferson H. Godfrey correspondence Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1862-02-25 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Godfrey, Jefferson H. Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 United States. Army. Michigan Cavalry Regiment, 6th (1862-1865) Description An account of the resource Correspondence from Jefferson H. Godfrey, company M of the 6th Michigan Cavalry to his family, 1862 Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Civil War and slavery collection (RHC-45): http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/81316c519f35351fe8173b80aa30fb50.pdf e11c16667ac549e9ab7355619272d29e PDF Text Text ��� https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/62583c558e109f666ce84786894021ab.pdf c85894f8cfb005d1dfcf0e61cf799490 PDF Text Text Camp prol[?] Jul 16, 1863[?] Dear Father mother brother and sisters It has ben som tim sens I rot to you I was taken pirionar the next day after i rot to you from marlin city it was the 20 of Jun that tha sent for of us a Croo the river to stand pack on [?] and the rebs gobles up tha march us 20 mils the farst day [?] and the next day whe start for Stanton whe was 6 days a goin 92 mils it was to a bot for me then whe went to rcihmon to the liby [?] to starve to death and to be eait up by the little gra bax[?] whe did not hav much to eait thar it was a little peas of bread and peas of meait a bout as big as my to Thumbs. But i pan for it when i am[?] tha stol my mony from me i would like som mony if it was saf but i dont no how long i shel stay hear probly til next month som tim I cant rit much this tim for tho[?] as drowin clos and I mus stop riten for this tim giv my lov to all the frends and ceap som for your self so god by [?] marlan camp [?] annaplus[?] direct hear � 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 Civil War and Slavery Collection Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Slavery--United States African Americans United States--Politics and government--19th century Description An account of the resource A selection of correspondence, diaries, official documents, photographs related to the American Civil War and to the institution of slavery, collected by Harvey E. Lemmen. The collection includes a selection of documents from ten states related to the ownership of slaves and abolition, correspondence and documents of soldiers who fought in the war and from family members and officials, diaries and letters of individuals, and a collection of mailing envelopes decorated with patriotic imagery. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lemmen, Harvey E. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472">Civil War and Slavery Collection (RHC-45)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/470">John Bennitt Diaries and Correspondence (RHC-43)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/471">Nathan Sargent Papers (RHC-44)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/478">Theodore Peticolas Diary (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/476">Civil War Patriotic Envelopes Collection (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/479">Whitely Read Diary (RHC-52)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1804-1897 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg; application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image; Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1804-1897 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 RHC-45_CW1-4852-4 Title A name given to the resource Jefferson H. Godfrey correspondence Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1862-03-21 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Godfrey, Jefferson H. Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 United States. Army. Michigan Cavalry Regiment, 6th (1862-1865) Description An account of the resource Correspondence from Jefferson H. Godfrey, company M of the 6th Michigan Cavalry to his family, 1862 Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Civil War and slavery collection (RHC-45): http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ffad27d6bcc43da6be0c0b9911c034a2.pdf d4456d36de82c75368163e2868eb6653 PDF Text Text ���� https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b410ed8cc902f8b7737bac11c2ab8703.pdf 3f8a9874528f3bbef729828864fef7aa PDF Text Text Grat Fals Marlan Jan. the 9th 1862 Dear Mother, It is with great plasur that I tak [?] my [?] pen in hand to let you no that I am and hop when this reachis you it will find you the same I reseve your kind leter and card and was glad to hear from you it is to a clock and I shal haf to go out on protal at six and I shal haf to [?] fast & you sed that you got my mony I hall[?] sent ten darls[?] was wish I [?] you will get befor this reach you & now ma you sed that you thot of me every time that you eait now don’t you wear a bout me for I hav enuf to [?] I tel you what [?] drow[?] for ten days & 266 loves of bread to barls of potans[?] to barrels of poark to barls of beaf 260 pons of fresh beaf 42 pounds of shuga 10 pounds of tea 12 pounch coffa and 20 pounds ris & plenty to eait and drink & you sed that you went to sea them ponys I think tha ask to mosh for them but if Pa wants them I will help him all I can you want to no what the nam of the river is it is the potomack river & ma I am vary much oblids to you for that present & tel [?] to rit to me and Ed to tel me all the news you rit tel me how the crops looks & it is vary dry hear it[?] hant rain in fiv weaks tel Pa if he can sel the hors to by the Ponys if not don’t by them for whe are in det a muf now & [/} [?] shel hav our pay in a bout seven weaks and i will send him so mor mony but I must stop ritin for it is getin lat and I shel haf to go and fead my hors so he will bea ready to go & so god by [?] Godfrey � 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 Civil War and Slavery Collection Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Slavery--United States African Americans United States--Politics and government--19th century Description An account of the resource A selection of correspondence, diaries, official documents, photographs related to the American Civil War and to the institution of slavery, collected by Harvey E. Lemmen. The collection includes a selection of documents from ten states related to the ownership of slaves and abolition, correspondence and documents of soldiers who fought in the war and from family members and officials, diaries and letters of individuals, and a collection of mailing envelopes decorated with patriotic imagery. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lemmen, Harvey E. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472">Civil War and Slavery Collection (RHC-45)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/470">John Bennitt Diaries and Correspondence (RHC-43)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/471">Nathan Sargent Papers (RHC-44)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/478">Theodore Peticolas Diary (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/476">Civil War Patriotic Envelopes Collection (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/479">Whitely Read Diary (RHC-52)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1804-1897 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg; application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image; Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1804-1897 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 RHC-45_CW1-4852-5 Title A name given to the resource Jefferson H. Godfrey correspondence Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1862-04-26 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Godfrey, Jefferson H. Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 United States. Army. Michigan Cavalry Regiment, 6th (1862-1865) Description An account of the resource Correspondence from Jefferson H. Godfrey, company M of the 6th Michigan Cavalry to his family, 1862 Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Civil War and slavery collection (RHC-45): http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/28faf71cc2fc43d3afdb53dbbf7450c1.pdf dc3cb2ccad6d97592988d715c1a83baa PDF Text Text ���� https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/37a7008bba67ea5dcab50ee3b9843529.pdf 269747bbaeb240c73960739b14b2a522 PDF Text Text Aprile the 26 1862 Dear cousin It is with plesur I now sit down with my pen in hand to let you no that I and Dave is both well hoping these few lines will find you the same now Jeff I must tell you I and Davie is both in the army you must not think hard of me for not riting soner for I hav [?] to rite to that I could not rite any sooner now Jeff you better be leav I had some good times when[?] I got home last winter I went to the Dances and just kict up the Dust I must tell you that I saw [?] will and jack the other day and they was both [?] wellI hav not much time to rite this time for it will soon be dusk[?] [?] soon and i will answer F. [?] to Jefferson Godfrey Aprile the 26th 1862 [?] com I hav not time to rit much this time but I think I will get to rite a gain befor this gets to you you said you would lik to hav that money our capt is making ant[?] the pay roll[?] and we will [?] be paid off now soon and then we will send you 4 Dolars and I will send [?] one Dolar hur[?] likeness to send to me we hav ben in a large fite I saw Jack and he giv me that [?] rite soon Direct [?] 30 rigiment to [?] [?] in care of capt white tenesee pitchburg [?] I forgot to giv you the Directions the other time it don’t ned any po on it F.M.[?] Godfrey to Newcomb Godfrey D Th. R[?] Godfrey � 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 Civil War and Slavery Collection Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Slavery--United States African Americans United States--Politics and government--19th century Description An account of the resource A selection of correspondence, diaries, official documents, photographs related to the American Civil War and to the institution of slavery, collected by Harvey E. Lemmen. The collection includes a selection of documents from ten states related to the ownership of slaves and abolition, correspondence and documents of soldiers who fought in the war and from family members and officials, diaries and letters of individuals, and a collection of mailing envelopes decorated with patriotic imagery. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lemmen, Harvey E. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472">Civil War and Slavery Collection (RHC-45)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/470">John Bennitt Diaries and Correspondence (RHC-43)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/471">Nathan Sargent Papers (RHC-44)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/478">Theodore Peticolas Diary (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/476">Civil War Patriotic Envelopes Collection (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/479">Whitely Read Diary (RHC-52)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1804-1897 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg; application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image; Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1804-1897 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 RHC-45_CW1-4852-6 Title A name given to the resource Jefferson H. Godfrey correspondence Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1862-05-24 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Godfrey, Jefferson H. Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 United States. Army. Michigan Cavalry Regiment, 6th (1862-1865) Description An account of the resource Correspondence from Jefferson H. Godfrey, company M of the 6th Michigan Cavalry to his family, 1862 Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Civil War and slavery collection (RHC-45): http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3f34590eed5b1fd7631ddb00def70fa0.pdf ea5d828052625137ccdce0ef27d1a834 PDF Text Text ��� https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7f413980e8646a52b289fe155ff176c1.pdf a3fbc5d21dcbe13c500e644f9bc43db4 PDF Text Text Great Fals, May 24 the 1860 Kind Parents, It is with plaros[?] that I tak my pen in hand to drop a few lines to you to let you no that I am well at present and hop when this com to hand it will find you the sam & I went to carch to day and sean som darks march[?] it was fon fur Jeff I tel you tha smel vary strong and who had vary good [?] from the western armey Tha took 10 big guns and lots of prinars[?] & who had good tims hear [?] I hav got to go 22 mil to nit I shel start at ten to nit I will get back at twelve & 6 ma how I wish that you cod bea hear and sea this fals It is the offiles sn’t that you ever sean thar is won plas that is not far [?] wlis[?] and the water is 100 feat deap and the roks is [?] feat in & I sent Pa fiv dorlas and when he gets that I will send him som mor rit as son as you get it I ges that you hav it before this timIt is getin vary hot breas now I can go barfooted hear crops look vary nis hear & ma kiss [?]effia for me & the baby to & it is getin dark and I hil[?] haf to stop ritin for this tim gv my lov to the old folks that is Ed and Elysa and the rest of the [?] ceap a shar[?] for your self tel me all the [?] how Pa and Ed gets al ong with the maek and mal & but I must stop & ritin so ga by From your dautful son P. Th. Godfrey � 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 Civil War and Slavery Collection Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Slavery--United States African Americans United States--Politics and government--19th century Description An account of the resource A selection of correspondence, diaries, official documents, photographs related to the American Civil War and to the institution of slavery, collected by Harvey E. Lemmen. The collection includes a selection of documents from ten states related to the ownership of slaves and abolition, correspondence and documents of soldiers who fought in the war and from family members and officials, diaries and letters of individuals, and a collection of mailing envelopes decorated with patriotic imagery. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lemmen, Harvey E. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472">Civil War and Slavery Collection (RHC-45)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/470">John Bennitt Diaries and Correspondence (RHC-43)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/471">Nathan Sargent Papers (RHC-44)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/478">Theodore Peticolas Diary (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/476">Civil War Patriotic Envelopes Collection (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/479">Whitely Read Diary (RHC-52)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1804-1897 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg; application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image; Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1804-1897 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 RHC-45_CW1-4852-7 Title A name given to the resource Jefferson H. Godfrey correspondence Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1862-07-16 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Godfrey, Jefferson H. Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 United States. Army. Michigan Cavalry Regiment, 6th (1862-1865) Description An account of the resource Correspondence from Jefferson H. Godfrey, company M of the 6th Michigan Cavalry to his family, 1862 Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Civil War and slavery collection (RHC-45): http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/34987d470face9b58599784142077064.mp4 6e283d4ad9fc2a8a5d8375f893db47ad https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6f98e2da1cde7a61b070bbb42f97cde7.pdf 435e680b74fece730899cb21838f4a67 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project James Jefferson (00:47:13) (00:15) Background Information • • • • James was born in Newark, NJ on July 13, 1924 James grew up in a community where Italians, Jews, and African Americans all got along He worked while in high school and had always wanted to be in the Navy He decided he wanted to join the Merchant Marines and lied about his age to get in (1:30) Basic Training • • • • • • • James had basic training in Rhode Island He worked with maintenance and operations of marine engine equipment It was November and very cold near the New York harbor James took classes where he learned the operations of engines and boilers He was then tested to work in the engine room James was the only black man out of 95 people in the class, but never felt any discrimination He did began to feel discrimination once he began working on the ship (6:20) First Ship Assignment • • • • • • • James was assigned to work on a golf oil tanker His first day entering the steam engine room was amazing His title was fireman, but had been told by the chief engineer that no blacks could operate as the fireman James challenged him by pointing out that the union shop steward who had given him the assignment would not like being overruled, and the chief signed him on James had a very rough time on the ship, due to constant supervision from the still unhappy chief, but it helped him to become a strong fireman and learn the job quickly James went on a voyage to Liverpool in February of 1944 James was also the youngest man on the ship (18:25) Crewmen • James got along with most of the other men on the ship from the engine room • He felt that there were a few ignorant and racist people on the ship, but most of the men were civil to him • James thought that the natives from Spain, Italy and the Middle East were all very friendly �• He was disturbed by the “untouchable” population in India and the way that they were treated (31:10) End of the War • In May James had been coming back from a trip in the Pacific • He arrived in Los Angeles and everyone was celebrating • The government had been storing oil and supplies on barges and offering commissions to merchant seamen to live on the barges and keep them secure • James had been thinking about taking the commission, but was discharged shortly after the war (36:50) More traveling • James continued to sail until 1971 • He traveled near the Suez Canal, around Africa, and to Somalia • James felt that the liberty ships were the worst because they were slow and cheaply made • The US began to focus more on speed and outsource ship building to other countries • There are no more merchant marines and the US buys all their ship from foreigners • After retiring from the Merchant Marine, James began doing industrial maintenance for the military at Fort Dix � 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 Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 JeffersonJ Title A name given to the resource Jefferson, James (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jefferson, James Description An account of the resource James Jefferson was born in New Jersey on July 13, 1924 and grew up in an integrated community. After high school James joined the Merchant Marines and was trained on Hoffman Island in New York Harbor. He enjoyed the training and did not feel discriminated against there, despite being the only black man in his class. When he signed aboard his first ship, however, he had to deal with a racist chief engineer who tried and failed to keep him off the ship. He describes some of his experiences in sailing around the world during and after World War II. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Merchant mariner World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Merchant marine--United States Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-05-21 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b24f9329946a800bfb20ce59d7f2be8f.pdf c287b693d489e86a108a0bcd3f824d05 PDF Text Text Native American Oral Histories Gi-gikinomaage-min Project Interview: Jeff Chivis Interviewer: Belinda Bardwell Date: October 10, 2016 [Lin] Okay so I am recording an interview with Jeff Chivis. My name is Lin Bardwell. The date is 10/10/16. Jeff can you tell us a little bit about yourself? [Jeff] Yeah, I am a professor at Grand Valley State University. I finished my dissertation at Michigan State University and I studied the Middle Woodland communities of West Michigan, Northwest Indiana, and Norton Mounds is one of the sites that was part of my dissertation research. [Lin] So the purpose of this interview too, is to help with us writing an article connecting or disconnecting the community, currently here historically, um, in the Grand Rapids area to those of the Norton Mounds. Is there - what is the full argument for the disconnect between them and us and is there a scientific proof that does connect us to those of the Norton Mounds? [Jeff] Well first off I wouldn't say that there's a disconnect. Perhaps. I think the better way to look at is that there's no way to clearly state that those people were the ancestors of people, Native people, living in Michigan now. And more specifically tribes of today. So Potawatami, Ojibwa, Odawa peoples. Those, the people who lived in Norton Mounds could have been related not only to us but other tribes in the Midwest and, you know, elsewhere. So the issue is trying to draw a cultural link from artifacts that were created, you know, two thousand years ago and applying those links to modern day people and that's where the issue is. We can't determine archaeologically whether or not those people with the ancestors of a specific tribe in this area. [Lin] Okay. Why do you say two thousand years? [Jeff] That's the day of the Norton Mounds. It dates to about 10 B.C. so we're looking about two thousand years ago. [Lin] Okay, how does the Mounds get the name Norton? [Jeff] I believe it was one of the land owners who own the property when it was first excavated. [Lin] So I know they're also connected to the Hopewellian people. Where does that name come from? �[Jeff] [Lin] Uh, the Hopewell site in Ohio. Essentially that um, it's a time period where there's a vast trade network in all of Eastern North America including the construction of burial mounds. Some of the more elaborate types of artifacts that we see that are included in those mounds. So, yeah, it comes from the Hopewell site. The type site for the Hopewell time period. So the Hopewell time period. Where did - I read somewhere that came from that original land owner, his last name. [Jeff] Hopewell. [Lin] Hopewell. Okay. Is there another term that could be associated with this, Hopewellian name? [Jeff] There a lot of local expressions throughout the Eastern United States that they're also known by. We have the Norton tradition, the Converse tradition here in Michigan. We have, you know, other traditions around you know Eastern United States, but they're all essentially hope Hopewell people having Hopewell characteristics of burial mounds and sort of long-distance trade networks. [Lin] Are there other mounds that may not exist anymore, or still exist that are connected also with the Norton Mounds and the Hopewellian Mounds of Ohio? Is that what you said, Ohio? [Jeff] Yep, Ohio and Illinois. Culturally the people in West Michigan here in Norton Mounds were more closely related, based on cultural similarities and artifacts, they are most closely related to those people in Illinois and Indiana [Lin] Okay. [Jeff] It's only later on that we see the strong influence from Ohio. [Lin] Okay. Um, so. You are a native person, correct? [Jeff] Yes. Yes. [Lin] Do you have a tribal affiliation? [Jeff] Yes, Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi. [Lin] And you are a native archaeologist. In your studies, do you feel that there's a difference between native and non-native archaeologist when looking at and studying the Norton Mounds or the mounds? �[Jeff] [Lin] That's a tough question. I think native archaeologists have a stronger connection to to the mounds, of course, because of our history. But I think sometimes nonnative archaeologists could not really consider strongly enough the opinions of native people and native archaeologists. What is important to you about the mounds? [Jeff] Well I think it really is proof of a long history of our people in this region, and I think it can be a really important teaching site. The place, it's still place that's used by modern Native American people for prayer. So I think it's, and considering that it's one of the few remaining mounds sites in West Michigan still that date to that time period, it's really important. [Lin] Why do you think history wants to separate them, as people, connected to us, as current citizens? [Jeff] I think part of the problem has to do with the dichotomy of, you know, the very words history versus pre-history. History, basically according to that structure begins with the arrival of Christopher Columbus and everything thereafter. Whereas the word pre-history sort of, almost relegated to something less than the history itself. So, I think that's really a problem, that you see it in the literature, and even in academia where archaeologists are talking pre-history versus history. But I think that's one of the main issues that's should get rectified eventually. [Lin] What impact do you think it has on native people today, when our, when the native people's communities before Christopher Columbus, is considered prehistory? [Jeff] Well I think, I think it's insulting for one. And I think more contemporary scholarship basically has attempted to do away with that term. And instead, we use the term pre-Columbian, and we don't even use pre-history any more. [Lin] Okay. Anything else you'd like to add about the Norton Mounds that I didn't ask you? [Jeff] No, not really. [Lin] So you said the mounds are created, or have been dated, back to two thousand those of the Norton Mounds in Grand Rapids, correct? [Jeff] Two thousand years ago. Yes, 10 B.C. [Lin] And how are those mounds created? �[Jeff] Well basically using different types of dirt, and successively building different layers to create the mound. In the middle there's sort of a central crypt area, and here I'll show ya. [papers rustling] So this the plan view, or the profile of, a mound. Essentially most of the mounds in Michigan were buried this way just like in Illinois and Indiana. In Ohio and they're different. So, anyway you have different types of gravel and different types of dirt and so they're used to build up. You have a ramp here. The barrows would have been in the central crypt area as well as most of the other artifacts. Sometimes barrows were included in the ramp area as well. [Lin] So how did we, how did we figure this out? How do you know that this is the cut through, slice through, of the mound? [Jeff] Because the University of Michigan conducted those excavations and they essentially dug trenches in the middle of those mounds. So, you can see the stratigraphy, or different layers, successive layers that accumulated. So that's where those drawings are coming from, from those excavations. [Lin] How does that make you feel as an archaeologist? [Jeff] Well, it's certainly something that wouldn't be practice today. Especially in Michigan here. I think archaeologists are well aware that, you know, digging into burial mounds is no longer fashionable or acceptable. But back then, it certainly was. And that's, unfortunately that happened, but we are able to gain some information that we otherwise would not have had. [Lin] Right, it's a delicate balance between wanting to know, and wanting to be respectful. [Jeff] That's right. [Lin] How does that make you feel, as Anishinaabe? [Jeff] I, I really don't. Like I said, the political, I mean politically it was entirely different back then, in the sixties and fifties. So I don't really hold anything against those individuals really. [Lin] How many - [Jeff] Like I said it's nothing that would be done today. [Lin] Right. How many mounds do you think we've lost? Is there a way to tell? �[Jeff] Well almost all of them. Like I said, Norton Mounds is one of the few, if not the only, mounds that are still standing today. There are some in Muskegon River Valley near Newaygo. There's a couple other smaller sites. All the most important burial mounds, they've been bulldozed, either for building cities or looters came and essentially destroyed them. [Lin] Right. Is it the Norton Mounds that were first excavated or started to be dug into in the eighteen hundreds? [Jeff] Yep, by looters. Yeah. [Lin] Okay. [Jeff] And, but that that was common everywhere for all the mounds in the area. [Lin] Does Grand Valley State University have any other holdings in their collections? [Jeff] No. [Lin] No. they've all been - [Jeff] Everything's been repatriated or dispositioned - [Lin] dispositioned? [Jeff] back to the tribes. [Lin] What about other universities, such as Michigan State, U. of M.? [Jeff] Related to Norton Mounds? [Lin] No, funeral, you know, funerary. [Jeff] I believe most of the universities in Michigan have returned those back to the to the tribes. There are universities in Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio especially, where they needs to be a lot more work done. They have many artifacts and even our ancestors still. [Lin] Okay. Alright. Anything else? Alright. Thanks Jeff � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c46a8097dbf1e7695d08f91bc8097d58.mp3 5745b8be373ccb81f1c8a9f9ccaded08 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 Gi-gikinomaage-min Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Native American Advisory Council Grand Valley State University. Kustche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Interviews with members of Grand Rapids' urban Native American population collected as part of the Gi-gikinomaage-min Project: Defend Our History, Unlock Your Spirit. Translated from Anishinaabemowin, the original language of this area, Gi-gikinomaage-min means "We are all teachers." This is the name our project team choose to convey to the Native American community that through our stories and experiences, we are all teachers to someone. As we share those stories, we are allowing for our next generations to experience the past. Grand Rapids’ Native American community grew dramatically in the last half of the 20th century as a result of a little-known federal program that still impacts American Indian lives today. Called the Urban Relocation Program, it created one of the largest mass movements of Indians in American history. The full scope of this massive social experiment and its impact on multiple generations of Native Americans remains largely undocumented and unexplored. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015/2016 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Gi-gikinomaage-min Project Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Indians of North America Indians of North America--Michigan Indians of North America--Education Potawatomi Indians Bode'wadmi Ojibwa Indians Anishinaabe Navajo Indians Dine'e Cherokee Indians Tsagali Aniyunwiya Archaeology Mound-builders Hopewellian culture Indian arts--North America Personal narrativse Grand Rapids (Mich.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-10 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Moving Image Text Language A language of the resource eng Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 DC-10_Chivas_Jeffrey Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Chivis, Jeffrey Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-10-10 Title A name given to the resource Jeffrey Chivis interview (audio and transcript) Description An account of the resource Jeffrey Chivis is a member of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, and is originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Chivis graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Grand Valley State University (GVSU), and obtained his master’s degree and Ph.D. in Anthropology from Michigan State University (MSU). He is a professional archaeologist with a focus on historic preservation and the pre-Columbian archaeology of the Eastern United States. Previously, Chivis worked as a professor at MSU, GVSU, and Grand Rapids Community College, teaching courses on the diversity of Native American societies in North America and contemporary issues affecting Native American people. Dr. Chivis also previously worked for NHBP, creating its Cultural and Historic Preservation Office, Tribal Historic Preservation Office, and repatriation program. In this interview, Chivis discusses Native archeological sites in the Midwest and in Michigan. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Bardwell, Belinda (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Potawatomi Indians Bode'wadmi Personal narratives Grand Rapids (Mich.) Archaeology Mound-builders Hopewellian culture Indians of North America Indians of North America--Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Gi-gikinomaage-min Project 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 Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3953bc0fd4b3d533816b1fa3288f438a.pdf 55641b228202b60773a5bdd25bd47956 PDF Text Text Speaking Out Western Michigan’s Civil Rights Histories Grand Valley State University Special Collections Interviewee: Jeffrey Sorensen Interviewers: Christina Ober, Anthony Weinke, Michael Doak and Max Sadler Supervising Faculty: Melanie Shell-Weiss Location: Grand Valley State University Special Collections Date: 11/4/2011 Runtime: 01:06:51 Biography and Description Jeffrey Sorensen grew up in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan. He discusses the stereotypes and misconceptions of “yoopers.” Transcript Christina: Describe your childhood growing up in the UP. How was it a normal childhood, and/or was it abnormal? Jeffrey: I’d say growing up in the UP, it was mostly normal. I mean, the UP’s a little bit, not as advanced as other places, but like compared to like other people growing up I didn’t have any big differences really. Except for the fact that I didn’t go hunting. Christina: How do people generally perceive ‘yoopers’ the stereotypes or misconceptions? Jeffrey: They all go hunting they all wear camo, we don’t have running water, yeah that’s about it. Christina: Do you think your family had any of those stereotypes that you didn’t? Jeffrey: Well, my brothers both always go hunting, and I don’t. My brothers own camo, and I don’t. All of the male members of my family own guns, and I don’t. Christina: Did your family ever try to influence you to do any of those stereotypes? Page 1 �Jeffrey: Not really, my brothers originally kinda tried to get me to go hunting, but they didn’t really care that I didn’t. I mean, I like shooting guns, so that isn’t a big thing, I just never bought one. Christina: Did you just not want to do it, or did you have other things going on? Jeffrey: It was a combination of I didn’t want to do it really, like it wasn’t my thing, and I was just busy with other stuff going on in school or other things like boy scouts or band or track or anything like that. Christina: How do you think masculinity played a role when you played sports throughout High school? Jeffrey: I don’t think it really was an issue, like I was the head captain of my track team, and everyone listened to me just like they would listen to anyone else, actually probably more than they would listen to them, I never really had any issues with people trying to be more masculine in track, so like trying to dominate my authority or anything like that. Christina: What experience with masculinity or imasculinity did you have during your high school career? Jeffrey: I was always a band geek, so that’s considered less masculine. But then I was also in track, so being in sports is supposed to be more masculine. I don’t know. There wasn’t really too much of a big distinguishment [sic] between masculinity and imasculinity other than when it came to sports. Christina: Do you have any clubs or groups at your school that support gaysor talk about gays at all? Jeffrey: When I was there, we didn’t. The year I left, they made one. Christina: Did you wish there were any? Page 2 �Jeffrey: At one point I tried to start one up, myself, and two other people were trying to start a GSA, a Gay Straight Alliance, but it just didn’t work out, we couldn’t find a teacher that was willing to be the advisor for it. Christina: Do you think that in your high school there were gays that came out, or did you mostly think they hid it, since there was nothing that helped them? Jeffrey: Well, there was, when I was there only one other guy was openly gay. But I know there was other people who were friends of mine that I knew were gay, but they weren’t open to everyone else. Christina: How do you think the idea of masculinity changed when going from High School to college, or do you think it doesn’t? Jeffrey: Well, in college, even less people care. For me, in High School, it wasn’t that big of a deal, but in college, it’s just not a deal, or not a big deal, at all. Nobody really cares. I would say there’s a greater variation of masculinity and imasculinity, but it’s not something that people really care about. Christina: Do you think they have a lot more clubs and things that you can talk to other people like you than your high school? Jeffrey: Yeah, there’s definitely a lot more. I mean, I think of three different groups right off the top of my head, where my high school had nothing. Christina: What experience have you had in college with masculinity or imasculinity? Jeffrey: Um… Christina: Do you partake in any of the groups at Grand Valley? Page 3 �Jeffrey: Well, I’m not involved in any of the LGBT groups at Grand Valley, it’s not really something I care to be a part of, but I’m involved in other groups, like I’m a founding father of a fraternity, which generally you would think a fraternity is this really masculine type organization, but yet I’m still a founding father. Christina: What do you think is the role masculinity plays in a fraternity? Jeffrey: Masculine role in a fraternity? Even the guys in our fraternity who are straight, there’s a lot fo them who really aren’t masculine. Some of them are, some of them aren’t, some of them are kind of in between, so I really don’t think it plays a role. Christina: What kind of stereotype do you think a fraternity has and do you think yours follows in any of those stereotypes? Jeffrey: A lot of those stereotypes are just like that frats like to party, like to drink, that to join you have to go through a huge ordeal, that there’s a lot of hazing, basically just guys that are really macho and a lot of people describe them as tools, but my fraternity, and a lot of fraternities on campus, we don’t really fit those stereotypes, we try not to be tools, which that depends on your definition of tools. But we try not to act like we own the place, like a lot of fraternities do, we’re kind of trying to change that stereotype, especially at Grand Valley. We want to be different, we want to be a diverse group, not a group that’s like a bunch of guys who are all the same. We’ve got a wide range of guys from gay, bi, straight, and then we have a few different races within our fraternity too. Christina: Have you ever had any problems with your fraternity, being gay? Jeffrey: Well, I’m totally open to my fraternity. Everyone knows I’m gay, I have openly talked about going on dates with guys, and nobody’s really cared that I talk about it. We’re all brothers, we support each other, even if someone doesn’t necessarily agree with it, because we’re brothers, they’re going to support it. Christina: Do you think being in a fraternity at grand valley is different than if you were in a fraternity at a bigger school, like Michigan or State? Do you think that you’d be perceived differently as gay? Page 4 �Jeffrey: I think being gay wouldn’t necessarily effect it. It could. The bigger schools tend to have fraternities that have more hazing and stuff like that, and I think that being gay might effect how much I would be hazed. I would assume that a gay person would be hazed more than a straight person. But I would say once they’re in the fraternity it wouldn’t be any different than it is here. Christina: So, if you went to one of those schools, you wouldn’t have thought different about joining a fraternity? Jeffrey: I would’ve thought differently because of the hazing part of it and me being gay, I would expect to be hazed more, so for that reason I probably wouldn’t have gone Greek. Christina: Going back to your childhood, when do you first think you found out you were gay, and describe the process. Jeffrey: I would say I’ve known most of my life. I started getting a pretty good idea of it when I was in 5th grade though. Even before that, looking back, I can kind of see the signs of “oh yeah, I wasn’t the same.” Fifth grade was about the time I was figuring out that I liked guys, and the after a couple more years I was trying to figure out if I just liked guys and liked girls or if I just liked guys, or whatever. After seventh grade I figured out that I’m not attracted to girls at all, and that I’m only attracted to guys. I’d say by eighth grade I knew for sure that I was just gay, not bi. But I’ve showed the signs that I was different since second grade probably. At recess I would play with the girl friends instead of go play sports with the guys, I didn’t like a lot of the same things that the guys liked. I wasn’t into a lot of sports. I mean, I wasn’t into girly things, I just wasn’t into sports so I hung out with girls more often. Christina: You told me before that you dated girls while in High School. Do you think that was a way of you showing masculinity and following in the footsteps of the male figures around you? Jeffrey: I didn’t date girls in high school, but I did in middle school. But I don’t think that was me trying to prove anything to anyone, it was more I wasn’t sure at that point whether I liked girls or if I just liked guys. During middle school, I dated girls to try to figure out if I did like girls or not. At that point I knew that I liked guys, but I needed to figure out whether I liked girls, or if I was just gay. Christina: Describe the event of coming out to your parents. Page 5 �Jeffrey: I told my mom. I never told my dad, but I’m pretty sure my mom told her, him. When I came out to my mom, it was because I was telling her about one of my friends who happened to be gay, and I mentioned that part and she said “well why are you friends with him?” And then eventually she said “If he’s gay, why are you friends with him?” and my response was “because I am too.” And she didn’t take it very well. At first she didn’t really know what to think, she didn’t really believe me I guess. She didn’t know if I knew for sure that I was gay, but at that point I was a junior in High School, and I had known for many years. She even told me I shouldn’t tell my dad. She didn’t want me to really openly pursue a gay relationship, and she wanted me to kinda just for the most part keep it to myself, which to me wasn’t something I could do, and at that point I was pretty much completely open in school, all my friends knew, most of the other people in the school knew, it was just my family that didn’t know at that point. Christina: How did you come out to your brothers, and based on the stereotype of brothers in a family competing to be the best and giving each other a hard time, did that happen? Jeffrey: Well, when I came out to my brothers, both of them had already moved out. I was the only one living at home, and actually at that point I wasn’t really living at home anymore, I was off getting ready for college and I was living with one of my brothers. But, when we were younger we had that concept of brothers always competing, but now that we’re older, we’re just that; we are brothers, and we are family. So, I told my brothers one night, my oldest brother threw a party, and first I told my oldest brother’s fiancé, and then she kinda helped me because she already knew about it, but was trying to get me to tell her on my own time, so once I told her she kinda had me practice, because the goal was to tell my brother by the end of the night. So she had me practice by telling her brother and her best friend, and one of her cousins, and some of the other people at the party, and finally the last person I told was my brother. So we kinda pulled him aside, and she said “your brother has something to tell you.” And she said “it’s something you’ve kinda had suspicions on for a while, but never really knew for sure.” So I just said that I’m gay, and his response was “yeah, and?” My other brother I didn’t tell, but I told his girlfriend, and I gave her permission to tell him, and he already knew too, she told me he already knew, but didn’t want to assume. She just confirmed it for him. With both of my brothers I can openly talk about being gay. If I’m in a relationship with someone, my middle brother I can talk to, he’s okay with me sharing stuff about that. He’s not good at giving any advice, but he’s willing to listen. My oldest brother is a little uncomfortable with the relationships, but that’s mostly just because he’s my brother, and a lot of the time you don’t want to hear about your sibling’s relationships, so it’s just the same concept. But, if I really needed to talk to him, he would be willing to. Like I said, we are brothers, and we outgrew that competing stage and now we’re just completely supportive of each other. Christina: Do you think it helped a lot that your brothers accepted you since your parents technically didn’t? Page 6 �Jeffrey: I would say with my parents being how they were, they didn’t really want me to be open about it, but my brothers are very supportive and they know how my parents reacted so when I officially came out to them they told me like if I can’t go to Mom and Dad for something then I can go to them. They basically wanted to make sure that I knew that just because they’re my brothers and I don’t have sisters they wanted me to know even though they’re guys I can still go to them. They might not know necessarily how to deal with something but because they’re my brothers they will try to help me if I ever need them. Christina: How did you come out to your friends and did you do this before or after you did to your family? Jeffrey: I came out to my friends first, and just like my brothers they already knew, it was just a matter of me telling them, so during my junior year I kind of slowly told my closer friends and the general response was yeah what’s new. Everyone knew, it wasn’t a surprise to anyone it was more a surprise that I was finally telling them. I would say by the end of my junior year I was out to everyone. Of course all of my friends knew and before I even came out everyone pretty much knew I was gay, there wasn’t much surprise there. My closest friends were supportive of it and I kind of left after junior year unsure of how senior year was going to be because I came out to the rest of the school right at the end of the year. Then senior year came around and basically I just walked in the door and flaunted it, but not really flaunted it, but owned it. I was myself. I wasn’t trying to hide anything anymore. I kind of had a hint of what it was like to be myself and for everyone to know who I am and be supportive of that so senior year I didn’t try to hide anything and I was just myself from that point on. Christina: You said that your friends pretty much already knew, do you think your parents had any idea prior to you coming out? Jeffrey: I think they kind of had an idea but a lot of parents aren’t too thrilled to hear if their son is gay so I think they probably kind of had the idea but they were more denying it than anything to the point that they didn’t really believe it. I know my mom was kind of shocked by it but part of that is before that I would come home and say like I heard this rumor about me and it has to do with me being gay and my mom would never ask me if the rumor was true but because I was upset about rumors like that like she just assumed that they weren’t true and I think she assumed that that was kind of my way of saying they weren’t true but because I was her son she was getting the wrong message I guess. Christina: Your relationship with your parents now do you not feel as comfortable now as you did before? Do you think they think differently of you? Jeffrey: I would actually say I’m more comfortable now because like before I was just the oddball son I didn’t do the same thing as my brothers, I didn’t go hunting and stuff like that. I was the one that was always involved in band and other organizations and stuff but never like the big sports but I did track but that’s not considered one of the big sports but like my parents I think before I came out to them they didn’t really have an excuse for me to be Page 7 �different it was just I was the oddball son they never had a problem with it but I kind of did. But then after I came out now they know why I’m a little bit different from my brothers they know that the reason I’m little bit more flamboyant is because I’m gay and a lot of those gay stereotypes that they didn’t have an excuse for before they now have an excuse for. Christina: Have you ever actually sat down with your Dad and talked about being gay or is it basically just your mom? Jeffrey: So far it’s been just my mom and I haven’t even talked to her enough to know what all he knows I just know that he knows I’m gay and that might be the extent of it but between my dad and I it’s just like a unspoken thing. I don’t know if he’s really comfortable with talking about it. He doesn’t treat me any differently he treats me now just like he did when I was a kid so nothings changed there. I know he knows, and he knows that I know he knows and that’s the extent of it. We don’t talk about it, he never brings it up. We’ve actually never talked about it at all. Christina: How does religion play a role and how has it throughout your life? Jeffrey: Most of my life I wasn’t religious at all but then during high school a lot of my friends were really religious, they went to church every sunday they went to the local bible camp and basically the entire summer was filled with different events at the bible camp. I had a lot of friends that did different mission trips and were involved in different ministries all around but I wasn’t involved in that stuff so being friends with those people I started getting more and more involved and I became really religious I was probably one of the most religious of my friends for a while. I went to church every sunday I ended up controlling some of the audio visual stuff at the church and then I was working at the bible camp as a high ropes instructor and when I wasn’t scheduled to instruct there I would help out around there. If they didn’t need any extra help there I would go to another part of the camp and volunteer and help out. I was involved in a worship band that traveled around to all the churches in the area and we did different performances and lead worship and stuff all over the place. We had our own ministry stuff going on throughout the week so on an average week I was doing stuff for different weeks but religion based probably four days a week and then at one point my church kind of caught wind that I was gay and the leaders of the church pulled me aside and asked me about it but I wasn’t really telling them anything and eventually kind of figured out I wasn’t denying it but I wasn’t confirming it either so they figured out what they heard was true so they decided first I couldn’t control the audio visual stuff anymore and they said that was a leadership position and they couldn’t have someone that was gay doing a leadership position. I told them if I wasn’t doing that I wasn’t going to go to their church anymore. I quit going but they basically pulled me back in and said that they didn’t want me to leave it was just because it was a leadership position and they don’t want people to get the wrong idea which I didn’t agree with at all but some of my best friends went to that church so I didn’t want to stop going so I decided to keep going. I eventually stopped going to church though. I slowly stopped attending their services every week. First I would go every other week, then every three weeks, and eventually I quit going altogether. I kept going to the youth group at one point one of the Page 8 �leaders pulled me aside and kept asking me about being gay and asking if I was going to change. I told him I wasn’t going to change, I wasn’t willing to change, and it wasn’t possible for me to change. At that point his daughter was my best friend and he told me he didn’t want me ever talking to her again. I quit going to the youth group then. The only reason he became a leader of that youth group was to watch me and make sure I wasn’t going to influence anyone. So I quit going, and I kinda, at that point like, it was the winter so I kind of silently quit working there, cuz it was the off-season so I wouldn’t be working anyway so I just didn’t show up the next summer. Um, and with the worship band at that point they were the only ones that I felt comfortable talking to. Um, so I told the woman who was in charge of the ministry that the worship band was for, and well I told her and her son, and he was becoming one of my best friends. Um, he was the lead in the worship band, and like we hung out quite a bit. Um, so I told the two of them and, they didn’t try to kick me out right away, but they told me they can’t have me like openly gay in the worship band. Um, they said if it just stayed between them they wouldn’t try to kick me out or anything, they just couldn’t have like that image, I guess. Um, mainly because it was nondenominational, um so we were going around to different churches, they didn’t want to do anything that would take away from what a certain church was trying to enforce. So I kept going to the worship band stuff for a while, but they kept trying to kinda say like “have you thought about changing?” like “Are you willing to change?” and I started getting less comfortable with hanging around them so I slowly stopped going to that. So that was like my last religious like organization that I quit going to and like since then I haven’t gone to church, um, when I came to Grand Valley I didn’t start going to church again. Um, I pretty much just like, quit religion. Um, at this point I’m not religious in any way; um I don’t really have any kind of belief system. I’m not agnostic, I’m not atheist, like I just don’t have a belief system, and I don’t really care to develop some kind of belief system, but um, it’s one of those things where I’m open to the idea, but because of my past I’m not going to actively try to develop some kind of new religious beliefs. Christina: Do you think if your church would have been accepting to you in the very beginning that it would be completely different now? Jeffrey: I don’t think that it would be completely different, because I’m sure most of the people at the church knew, maybe not some of the older ones who weren’t used to seeing gay people, but for the most part, all the younger people in the church I’m pretty sure knew, especially the one that went to my school, or even their parents. Like, they all knew so I don’t think it would have been hugely different, and about when I stopped going to the church isn’t really that long before I moved out of the house and moved in with my brother, um downstate just before coming to Grand Valley. So I don’t think it would be that different, but I don’t think I would have like a negative, um, I don’t think I would have some kind of like negative feeling towards religion, if they were accepting right away, but other than how I feel about religion, I don’t think that it would be much different. Page 9 �Christina: Yea, if they, when you came out, if they were completely acceptable of it and said we want you to stay here and we accept that you’re gay, do you think you would have kept going and then when you came to Grand Valley would occasionally think more religiously than you do now or do you think you still would have straight away? Jeffrey: I think if that was the case I probably would have kept going to church, um, while I was there I would have kept going to that church, and then when I came to Grand Valley I probably would have found a church to go to, um, and I might have actually been involved in like a worship band here or something along those lines. Christina: Do you kind of wish that had happened or do you think that it happened for a reason? Jeffrey: I’m for the most part a believer in that everything happens for a reason, and I feel like if the church and the worship band and the bible camp and everything wasn’t or if they were more accepting maybe I would have ended up staying in the U.P., but part of the reason why I came down to Grand Valley was because, the U.P. isn’t as accepting of like gay people. There’s really not that many. So it might have influenced where I ended up now, but like like I said, I am a firm believer in everything happens for a reason, so I feel like part of it was kind of I was meant to maybe not necessarily be non religious, but at least meant to come here. And that was one of the things that kind of pushed me away from the U.P. to come here. Christina: Do you think the religious groups on campus think of gays differently than your church back home do? Jeffrey: Um, I think some of them do, but some of them don’t. Christina: Based on now where you are in your life, do you think everyone is accepting of your orientation? Jeffrey: I think anyone who I associate with like on a regular basis, like anyone who is a friend of mine or involved with any organizations with me, um I would say like they are all completely accepting. Obviously, if they weren’t accepting, they wouldn’t be my friend. Um, I never really hear anything about anyone not being accepting of me specifically, um, I mean obviously I am gonna hear like about people Page 10 �being not accepting of gay people in general, but I never hear it specifically towards me because of me being gay. Christina: Do you find it different in class or anything with the way you look and the way you talk, and how you like perceive yourself, do you find any problems with the peers in your classes or around campus? Jeffrey: Not really, um, Grand Valley has a lot of gay people so it’s something everyone is used to, and like, I mean a lot of people dress really well here, but then at the same there’s gay people here that don’t dress very well at all. So I would say like how I dress isn’t a big issue, because there’s a lot of gay people who dress really well, and there a lot of straight people who dress really well. Um, I would say how I talk is more feminine so like straight guys for the most part like their voice isn’t gonna be as feminine as mine, but like nobody really cares. Um, like everyone is their own person, and I think everyone here like realizes that, so the way different people dress or talk or act like doesn’t really phase anyone. Christina: Do you feel a lot more comfortable through expressing yourself at Grand Valley than you did at home and places away from Grand Valley? Jeffrey: Well, like, when I’m at school at Grand Valley, like I’m completely open I can be myself. There’s no one here that I feel like I need to hide anything from. But then like if I go home, because my parents aren’t comfortable with me being gay, they know about it, but because they‘re not comfortable with it I try to give them that little bit of comfortablility, where like I’m not going to be totally flamboyant in front of them. Um, a lot of my extended family doesn’t know, so I’m not going to act really gay in front of them, um, so when I go home I kind feel like I’m confined to how I acted before I was open, so I don’t really like to go home, but I think as I’m getting older my parents are kind of getting more used to me being more flamboyant because just as I grew up I became more and more flamboyant, because I was kind of becoming more comfortable with myself. It’s just not to the point where I’m comfortable with my parents, but the older I get the more comfortable I get with it and, and the more I kind of act more like gay in front of my parents. Um, I care about what they think and don’t want to make them uncomfortable, but at the same time I need to kind of put them out of their comfort zone a little bit, because I’m their son so they kind of have to get used to it, because it’s not changing. Christina: Do you think you’re ever going to be completely yourself around them? How long do you think that might take? Page 11 �Jeffrey: Um, well eventually I would like to be. I would like to be open to like my entire extended family. Um, I don’t know if that will actually ever happen or how long it will take. Um, I would say if I did I wanted to start coming out to more people it would probably start with some of my cousins because they are like my age level or somewhere close. So, like they are the ones that because they are younger and I’m sure they have been exposed to more like gay people they would be the ones who would already pretty much know. Just like my friends knew or my brothers knew and a lot of the people in the church knew. So it wouldn’t be a big deal. Um, my like extended family like my aunts, and grandparents, and uncles, um, they might be a lot harder to tell. I think when it gets to that point I might just kind of be myself and let them think whatever they want to think. Um, I don’t really feel like it’s necessary that I go and tell everyone, because if I just be myself they’re gonna know, and if they don’t know, either way they’re family, and knowing my family, like they won’t disown me, like they’ll accept me for who I am. So, I’d say eventually I’ll be out to my whole family, and at that point like, the more out I am to the rest of my family, the more my parents are gonna be exposed to. So the more they’re gonna have to get more comfortable with it. Christina: How do you feel about the laws surrounding being gay? Such as gay marriage. Jeffrey: Well, at some point I would like to be married, so obviously I want the laws to say that gay people can get married. And I prefer to not have to move to different state in order to be married or go to a different state to be married and then come back to my own state and not be recognized. Like if I'm living in Michigan I want to be able to be married and live in Michigan and have that marriage be recognized, or wherever I end up. And then, along those same lines, like most states don't allow for a gay couple to adopt, even if they're allowed to be married, a lot of states don't allow for them to adopt a child and being like two men or two women it's hard to have a child of your own so along those same lines I think it shouldn't be harder for gay people to be able to adopt a kid because they can be just as good parents as a strait couple. Christina: What do you think its going to take for these laws to actually change? Jeffrey: I think its just a matter of time. Slowly more and more states get added to the list of the ones that allow gay marriage and the ones that don't allow gay marriage a lot of theme are allowing civil unions and domestic partnerships, which aren't the same but at least its a step towards allowing gay marriage. Eventually the other states are going to keep adding more and more to what they allow. As a whole, society is becoming more accepting of people who are different in any way. So it's really just a matter of time until enough people are accepting of it that when it comes to a vote people will vote for gay marriage to be legalized and for gay adoption to be legalized. And eventually it will be pretty much as easy to live a gay life as to live a strait life. There's still going to be some hardships for gay people but I Page 12 �think its just a matter of time until it evens out as much as it's going to. Christina: Going back to stereotypes, what do you feel and how do you think the stereotypes for a strait man differ from a gay man? Jeffrey: Stereotypes for a strait man is usually more masculine, plays sports, maybe more muscular guys. And then even like a lot of times one stereotype is what they drink. More masculine men might drink beer, where a gay person may drink a fruity drink. But then the stereotypes with gay people are usually more flamboyant, they dress better. Strait people might wear clothing that doesn't look the greatest or maybe a lot of athletic wear and gay people tend to wear the name brands like Express or BKE and stuff like that, where as strait men don't want to spend the money like that. Even like kind of with the way we act, strait men usually are more macho, try to be like the alpha male. Gay men can be kind of like the same way, but we still want to be like in charge but we kind of have our own way of doing it. We don't just try to just look intimidating and get our way by being big and muscular. But, I would say gay people are generally thought to be more, maybe not smart, but conniving. We kind of know how people think because obviously we are guys so we know how guys think for the most part but we relate to girls so we kind of know how they think too, so we kind of have an edge on things and we tend to have a better understanding of both groups, males and females. Christina: How do you think our society stresses these stereotypes through the media and television and movies? Jeffrey: Well in a lot of TV shows and movies if there's a gay person in it they're usually pretty flamboyant, they don't usually have the strait acting gay people because then you wouldn't really know that they're gay. So generally when you see a gay person on the a TV or movie they're really gay and flamboyant and they probably have a higher voice so I would say with strait people in the media theres a lot of variation there, but when it comes to gay people they don't have a very big variation they mostly just they're all flamboyant. Christina: Do you think the media over exaggerates these qualities in gays and straights? Jeffrey: I would say for the most part with strait people they don't over exaggerate because there's enough variation and they show the variations with different strait people, but with gay people, like I said they tend to show mostly the really flamboyant guys so there really isn't enough of a variation to go away from enforcing the stereotype. Page 13 �Christina: Do you think the media is slowing changing into showing more of these gays that are in sports and gays who are in fraternities over how they use to show gays? Jeffrey: I would say in general gay people are showing up in the media a little bit more so that kind of overflows into showing more gay people in fraternities or gay people in sports, but I would say that overall because they're showing more its just overflowing to all areas where its considered a more masculine thing. Christina: Okay, those are all of my question, do you guys have any? Michael: I'm kind of curious because you reference masculinity a few times, and I know its a hard question to kind of deal with it but how would you describe masculinity? Jeffrey: I would say to me masculinity is more like the macho, involved in the things that are considered more manly, like sports and being muscular. Where as femininity is when someone is more girly, flamboyant, cares about their looks a little bit more, and dresses well. Anthony: Was track the only sport you did in high school? Jeffrey: Track was the only sport I did just because I was also involved in the band so during the other seasons I would be doing stuff with the band so track was the only season I was available for. Anthony: Is there any reasons besides track that you didn't do the other sports, I know like football and basketball are stereotyped as more masculine or macho thing to do? Did that play a role? Jeffrey: Well I didn't really like football so I don't really know if me being gay was the reason or not. I just didn't like football. So thats why I wasn't in that. But then when it came to basketball season the jazz band played during basketball games so thats why I wouldn't be involved in it so I actually like basketball so I think if I wasn't so involved in the band I would probably have tried out for the basketball team. I wouldn't have been that great but I would have at least tried out for the JV team. Page 14 �Anthony: Did you say you were also in boy scouts? Jeffrey: Yea, I was involved in boy scouts between like fifth grade and senior year. Anthony: How far did you go with that? Did you stay with it pretty actively? Jeffrey: For the most part as long as I was in it I was pretty active. Kind of the last couple years I was involved in so much other stuff that it was hard for me to be really active in boy scouts but I went to as much as I could. Anthony: Did you, in boy scouts, were you like openly gay with them and the other scouts in the group or with the adult leaders? Jeffrey: Not with the adult leaders. Some of the scouts that were right around my age that were right within a few grades of me knew, but by the time I was a junior or senior we had scouts who were in the seventh or eight grade and I didn't feel like it was appropriate for me to be completely open in front of them so they didn't know and then the leaders didn't know. Michael: I'm kind of curious, you said that in, I think it was middle school you weren't really interested in sports at all, or more in general in elementary school you weren't that interested in sports and you considered that sort of a sign that you were gay. What changed your mind I guess because I'm kind of curious what the evolution was between that and then high school wanting to possibly play basketball and being in track? Jeffrey: I would say in elementary school the big sport was football, no one really played basketball at recess. People just went out to the field and played football and I wasn't a big contact sport type of person so I would say it wasn't so much I wasn't interested in sports in general, but more I wasn't interested in the sports being played at that time. So then in middle school, I had always been a good runner, mostly because I was always running away from my brother but because I was such I good runner I really began to enjoy running so therefore I enjoyed track and I became one of the fastest runners so I was one of the people becoming in charge of the group so that’s why I was involved in track an why I enjoyed it so much. And then with basketball, I'm not sure what really attracted me to Page 15 �basketball but its not like a big contact sport so I think that was a big reason why I like basketball verses football. Anthony: I have one more, you said there are a lot of like adult leaders in your troop and your parents, do you think that’s a generational thing where they're not as okay with it and do you think as America as a whole becomes more okay with it is it older adults becoming okay with it or do you think it's just a lot of younger people? Jeffrey: I would say some adults are becoming more okay with it. The big thing is they didn't grow up with it so it something that they have to adjust to after already kind of knowing how society works, it's like its changing so they have to adjust to it. Which not everyone is totally okay with doing, But our generation is growing up with gay people being in the media, and just knowing gay people, and seeing gay people in public. So I think, and this might sound a little bit morbid, but as the older generations die off and what’s left is the younger generations it will become more accepted as a whole. Christina: Alright, thank you. END OF INTERVIEW Page 16 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0b9bda8f76e0e8703267045019bdd6ae.mp3 ff89646dd1ee3686fc17287e221f769f 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 Speaking Out: Western Michigan Civil Rights Oral Histories Subject The topic of the resource Civil rights--Michigan--History Personal narratives Oral histories African Americans--Personal narratives Gays--Personal narratives Lesbians--Personal narratives Bisexual people--Personal narratives Transgender people--Personal narratives Veterans--Personal narratives Women--Personal narratives People with disabilities--Personal narratives Muslims--United States--Personal narratives Hispanic Americans--Personal narratives Homophobia Discrimination Islamophobia Stereotypes (Social psychology)--Upper Penninsula (Mich.) Description An account of the resource Collection of oral history recordings documenting the history of civil rights and social justice advocacy in Western Michigan. The collection was created by faculty and students as a project of the LIB 201 (formerly US 201): "Diversity in the U.S." course from 2011-2012. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Speaking Out: Western Michigan Civil Rights Oral History Project (GV248-01) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-05-02 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV248-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1930-2011 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 GV248-01_Sorensen_Jeffrey Title A name given to the resource Jeffrey Sorensen audio interview and transcript Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sorensen, Jeffrey Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ober, Christina Weinke, Anthony Doak, Michael Sadler, Max Description An account of the resource Jeffrey Sorensen grew up in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan. He discusses the stereotypes and misconceptions of "yoopers." Subject The topic of the resource Civil rights--Michigan--History Discrimination Stereotypes (Social psychology)--Upper Penninsula (Mich.) Language A language of the resource eng 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 Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Relation A related resource Speaking Out: Western Michigan Civil Rights Oral History Project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-11-04 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/795f9f775872d3efa106df225b457ad5.jpg 452e59f9579acad68728da71fe0e9cf1 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 Faces of Grand Valley Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource University Communications Description An account of the resource A non-comprehensive collection of photographs of Grand Valley faculty, staff, administrators, board members, friends, and alumni. Photos collected by University Communications for use in promotion and information sharing about Grand Valley with the wider community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960s - 1990s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived GV012-03. University Communications. Vita Files Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copryight Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University College administrators College teachers Colleges and universities -- Faculty Michigan Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 JellemaJon Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1979 Title A name given to the resource Jellema, Jon Description An account of the resource Jon Jellema, English Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College teachers Universities and colleges – Faculty Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Communications. Vita Files, 1968-2016 (GV012-03) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng 1979s https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/640b065d26d6919cd6b79514957581af.mp4 1516c05f68cfc32e41cbad34797fda60 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4d49b9ee8293c7a27b139ac7a7429138.pdf 9395dc1d44c0df6332e8e3319df35fbf PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Harry Jelsema World War II Total Time: 0:52:30 Childhood and Pre-Enlistment (0:00:15) • • • • Born on a farm in Allegan, MI Father was a vegetable farmer Went to school through the 8th grade. He was the only brother who worked on his father’s farm. Was able to obtain several deferments which allowed him to stay out of the service for a time to help out on the farm, but was finally drafted into the Army in July 1944. Training (0:04:51) • • Was sent to Camp Robertson, AR near Little Rock. This was where he got his basic training here. After basic, was sent to Camp Kilmer, NJ which was a staging Area. He then boarded the Queen Mary and crossed the Atlantic in January 1945. Active Duty (0:08:01) • • • • • • • • • • • • Landed in England, and stayed 3-4 days and then went on boats to Le Havre and there they got on troop trains to the front lines of combat. (0:12:13) Was taken to a replacement depot, and was directed by officers to their assigned units. Hi3s unit was in the Hurtgen Forest off of the immediate front line. He got there after the heaviest of the fighting. Joined a rifle company of the 121st Infantry Regiment of the 8th Infantry Division . It was snowy and cold when they got there. They would keep warm by putting on extra clothing. They moved out from their holding pattern after 10 days. This was when they moved out of the forest. (0:21:40) They crossed the Ruhr River and then the Rhine River and fought some with the retreating Germans. The terrain in this area was mostly a farming region. He had some contact with civilians. (0:25:15) Took many German prisoners during this time. (0:26:20) Saw different units of black troops during his time over there. (0:28:05) Ended up in the northern part of Germany, where they made contact with the Russian Army. Lived in un-occupied houses after the War officially ended, and their unit did not have any specific assignment while they were there. �• • • • • • • (0:30:20) Got back on a boat to come to the states, where he was supposed to do a week refresher course and then was supposed to be shipped over to Japan, but they surrendered before they could get to the Pacific. He was subsequently shipped to Fort Leonard Wood., MO where the 8th Infantry Division was disbanded. He was taken into the 2nd Infantry Division. He was then sent to Camp Carson, CO and was there for 6 months. While he was at Camp Carson, he was transferred into the Company HQ and was assigned to what amounted to essentially a 9-5 job. He would occasionally hitchhike to Denver on his time off. Was discharged in middle 1946. Was assigned to carry a bazooka, but never actually used it in combat. Post-Service (0:36:40) • After he was discharged, went back to Michigan and worked in a factory and as a truck driver. � 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 Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 JelsemaH Title A name given to the resource Jelsema, Harry (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jelsema, Harry Description An account of the resource Harry Jelsema was born to a farmer in Allegan, Michigan and served in the Army during World War II. He was drafted in 1944, and sent to basic training and after that to Europe, where he was a bazooka man. He fought in Northern France, Belgium, and Northern Germany, eventually meeting the Soviets. He was then shipped back to the US and was supposed to go to Japan, but the war ended before this could happen. He worked a desk job at Fort Carson, Colorado until he was discharged in 1946. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Byron Area Historic Museum (Byron Center, Mich.) BCTV Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-11-11 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a021bf5af175360e617cb9bf2f1731fe.mp4 e78dccfb87fac6953ea01aeb246ffc79 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c9e2853ef112be8fad9745b9ec3ca633.pdf e7725b2ce302134f434dca928ca91849 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Richard Jeltema (32:32) (00:22) Background Information • • • • • Richard was born in Grand Rapids, MI in 1927 His father worked in local trucking He went to Davis Tech high school Richard heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor on the radio He was going to be drafted into the Army so he enlisted in the Navy (03:54) Training • • • • • • • • • • Richard was sent to Great Lakes Naval Academy in Chicago, IL He didn’t get to finish high school, but he got enough credits from enlisting so he did graduate Boot camp was about 2 months long Richard chose to go into the submarine service He was sent to New London, CT to go to sub school Richard took classes on all of the systems of the sub for 3 to 4 months When he was in high school he was in machine shop They trained on WW2 subs He was first in the engine room and then moved into the auxiliary systems room Richard was stationed at New London for about 5 months (12:35) Deployment • • • • • • • • • • Richard shipped out on a troop transport ship to San Diego, Ca and then to Pearl Harbor He joined the Sea Dog sub with about 6 other new men on a 65 person crew They would go out to sea for 4 to 6 weeks at a time About 75% of the time they were on the surface He went to Guam, Okinawa, Australia, China, and Russia In China they were hit by a destroyer and it bent the periscope, so Richard had to make a plug for the hole when they took the periscope off Richard thought that China was dirty and poor, but things were quiet there They looked for mine fields off the coast of Russia for a week The sub didn’t stay in one place for that long They went to Melbourne, Australia and were able to go swimming on the beach �(20:19) Conditions • • • • • • • Richard liked being on a sub There were not any African Americans on board because everything was still segregated The officers were very friendly They would play cards, read, and ate well Sometimes they would be accompanied by other ships Richard was on the sub for over 2 years; most of the time the sub was at ports The sub had pretty much the same crew the whole time (27:51) Discharge • • • • Richard finished his service in December 1948 Richard went home and managed a gas station Then he worked at GM until he retired The Military made him more mature and built up his confidence � 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 Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 JeltemaR Title A name given to the resource Jeltema, Richard (Interview outline and video), 2009 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jeltema, Richard Description An account of the resource Richard Jeltema was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in December 1927. He enlisted in the Navy during high school. Richard chose to go into the submarine service and was stationed in New London, Connecticut. He was assigned to a submarine in Pearl Harbor and went to places like Guam, Okinawa, Australia, China and Russia between 1947and 1948. While working on the sub Richard was a mechanic in the auxiliary systems room. The sub mostly patrolled, but on one occasion searched for mines off the coast of Russia. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Byron Area Historic Museum (Byron Center, Mich.) BCTV Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Navy World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-02-17 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5abced9e60c54f67181530e8eeccf46b.jpg ccf112310a905f7fe7c56e3f03fe9844 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 Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 Merrill_EastmanAlbum_2_1909-1911_016 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1910-07-13 Title A name given to the resource Jenison Park looking east Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of Jenison Park, looking east. Taken by Robert Merrill in Holland, Michigan. Subject The topic of the resource Holland (Mich.) Michigan Parks Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b7a66745ea215e0bc2736060a6b0bdd4.m4v 383bb850d6fc9dd58b65ac321c047f4c https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/04972d69a48528b42796da7289189efe.pdf 371474edf275f985a93aaeefc2b19f2e PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University All American Girls Professional Baseball League Veterans’ History Project Interviewee’s Name: Marilyn Jenkins Interviewed by: Frank Boring Transcribed by: Joan Raymer August 15, 2008 Interviewer: “ Marilyn, if we could begin with your name and where and when were you born?” (02:46:25) I’m Marilyn Jenkins and I was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on September 18, 1934. (02:46:29) Interviewer: ”What was your early childhood like?” (02:46:38) Well, I had one sister who married when I was four years old and so I was like an only child within a sense. Probably that was good because times were touch then coming out of the Depression and anyway, I grew up on the near south side of Grand Rapids near the corner of Cass and Hall Street, which was about a long block and a railroad track from South Field where the “Chicks” played. I had a good childhood. During the war dad would pile the neighborhood kids in the car and take them to the lake swimming etc. I have a lot of fond memories of my childhood. Growing up in the neighborhood, it was a neighborhood then and you knew everybody. There was a lot of porch activity at night and it was a good time. (00:02:46:48) Interviewer: “What did your father do for a living?” (02:47:42) MY father sold meat for Swift and Company and then again coming out of the depression, at night he would cut the meat for Jim Nader at Nader’ss grocery store on Hall Street, which was right around the corner. I kind of fed into that too because I would go and visit him there and he would bring me candy bars. (02:47:43) Interviewer: “How about your mother?” (02:48:05) She was pretty much a housewife except I remember for a short period of time during WWII she was a “Rosie the Riveter” at a local place here in Grand Rapids. I don’t remember what it was called at that time, but I remember her in the bib overalls and the hat. (00:02:48:06) Interviewer: “Just like the picture.” (02:48:23) Just like the picture, right. She didn’t like it, but she did it for a while. (02:48:24) Interviewer: “When was your first exposure to baseball, or sports of any kind?” (02:48:35) 1 �Well, dad was a real sports fan and frequently on Sunday afternoons he would take me to Valley Field to watch the black leagues play over there and I met some of those fellows that played there. In fact I met one just the other day. Anyway, I liked baseball—he taught me to like baseball—he played catch with me and all that. He wanted a boy, but he got a girl and consequently he was doing something in his short life that he lived after I was born. (02:48:38) Interviewer: “This period of time in America was very difficult economically. How did your family fare?” (02:49:11) Well, dad worked two jobs and mother went to work there for a period of time. We were coming out of the Depression and I don’t know that I was anticipated product there. I don’t know that they wanted another child, but dad would—I think we fared—we always had enough to eat. Dad would exchange coupons for meat, gas and all that. For gas he would exchange with neighbors. They would switch back and forth because he had all the meat, because he was in meat. We got along all right, we weren’t wealthy by any means, but we made it. (02:49:15) Interviewer: “You mentioned the black leagues, but were there other baseball related activities going on around you?” 02:50:00) I don’t recall any. (02:50:04) Interviewer: “So the exposure was through your father and seeing these other players?”(02:50:07) I was always interested. I remember I use to—all sports—scour the Sunday papers for pictures. I’m a U of M fan and I would study those and baseball—different seasons and different sports and I really got into it big time. 02:50:11) Interviewer: “Did you have a radio?” (02:50:30) Yes, we had a radio. (02:50:31) Interviewer: “So, did you hear broadcasts?” (02:50:33) Broadcasts of sports. I would sit and cross my legs in front of the radio and watch— listen to them. (02:50:35) Interviewer: “You said watch, this is before TV.” (02:50:40) This was watch—we had one of the upright radios. (02:50:45) 2 �Interviewer: “I understand from an earlier conversation that tragedy struck your family when you were still quite young and in your teens. What actually happened?” (02:50:50) Dad—when I was thirteen, I think the summer when I was thirteen, he was diagnosed with Leukemia and that fall he passed away and of course that changed the whole dynamics of the family. Now there was just mother and I because my sister had married a Navy man and they were stationed in Long Beach. Anyway, there was mother and I and it changed significantly. I remembered we struggled. I think she got a small pension because he had been in WWI, dad had, and he had been injured in WWI, nothing that affected his walking or his thinking or anything, but I think it was frozen feet and a few other things. Anyway, it changed our lives and what it did to me was—I was thirteen and I was going to South High School. I had to cut right through the alley to get to the high school and I got a job. I don’t know if I was thirteen or fourteen, but I got a job up on Division at a sundry store, a Quick Mart today, and I worked there, not during the summer because that was the “Chicks”, but I worked there after school and I think I was making 50 or 40 cents an hour maybe, but it helped. Mother was—one thing I remember is that we had a car, we had a 1939 Chevrolet and if my memory is correct, in 1947 when my dad died, cars were in great demand. It was in the garage, mother didn’t drive, which was not unusual for women at that time and I wasn’t driving yet, and she had them lined up at her door to buy that car. I remember she got a thousand dollars out of it and it was eight years old. Anyway, that helped. A thousand dollars went a long way then. Anyway, I got a job and I worked right through graduation from high school. (02:01:00) Interviewer: “What did you—I realize you were very young at that time and young people don’t always know what they want to do with their lives, but what were you thinking about? What were you going to do?” (02:53:17) What was I going to do? Right. Well, one thing I had to do was I had to play baseball. Anything more secure or substantial than that wasn’t on my money. I knew there was no money to go to college, there weren’t scholarships and all that business and in what? I wasn’t qualified. I was a good student in high school, but anyway, I had to play ball. When the ball league ended in 1954 I went to x-ray school. I became a radiology technologist at Butterworth Hospital and I worked at that until 1972 I think, but in that interim period of time, I also went to Community College, I went nights. (02:53:28) Interviewer: “Lets get back to that a little later. You’re in high school and at what point did you discover that there was a baseball league? That there was a women’s league?” (02:54:39) I have to go way back. In 1945, dad was still alive, and he saw in the Sunday paper that there was going to be a women’s baseball league coming to Grand Rapids and it was going to be at South Field, which was just a short distance from my house. Summers were kind of—I remember playing softball at Jefferson School grounds, but he told me that I should go over to the field and see if I could get a job, doing what I didn’t know at eleven years old. (02:54:41) 3 �Interviewer: “Let me go back. You said you were playing softball?” Yes, I played on the school grounds there. Interviewer: “But there was no team?” No, just the neighborhood boys, and we set up teams and played there a lot. (02:55:56) Interviewer: “Were you the only girl?” I was the only girl. Interviewer: “So, you already felt that you liked the game? Yes, I liked the game. Interviewer: “What position were you playing when you played with the boys?” Any position. It was just a lot of neighborhood kids and we had a good time. Interviewer: “So there was no official high school girls baseball team?” No, in high school at South, our gym activities included square dancing, kickball, badminton, volleyball, but nothing organized. There may have been archery that was organized, but nothing that interested me. 2:56 Interviewer: “So now your father sees that there is a team in Grand Rapids and he suggests to you to go and check this out. Tell us about the day you went there.” Well, I don’t remember the specific day I went there, but I was pretty timid and I met the groundskeeper there, I didn’t know anybody, it wasn’t a case of who you know, I didn’t know anyone, but I just went over there and I met the grounds keeper and his name was “Chick Batts”. Has anybody else mentioned that name to you? He was probably a fifty year old man at that time and he had a little helper by the name of Pete something, I don’t remember, but the interesting thing about “Chick” was that he only had one arm and I was amazed as I watched him throw a ball by switching the mitt between his underarm of the stub to his good arm. Anyway, I asked him if there was any work I could do and he said, “sure”. 2:57 Well, the first job I did was—this is right at the beginning of the league now, they had cut the grass out because South Field was a football field at that time. They cut the grass out and the diamond, the dirt was full of stones so I picked stones out of the diamond. I don’t know how long I did that. Another job I had was cleaning under the bleachers, which was kind of a fun job because you would find nickels and dimes out of people’s pockets. Anyway, in that period of time, it was just a short period of time, and somebody, I don’t recall who it was, asked me if I would be batgirl so, would I be batgirl, of course I would be batgirl. I was privileged to be in that 4 �position. I became batgirl and I was batgirl from the time I was eleven, which was 1945, until 19—through 1951. 2:58 Interviewer: “Back up just a minute. During the period of time that you were picking up the stones and all that, did you actually meet the players?” Absolutely. Interviewer: “Let’s talk about that.” Talk about being in awe, I got into the game—I don’t know who was batgirl in the beginning, but I became batgirl pretty quick. Anyway, I got into the games free, that was Dad’s purpose in sending me over there so, if I worked I could get into the games free. These women, I was just in awe and thunderstruck by them. A bunch of wonderful women, and I remember they were nice to me too, every one of them was. When I saw that Connie Wisnewski back in 1945, it’s too bad that Connie is still not alive because she would be a wonderful interview. She was the pitcher at the beginning there, and Gabby Ziegler and I don’t know, I could go on with lots of names, but I was just awestruck by them. 2:59 Interviewer: “So, I don’t expect you to remember exactly this moment, but when the first games were being played, what was your reaction to seeing these women playing baseball?” Just astounded. Dad would come over to a few games too. He had to make sure that I was in an all right sitting there because he was that kind of a dad. Anyway, it was just amazing, and then to see the people in the stands was another amazing think. Have you been by South Field here? Interviewer: “Yes.” Of course you can’t tell where it was right now. It had a short right field porch, but anyway—when I think back to the period of time when I was batgirl, the box seats that were right around where I was sitting, the prominent people in Grand Rapids were there and they were supporting this at that time. 3:00 The stands would be full and at one time they built more stand out in the left field because it used to be that you could hit the ball forever out there. The women playing ball—it was phenomenal. I think it progressed though, it progressed from a game of softball to a game of baseball, we know that. Interviewer: “Yes, because they were pitching underhand and side hand and eventually overhand.” In 1947 it went sidearm and then overhand, that’s when Beansie came in, she never would have made it if it hadn’t and she says that. 3:01 Interviewer: “She did say that, yes. Did you have any inkling at this point you’re the batgirl there, that you could eventually play baseball?” 5 �Absolutely, and I had a lot of opportunity too, that’s one thing that was given to me. Batting practice sometimes, as I got a little older, I’d throw batting practice and sometimes I would even catch at batting practice, that’s how I ended up being catcher, or I would roam in the outfield. Oh yeah, I had to—if I hadn’t, not that I was that good, but if I hadn’t had the opportunity in 1952, that’s when I graduated from high school, to play, that probably would have been the biggest disappointment of my life. 3:02 Interviewer: “This might be a stupid question, but what does a batgirl do?” Well, a batgirl goes out and gets the bat after the hitter hits, you see them in the major leagues today too, they have batboy on their back, and you got out and get the bat or they bring the umpire balls, or they also, to get into this a little bit more, you shine the shoes, you carry the bats and balls down to the field from the club house, and you run errands, and you’re in very close contact with the ball players and man did I admire them. Interviewer: “From that period, and I realize that we’re going back quite a distance and you were a very young girl at that time, what were some of the things that you saw that really amazed you? I understand that you’re in awe and you’re watching these women, but somebody hit a homerun or something happened.” 3:03 Well, it would hard for me to be specific, but when I saw the home runs, I saw the no hitters, which in softball was not uncommon, and the competition, that was—I think I really developed the competitive spirit then, although I think it’s calmed down as I’ve gotten older. It was phenomenal. I can tell you, but maybe I should wait until later, one of my biggest thrills playing. So you want to hear it now?” Interviewer: “Sure, while you’re in the mood.” At one point, I don’t remember if it was the last year or the year before—1953 or 1954, we converted to a regulation baseball. Now I loved that because my hands were small and I could throw it better and everything. I think my first time at bat, if I remember correctly, with a regulation baseball; I hit one out of the park. Oh man, what a thrill and I don’t remember if it was South Bend or Kalamazoo, it was one of those two cities. That was a thrill. Interviewer: “Going back again to being a batgirl. You were an only child basically, your father died while you were very young, you’re struggling with your mom to survive, but you go to this baseball team and you were batgirl. These were amazing women, did you get a sense of family or a feeling of family?” 3:04 Maybe a little bit, I never thought of it that way, but I was batgirl when dad died and I remember Dotty Hunter, our chaperone, was living in town then, and I remember she came to see me then and man, that meant a lot. They sent me cards etc., and yeah, they were sort of my family. I never thought of it that way. That was my purpose in life at that time other than looking after my mother at home. 3:05 6 �Interviewer: “When did it—did you develop an idea that you wanted to play on the team or did something just happen, how did that transition from batgirl to trying out?” Well, as I said, I had been terribly disappointed, but I was encouraged by many of them along the way too. I had a pretty good arm, not for pitching because I didn’t have good control, but it was something that I had to do. It was a huge part of my life after dad died and maybe even before. You brought up family and that could be it. Interviewer: “Did you consciously, as you’re watching, you have a job to do of course, you’ve the bats and all this and we can’t downplay this because it’s an important part of the game and you have to do these things, but were there moments when you thought—I’m going to do that?” I don’t know if I ever thought that, but I knew that I wanted to play. I had some thrills, Beansie probably told you about her favorite story about her game in Kalamazoo—well I was catching that game and I wanted to do it, in fact, if I had a choice when I graduated from high school of playing for the “Chicks” or going to college, I’d have taken the “Chicks”. Later on I probably would have taken going to college, but I did that anyway. 3:06 Interviewer: “So, what was the actual transition? When did this transition from batgirl to—did you have to tryout?” Yes, I had to go through that and there were others trying out too. It was in the spring of 1952 was when I was graduating from high school and there were other people there trying out. 3:07 Interviewer: “What were the tryouts like?” Well, they put you through the drills. Interviewer: “So you were at the same field you were at before?” South field—at this point the league had changed significantly and it was at South Field. There were local girls trying out. too. Interviewer: “About how many do you think?” About ten. Interviewer: “So, now you got the baseball field, the manager, was he the one that was setting everything up? 7 �Yes. Interviewer: “So what did you have to do to tryout?” They would hit fly balls, you would bat, you would take infield practice, they would talk to you and I think one of the things, as the league was losing its popularity there, which it did significantly we know that, they wanted a local girl, which makes sense to me. They figured I would bring in some people, but I don’t know if I did or not. Getting back there a little bit, I remember when it was in June of 1952 we were playing—I remember my first game well, but anyway, it was a matter of if I was going to play or graduate from high school. Well, I did the smart thing and I graduated. I went through the ceremony. It was a quandary. My first game I played was at Bigelow Field, I’m sure it was, anyway, I remember well the first batter up was Dotty Key of the Rockford Peaches. I was playing center field then and she hit a line drive right smack at me. 3:08 I think the thing was going up and man, am I glad I caught it. If I hadn’t, it would have gone to the fence and been history. That’s just a side there. I had to play, that was the key. I had to have the opportunity and I’m still thankful for it. 3:09 Interviewer: “Your first game and you caught the line drive, wow.” It came smack at me and if it had gone over my head, it would have gone forever at Bigelow Field. 3:10 Interviewer: “How do you feel about your first game?” Nervous, very nervous. Here I was—the gals were all nice to me, they had known me a long time, but here I was having the first opportunity to do what I wanted to do, full uniform, full everything and butterflies. Interviewer: “But, when you caught that ball?” That helped. That helped a lot. That was the big difference there. Interviewer: “ I played little league and so I do understand the camaraderie. I have never played professionally, but I know that when I pitched and I got right into that zone and the guy swung, it was a feeling of excitement and when you caught that ball?” It was a feeling. You hit that—like this rookie catcher for the Tigers the other night, his first hit is that triple that wins the game. He’ll never forget that, he’ll never forget that. If he never gets another hit, he’ll never forget. 3:11 Interviewer: “Tell me about the uniform.” Well, I think the uniform was in the 1940’s a significant part of the drawing of the crowds, the fans that came to the game. As I remember the 40’s, women didn’t wear 8 �shorts, not in public, I don’t know if they wore them, but they didn’t wear shorts in public. You come out with this—a lot of these gals were really attractive, too-- and you come out in this short uniform with these good looking legs and that uniform was it. There whole purpose of developing this league, or beginning this league, that uniform was a significant part of it, as I see it. 3:12 Interviewer: “I grew up in the 60’s when the mini skirt became very popular and this is pretty close to being a mini skirt and this is the 40’s and 50’s.” Right, I mean the legs are bare from up here to the top of your socks and you know it’s silly to talk about that today, isn’t it? It’s history I know, not that I wear shorts that much anymore, but what you see the girls in today. Interviewer: “Then it was significant, because it was something you didn’t see normally. Rosemary talked about how she was embarrassed to come out.” I sensed that because I had the experience before, you’re embarrassed. Interviewer: “What about as a practical, this is the part that always amazed me, because I’ve seen pictures and film footage of girls, I should say women, sliding into a base. Now, the men had these long protected pants. What was that like?” 3:13 You know, I think it was something that—it wasn’t pleasant and I had some pretty good “strawberries”, as we called them, but it was expected of us. That was—I think and I can say this with a reasonable amount of certainty too, that if you would have put these women in 1945, in a pant, forget it, it wouldn’t have worked. That’s the way I see it. I would have been easier on their legs—I think that was—I’ve heard Dotty Hunter talk about this. That was the magic. Phil Wrigley was really sharp and his advisors there, the way they put things together. The movie depicted that well too. 3:14 Interviewer: “We’ll talk about that a little later. So, you got through your first game. What was the reaction of your fellow teammates to the fact that you caught that ball?” I don’t know that they reacted because they expected me to do it. That’s what I was out there for. I wasn’t any hero. They’re pros and they were good ball players. I wish there was more footage, film footage, of some of those games. 3:14 Interviewer: “But, the cameras were there on occasion, right?” They were there on occasion, right. I remember seeing the only motion picture, so to speak, it was the Kalamazoo Klouters, I’m sure you’re aware of that aren’t you? Interviewer: “We have a whole list of all the teams, yes.” It’s one that Kalamazoo put out and that’s the one thing we’ve seen in the last few years here, but there wasn’t a lot. There were stills, but think back to what film was like then. 9 �My colored pictures that I took in the early fifties are kind of faded. 3:15 Interviewer: “ So, lets go through some of the games you played. You got through the first one, and I imagine your confidence level must have gotten better, so what were the other games like?” Well, I played that first game in center field, but I actually was a catcher, I had been made into a catcher, and one of the first games I caught, Marge Silvestri was pitching and I’m not exaggerating, this was overhand, she had a drop ball that dropped 8-12 inches and of course I didn’t have any experience calling a game so to speak, so she called the game from the mound and told me what she was going to throw, and we won. That was a big thrill too, catching, I came through it pretty good. I don’t have any trouble with my knees so to speak and the only thing I have is a crooked finger right here that was dislocated and never put back in, but I loved catching once I got into it. 3:16 Interviewer: “I never could understand it myself. I was a pitcher.” You’re part of the game. With every pitch you’re part of the game. Interviewer: “What were some of the games like? You quoted one already.” I have a problem pulling that out. They were competitive. I don’t think I specify any particular games. I can’t. Interviewer: “Well, who were the main rivals?” Oh, the main rivals, toward the end—Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne always had a good team, Rockford always had a good team, I think those were the main rivals as I remember. Interviewer: “The one game that Beans was talking about, you were catching. Let’s go into detail about that particular game.” Well, here’s the deal that happened. Mamie Redman was pretty much the regular catcher and I never—my statistics—I caught a lot of games, but Mamie would go back to college when the playoffs started, so I was thrown in as the catcher. She was much more experienced than I was and I tell her to this day—“Mamie, I could hit better and run faster”. 3:17 So, Mamie went back to college and I was thrown in to be the catcher and it was a championship game in the playoffs that year that Beansie pitched and it was in Kalamazoo and it was forty degrees. It was really cold, really cold. Anyway, and I don’t want to take away from her story, but she struck out that last batter and we won it. That was probably both of our biggest thrills. Interviewer. “What about the tension? That was the playoffs, what did you experience?” 10 �A lot of tension. The one thing that I always thought and I still think to this day, catcher’s gloves were hard to break in and we used the regular catcher’s glove—hard to break in and they were expensive. The first one I bought, which we had to buy ourselves, burned up in the fire at Bigelow and I had to buy another one. 3:18 Well, it wasn’t broken in and Beansie thought the ball popped out of my mitt too much. I had a crease in it and in fact, that glove is in the museum here in town now and you can still see that crease. When they had that exhibit I noticed it and I could never work that out. They weren’t as flexible as today’s. Anyway, that three-two pitch that she threw, there was a lot of tension. Beansie was kind of nonchalant on the mound, tall, both she and Connie Wisnewski probably were two of the taller ones in the league. Anyway, she was nonchalant and she fired it and it stuck in my glove. That ball is in Cooperstown today, right where it should be. 3:19 Interviewer: “What were the crowds like when you first started?” They were phenomenal. 10,000 people at South Field, I don’t know where they put them all, but going back, that’s wartime again. Tickets were cheap, people didn’t have cars, but it was on the near south side and a lot of people could walk to the games, including me. Anyway, it really, really was—I think it hit its real popularity in the late 40’s after the war, but then as cars became more available and television hit the scene, it had an affect on it. I think historians say that television and availability of the auto, really changed the success of the league. 3:20 Interviewer: “Just a quick question, how much was your salary working as a professional?” I think it was fifty-five dollars a week, which wasn’t bad. Interviewer: “That was a lot of money back then.” It was a lot of money back then, yes. Interviewer: “And that was helping to supplement your family, your mother?” Right. Keep me going. As you get a little older and in your teens, you need things. You think you do anyway. Interviewer: “What did you do with your money?” Well, I don’t think I had that much, I’m sure. While I was playing, my mother had remarried, so I had a stepfather, so my money I used for myself. Whatever I needed. I think I bought a car. A hundred dollar whopper. Interviewer: “While you were playing as a professional baseball player, did you get an opportunity for travel?” 3:21 11 �Yes we did, we traveled a lot on road trips. One thing I will say—even when I was batgirl, after my dad died Dotty Hunter was a remarkable woman, she was a Canadian, I’m sure you know more about her maybe than I do—anyway, she was out chaperone and I think in the summer of 1948, she took me on a road trip and I think it was to Racine, Wisconsin. Now I hadn’t, we didn’t travel back then, and the one thing I remember about it—I was there and somebody famous died. She took care of me—in 1948 I was fourteen. I had a room in a hotel, with a cardboard suitcase with stickers on it. It was a wonderful experience. 3:22 Interviewer: “Later on you’re playing professionally, do you travel also?” We traveled either by bus or the last couple years, I think we were in these cars and on the side of one of the cars it said, “Here come the Grand Rapids Chicks”. Interviewer: “So, during that period of time then, it was the first time you had been outside Grand Rapids?” Well, very far outside Grand Rapids. When my dad died in 1947, he was buried in Allendale, but no we didn’t do that—you didn’t have drive-in, you didn’t have McDonald’s, you didn’t have all that stuff. Interviewer: “Did you travel out of the country?” No, I never did. Interviewer: “I know they had the American and the Cuban leagues.” I think Beansie did. 3:23 Interviewer: “You had mentioned earlier about the crowds being huge, 10,000 people. Did you notice the drop off?” Absolutely, I noticed it to the point where, as 1952 was approaching, I was thinking as the crowds were dropping off, I might never have the opportunity to play because they might end the league and by 1954 we could really see that coming. One of the things I remember, was one of my last paychecks was handed out to me in one dollar bills. That tells you a lot. That even told me a lot as a kid because I was only nineteen when this was all over. 3:24 Interviewer: “I know that when we interviewed Rosemary, she was taken completely by surprise of course and she only played at the last.” Yes, she was only there the last three months or so and that was the last season. No, I wasn’t taken by surprise at all. There were rumblings about this—they tried different cities, but each city had its core fan base. There were fan clubs and all that and it didn’t surprise me, really at all. I could see it coming. 12 �Interviewer: “Well, if you did see it coming, were you thinking about alternatives?” 3:25 Probably, quietly—what I did during the years that I played—in the winter I would work at Wilson athletic goods—I think that was the only place I worked. It was a job you could get making golf clubs, putting grips on them—a dirty job, a dirty job, standing in a spot where the glue would drip and your shoes would be stuck to the floor, but when I think back on that, it was piecework and it was good money—good money. When it was over with I had to do something and I had been encouraged—I was a good student in high school and I had been encouraged to do something. Well, Beansie got into x-ray, I don’t know how she did, but she encouraged me and I got into it and actually worked at it—I started in 1955 with my training, that went through 1957 and then I became an RT, a Registered Technologist, and then after that I started going to night school and then I while I was going to night school, I worked for Dr. Stonehouse and Dawson, right over here in the Medical Arts building. I completed Community College and then I went back to Butterworth Hospital and I got into the teaching program there, of x-ray students. 3:26 I had a degree then etc. I probably shouldn’t say this, but I got very disillusioned in the 70’s and I might have been an activist too in the 70’s, but I just was dismayed with patient care. That was after Medicare had come in and the situation kind of changed, but we won’t go into that. Anyway, then I left that and I went to work for a person injury attorney in town. Bill Reamon, he has passed away, but he was one of the hot shots in town and I had a lot of respect for him. I worked for him from 1972 through 1977 and then that firm split and then I did a lot of work for other attorneys because I had learned to put together a settlement brochure that was quite popular with them at that time. 3:27 I worked for Bill up through 1988 part time, but also in 1981 I started doing estate sales in town. I was always interested in antiques so, I was doing estate sales and I am still doing them today. In fact I’m working on a big one right now. 3:28 Interviewer: “Looking back on the last year, 1954, you said that you heard the rumbling and you kind of figured that this was starting to happen and you started to think about what you are going to do next. How did it actually happen to you? How did you physically know? Was it a letter? How did you know that it was over with?” I think it was through the press. I don’t remember a letter or anything. 3:29 Maybe, but I don’t know. If there was one—in 1978 I donated all my stuff to the public museum here and it would be in there if there was. I don’t remember that. Interviewer. “What was your reaction?” Well, I expected it. You can’t deny what you expect can you? It wasn’t the end of the world for me. I was nineteen years old and I had to do something with my life anyway— the funs not going to go on forever, right? Maybe, if you get the right job. Anyway I just went on. Beansie was terribly disappointed and she expressed that to you, and I’m sure a 13 �lot of the others were too. It was like—it was a fact of life, but she stayed here and she has done well here in town. 3:29 Interviewer: “Looking back, how do you think the specific experience of baseball affected you and the person you are today?” Well, I think probably significant to that was and to how it affected me was that it made me competitive, but I think in a good way. It also taught me winning and losing and winning isn’t everything. The way you lose can mean a lot too. I said that before about winning and losing and competitive—having the opportunity to meet all these wonderful women, who at that time that the league ended, we had no idea that all this would be happening. It was over, it was over, but as out association got going and we got—I only saw the local people here after that, but when the association got going, we have had more fun at these reunions than you can believe. 3:30 I wish some of you could have been at the reunion in Fort Wayne in, I want to say, 1984. There was more enthusiasm there and more good times. There were other ones too, we had a wonderful one in Grand Rapids in 2001 which Dolly Wisniewski was the chair person of and she said we helped her, but I don’t know if we did that much, but basically it taught me a lot. It taught me how to travel, how to pack a suitcase, which I don’t know today, how to eat out, because we didn’t eat out, I didn’t anyway. My family didn’t and yours probably too. Anyway, it matured me in a lot of ways. 3:31 Interviewer: “ If you look back on that time when girls, women didn’t really have a whole lot of options. You could basically become of course a mother, a homemaker, you could become a nurse, perhaps a teacher, but there weren’t a whole lot of other things available. After the women’s professional baseball that seemed to change and there are baseball teams and there are girl’s sports and whatnot. How much do you think your experience and the experience of the baseball league had on girls doing things today?” 3:32 Well, I’m led to believe that it had a great effect. My personal experience or contacts haven’t shown me, other than what I have read or seen, but I guess it’s like Title IX or whatever, and all this and I have a good friend who taught in college and she is a good example of this. She had the opportunity to go to college right out of high school and she could either be a nurse, a teacher or homemaker. Well, she wanted to be an engineer, but women didn’t do that so, she became a teacher and had a successful career. She has enlightened me about a lot of the changes because she taught at the local college here. 3:33 I see changes—I’m watching this Olympic team and I’m watching even some sandlot stuff and there’s a lot of women out there that could be playing baseball and they have tried it, but it doesn’t catch on and I’ve said, I don’t think it ever will. It might in another hundred years or something and I want to stress something—there were good ball players, but there are today too, but the skirts, the uniform, the timing, it’s in a little pocket there of history where it fit in perfectly and I don’t know where your going to find another pocket like that. You could make some changes that would be significant, but this was wartime and wartime then was a lot different than wartime now--much different. 3:34 14 �Interviewer: “Penny Marshall decided to make the movie called “A League of Their Own”. How were you contacted about that? How did you find out about it?” I wasn’t personally, but June Peppis in Kalamazoo, she had started the players association and we were getting together someplace and having a great time once a year or twice a year. Anyway, she had these two writers come over one year, I don’t remember their names, but they developed the storyline, never dreaming it would lead into this, but it did. I don’t know how Penny Marshall got involved myself, but I do remember in Cooperstown in 1988 when they recognized us, that Penny Marshall was there. What a brilliant mind. 3:35 She’s brilliant and the way she put together that movie and all the little twists and innuendos and everything else—it’s phenomenal—even to “There’s no crying in baseball”, I don’t think anybody had said that before had they to your knowledge? Anyway, we didn’t even dream at that point yet before the movie, what it meant to other people as whole, as a unit there. Interviewer: “I know and I’ve been told this by other baseball player, the storyline itself was very much fictional account, but overall, did the film express, did it show the experience?” I think it showed the experience beautifully, but I think that the experience that it depicted was more at the beginning of the league. I’m not sure why I say the, I just feel that way. I think it did an exceptional job. Then to get gals that could play ball and all— it was wonderful. 3:36 It was wonderful and it’s going to be a movie that’s going to be around forever I’m sure. It’s going to be a good fill in forever, isn’t it? Interviewer: “I think so and it kind of becomes like the 1940’s classics—it has the flavor of that period and it doesn’t have all the stuff you see in so many movies today. It stands on it’s own. How did the movie affect the association, affect you and the association?” 3:37 The movie had a fantastic effect on the association, not just monetary, although there was some there, but it found players that were off in somewhere, although there had been great searches trying to locate people. It strengthened the association and almost gave the association a purpose. I sometimes struggle with that—what’s the association s purpose right now? Well, it’s to perpetuate the league, but I’m one of the youngest. Rosemary, I said, is younger than I, but I was one of the youngest that was around from the beginning. It isn’t going to be many more years—the associate members are beginning to take over control, which has to be, but they’ve been around long enough where they’re picking up the stories etc. It’s hard to put into a few words what the experience meant to each and every one of them. To Beansie it meant getting out of Okalahoma, to me, I’ve always been here. I went to South High School, played on the same South thing and the connection with Jerry Ford—I’m into Grand Rapids history. 3:38 Interviewer: “That’s why you get along so well with Gordon Olson. He has a love for this place.” 15 �Yes, he’s done a lot for us too. There are a lot of people who have stepped up and really made us feel like somebody again as we get into our older years. Interviewer: “I think one of the things that I found as a documentary film maker, I’ve done films about the Flying Tigers, film about the Red Arrow and during the experience itself you know you’re doing something and in your case your playing baseball and your enjoying it and all that, but you don’t think in terms of what it is going to mean fifty years from now.” 3:39 Absolutely not ever had a thought that way. Interviewer: “But at the same time I think it’s important that historians do take the tie and sit back say, “Guess what, this had an effect and this happened because of what you did during that period.” A time when you were just a teenager.” I was just a teenager, but I’ve had a good life since. I haven’t—I participated in the meeting and the association and the reunions etc., but it hasn’t encompassed my life like some others. Interviewer: “But it’s an important part of your life.” I haven’t forgotten and I never will. I know that dad would have been proud of me had he lived to see me playing. 3:40 Interviewer: “I think it’s important that he encouraged you to begin with.” That was and the boys in the neighborhood added to it too. I remember about ten days before dad died, it was in November, he had me out between the houses in our neighborhood where I grew up, throwing a football. Interesting—that was almost his last day of consciousness. He had just come home from the hospital and he was built-up a little bit. Interviewer: “But your mom got a chance to see your success.” She wasn’t interested in baseball, not at all. I think she knew though—one thing she said, I remember and it was when I graduated from Community College, she said, “You’re the first person in the family to get a degree.” It was only an Associates Degree, but it was a degree, it was putting two years together. I think she was, but I don’t think she ever came over to see a game. I’m not sure about that, maybe she did. 3:41 Interviewer: “Do you have other family?” No, I have cousins that I don’t know—not really. Interviewer: “I’m an only child also.” You miss a lot. 16 �Interviewer: “You do, but on the other hand there’s a comfort level being by yourself that have families don’t have.” That is true. You think a little differently. Interviewer. “I think so and if you actually take time to improve yourself and your independence, it strengthens you, but I have very close friends.” I do too, a lot of wonderful friends and that means a lot. Interviewer: “Are there any thoughts that you want to add?” No, I can’t think of any unless you want to ask me more questions. I feel like I did a decent job for you. 3:42 Interviewer: “This has been a wonderful time.” Do you tell everyone that? Interviewer: “No, but each one is that unique.” We are all different, right. Get Dolly going and you will enjoy her. Interviewer: “Thank you very much and good-bye” Thank you Frank, it was nice meeting you. 3:42 17 �18 � 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 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was started by Philip Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, during World War II to fill the void left by the departure of most of the best male baseball players for military service. Players were recruited from across the country, and the league was successful enough to be able to continue on after the war. The league had teams based in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, and operated between 1943 and 1954. The 1954 season ended with only the Fort Wayne, South Bend, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Rockford teams remaining. The League gave over 600 women athletes the opportunity to play professional baseball. Many of the players went on to successful careers, and the league itself provided an important precedent for later efforts to promote women's sports. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/484">All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Collection, (RHC-58)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Sports for women World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives Oral history Baseball players--Minnesota Baseball players--Indiana Baseball players--Wisconsin Baseball players--Michigan Baseball players--Illinois Baseball for women--United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-58 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-10-02 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 RHC-58_MJenkins Title A name given to the resource Jenkins, Marilyn M. (Interview transcript and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jenkins, Marilyn Description An account of the resource Marilyn Jenkins was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1934. She grew up in Grand Rapids and played baseball with family and friends, and played softball with the neighborhood kids. When the Grand Rapids Chicks arrived in 1945, she talked her way into a job with the team and quickly became their batgirl, a job she held through the 1951 season. She played as a batgirl from 1945 thru 1951. Upon graduating high school in 1952, she became eligible to play in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League and went on to play with the Grand Rapids Chicks from 1952 to 1954 as a catcher. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) Video recordings All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives Baseball for women--United States Baseball Sports for women World War, 1939-1945 Baseball players--Michigan Women Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-07-01 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/484">All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Collection, (RHC-55)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fff728a48a1e7b6ba12fd7e9dc0a17a0.pdf a0c536a3974cf4fc66f9760911c2a934 PDF Text Text Jenna Sobaski On March 12th, 2020, I was on my way to a talk that was being hosted by my WRT 430 professor Oindrila Mukherjee. It was an opportunity to have a skype call with Aatish Taseer, a writer and journalist who had been published in Time, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times. His career greatly interested me as it is exactly something I would like to do once I am done at Grand Valley. I was on the phone with my mom as I walked to the building. I had wanted to update her on the situation. One of my professors had warned us that it was only a matter of when the school will close because of the coronavirus, not if. I had just reached the door of the classroom the skype session would be held in when I got the email stating that classes would be moved to online until at least March 29th. The skype session took my mind off of it, but it ended quickly. I ended up calling my mom again to further update her. I was kinda scared. It’s really strange when school gets canceled for something that is not weather-related. Yes, I am a twenty-two year old woman, but it never hurts to call my mom when I am unsure of something. I was very stressed about the uncertainty of everything, so I decided going back to my hometown for a bit would be nice (at the time, I had no idea I would end up being quarantined there for more than a month). I was supposed to report to my job at nine the next morning, but classes were canceled. Normally when classes are canceled I am not supposed to come to work. I emailed my boss quickly, asking what I should do. He had emailed me previously (a little before the university shut down) to see if I had a way to do some work remotely, which I do have. So I wondered what he would need me to do to be able to work from home. I blame my mom for telling me to sleep in (not really, as I stated earlier. I am an adult. I need to take responsibility for my choices.), but I ended up waking up at eleven in the morning to an email from my boss asking me to come in as soon as I could. I arrived flustered as heck, which I think he found funny. I received a flash drive with a few files for me to work on while the university was closed. I finished up some in person work that needed to be finished. The office was generally calm. This was the complete opposite of how I was feeling. After work adrenaline really kicked in. I clean when I am stressed. So I cleaned up my room at my off-campus apartment, and spent the majority of the day packing up some things to go leave (again, I was only expecting to be there for a week or so). I also tend to drastically change my hair during stressful points in my life as a means to gain some semblance of control. So, I put my hair in two pigtails and hacked away. I went from mid length hair to a bob! I’d always wanted to see how I looked though, and it ended up looking really cute. I decided to leave after my therapist appointment on Friday the 13th. This appointment actually ended up being virtual. This worked out great for me, as I normally have a thirty minute commute (and the appointment was at nine thirty in the morning). I was able to sleep in. But I had hardly slept anyway. As soon as it was done I loaded up my many, many, houseplants into my ford escape, named Dean and started my hour and twenty minute drive to my hometown. It felt like I was in an apocalypse movie as I drove the empty highway in the dark. I listened to a lot of Robyn to make myself feel better. �***** The minute I came home, I deeply regretted not bringing my bulletin board that I had decorated, as my childhood bedroom really does not reflect my current style. But still I made do. April 6th I really wish people would follow social isolation. My sister and I went for a drive last thursday (April 2nd) and she saw a few people she knew who were breaking quarantine. My sister and I only took a drive to watch the sunset. We live very near the coast of Lake Michigan, and had no intention of even leaving our cars. I had not left the house since March 14th, I was going for a drive, damn it. It frustrates me though, to see crowds of people out and about and people who do not live together hanging out. My parents are both in their sixties, and my father has been battling cancer for over five years, with a preexisting lung condition as well. They are both extremely at risk for this virus, and I’ll be furious if they get sick (or even die) because someone did not want to stay home and follow social distancing. ***** My parents, unfortunately, seem to have the news playing nonstop on the family room TV. I understand that being informed is important, but I also disagree with their choice of news outlet. ***** A personal plus to this quarantine is I have been able to spend more time writing and creating. That has been refreshing. Otherwise my days are filled with work, homework, taking my dog for walks, and chores. A while back I got the email that Grand Valley would be moving to online for the rest of the semester. This was partially my decision to drop two of my four classes. I was just not learning well online in my document design class, and my other class was belly dancing, which is very hard to do online. I decided to retake these classes the following year to really get the full experience I had wanted. I am glad that the university made the decision to be remote, because the only way to get through this is to slow the spread and stay home. ***** My family and I have been playing a lot of games and watching movies together. It's been nice to spend a little more time with them. I don’t even spend this much time with them while I am on break from school. I am fortunate. I know a lot of people are a lot worse off. April 8th Mom asked me to help her plant peas and spinach today. This is the first time I’ve seen a garden in our back yard since I was a child. My birthday was a few days ago. It was definitely a quiet birthday, but it was lovely. My mom made a cake, and I got the self inflating sleeping pad that I’ve really wanted for my camping trips. All my friends mentioned that they were sorry we couldn’t celebrate together. I’m hopeful that soon I can see them again. �I don’t know if I’d said it before but I will say it again. It is so easy to forget what is going on in the world here. There are so few houses on my road. Even my dad mentioned that it's like living in a bubble out here while we were taking our dogs for a walk. Except he now keeps a gun near by, in case of what, I’m not sure. I unfriended someone on facebook because he was ranting about not being able to go to a movie or to a restaurant. I felt he was being an ass because, you know, people have it way, way, worse. I just did not want to see that today. Social media helps me remember what’s going on in the “outside world” as my mom keeps referring to it as. That, and my parents' habit of keeping the news playing constantly. My mom has now taken to Youtube to watch song parodies about the corona situation. It drives me crazy. I hate it. I saw on Facebook that a lot of students in this situation are really struggling at being productive and getting anything done. They just can’t focus when everything feels like the end of the world, and a few of them seem to have professors that aren’t as understanding as mine have been. I don’t have this problem, but maybe the opposite. I am doing a lot but there just is not enough time in the day to do what I need. A family friend of ours works as a nurse in the next county over. Two of her coworkers have the virus. The friend herself is asmatic. I can tell my parents are worried. My mom is also really worried about her brother (my uncle/my godfather). She's worried he isn’t taking good care of himself during this time. It’s his birthday tomorrow. Something that helps make me feel better is taking care of my plants. I have at least fifty, which doesn’t look like as much as it sounds, I promise. The one I named Desdemona has finally produced flowers again in nearly a year, and my bird of paradise is sprouting a new leaf. Normally when I move my plants they get stressed and get really sick or die, but right now that isn’t happening and that makes me really happy. ***** A week ago I got glass in my foot. My dad spent a good twenty minutes trying to dig it out, followed by a dose of rubbing alcohol. My parents are terrified of being near hospitals because of the possibilities of getting the virus there. Thankfully my foot is fine. ***** I’m surprised that my depression has just now decided to show up. April 9th I see a lot of people quarantined with their significant others. I wonder what that would be like. I still have my old skateboard that I got in middle school and decided I should try to learn how to ride it because I never did. Today was out of the ordinary. My mom made us all go into town with her while she ran errands so we could visit my uncle for his birthday. We stood outside his house with a “happy Birthday” sign and sang to him. It was awkward but I could tell he enjoyed it and that made me happy. Then my mom tripped and fell on the grass while trying to give my uncle the mail from his mailbox. The neighbor peaked out her door and just watched that. It was quite the tumble and was hilarious after we saw she was okay. �I am definitely starting to miss my independence. I don’t regret coming here though. My mom always said that times of emergency are when you want to be surrounded by those who would support you, and support me my family does a lot. It has just become very apparent that I have changed a lot since leaving for college four years ago. My mom likes to make sure I’m being productive with my time here, and I have to remind her that I am twenty three, and I’ve been managing my time very well for a long time. I’m bummed that I can’t go get take out or drive-through food. My family and I have decided that it's for the best (because of my dad and both my parents being over sixty) if we just make our own food. And I agree. When this is all over I’m going to go have the best day at McDonalds. I mentioned earlier that this was a much needed break. One of the only real good things about this is that for a long time I was thinking of taking a semester off for a break. Now I really don’t feel the need to. I feel that this quarantine has really given me a new appreciation for life as I knew it. Also, we got an emergency alert on our phones today that the stay at home order was extended to April 30th. I will have to leave before May 4th to move my things out of my apartment. I still don’t know what my living situation is going to be like for summer and the school year. The laker store hasn’t posted textbooks for the spring semester classes, which I get why. April 10th I am definitely starting to feel more irritable as a result of this quarantine. I only keep in touch with one or two of my friends right now, which is fine. Yeah, I’m really just feeling icky today. Icky on the inside. So much is just messed up in the world, and people are in so much pain. I am still being creative and productive today despite my internal feelings of irritability. Today is just one of those days where I am excited to just get everything done that I need to get done and go to bed. Maybe I’ll work in my sketchbook some more. That always makes me feel better. My greatest form of self-care is creation. I’ll draw things from my dreams, recreate art I found on youtube(that was first found on Tik Tok). I used to just paint rocks and leave them around for people to find, but I can't do that anymore. I redownloaded Bumble as a way to just talk to other people, but quickly deleted it. I’m just not interested in dating right now and probably won’t be for a while. I started working out regularly again. Nothing insane, but I go for a nice long run on our family’s elliptical. I can’t wait for gyms to open again so I can start doing good weight training. I might have to start wearing my glasses soon. My eye doctor may not be refilling contacts right now. That will really bother me. I don’t like wearing glasses at all. And my friend Zachary said that my glasses make me look like the pizza guy from Booksmart. That doesn’t bother me as much as I hate not having a full range of vision. There are flowers starting to bloom around despite it being so cold. I’ve pressed a few to add to my sketchbook. Maybe my sketchbook is turning into an art journal now. The stove is so full of old food it's burning that the house is full of smoke. I wonder if people will look back on this and read it like those My America diary books I read as a kid. �May 5th Things have been busy for me lately. I had to finish up my winter semester, and had a load of papers to write. A small bit of tension is running in my family due to us being around each other so much but overall it is not bad. I got my mom to buzz my hair into an undercut. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and right now seems to be a great time to do it since no one will see me. My head feels so much cooler too. I had to move out of my allendale apartment. It really wasn't so bad and took maybe a total of five hours to pack everything up and put it in the cars. I'm sad to have lost a place to live there, but I signed a new lease for august once the school year starts. My friends and I have been doing weekly video calls where we can catch up and play games. It's been nice to reconnect. I’m getting really antsy to travel again, so I’ve taken to making a vision board of places I have been and places I want to go. It has been very therapeutic for me. It keeps me positive to focus on fun things like that. My mom also had me cut her hair. My dad thought it was hilarious and kept taking pictures. She thought I was taking too much off but once she saw what I did she liked it. I am very fortunate to be where I am. This quarantine has turned more into a nice break. We are so far removed from the world out here. The stay at home order has been extended to May fifteenth. May 6th I learned the skill of embroidery. We are going to the nearby state park today. I will report back on how that went. I have made travel plans for when quarantine is over. My sanity is based totally on if these travel plans will happen. I definitely will adhere to social distancing for as long as medical professionals tell us to. I am just hoping the world is back to normal soon so these travels will happen. May 10th We took a very long walk in our state park. It’s a beautiful trail. I collected so many shells. I was surprised at how many people were on that trail. There were many large groups of people too. My sister saw some people she knew that were not following social distancing. I’ve taken to bringing my dogs out onto the porch to drink my coffee with me in the mornings. It’s been a nice time to sit and watch the nature in my backyard and to be away from my phone. I’m so removed from the chaos. I feel I should speak on the protests in Lansing, but I’m not sure I am ready yet. My contacts came in the mail. We saw the palest deer that we have ever seen. It was almost white. Mother’s day went well. We made dinner for my mom instead of taking her out. I started an herb garden in some old jars. I’m excited for them to grow. �The summer classes I’m taking are going well. I can tell I am at risk of being overwhelmed if I don't work hard. May 20th I have become a coffee drinker again. I am drinking more coffee in a day than I ever have. I think it's because I stay up late, only to take melatonin to fall asleep, only to need to wake up early, thus needing coffee. May 21st My parents went to the store this morning. At six in the morning. My mom says shopping used to be fun but now it's too stressful. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-21_SobaskiJenna Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sobaski, Jenna Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-05-21 Title A name given to the resource Jenna Sobaski Journal Description An account of the resource Journal of GVSU student Jenna Sobaski's experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students 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/035dd9ec4996646df9df97cab29de420.mp4 95e8619f52b08c41b878a2b2fb0117e7 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d686200e48deeaecfed7b1a2f5b4eedc.pdf f084e88e97b90403e31204167e7e292d PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Stuart Jennings (1:00:29) (00:05) Background Information • Born in Benton Harbor, Michigan on 03/28/1926 • Stuart was born into a normal middle class family • The depression had struck while he was growing up and it taught him to share, do things on his own, and treat people well • He was the Lieutenant of Safety School in fifth grade and First Lieutenant in sixth grade • Stuart played baseball in elementary school and was on the track team in high school • He graduated from high school in 1943 (2:20) The Air Corps in Texas • Stuart was a cadet in the Air Corps and became barracks corporal • He served in this position for 2.5 years • Stuart helped wounded patients from hospital to hospital by flying them in a C-47 (4:40) Building Houses • After serving he built houses because there was a housing boom in the US • Stuart found it interesting that you could take a pile of lumber and turn it into a house • He took a break from building houses and traveled to Mexico (6:00) GM • Stuart was a foreman in Dayton, Ohio for 4 years • Yet they eventually asked him to work third shift, so he quit and moved to Florida • He eventually retired and built a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina • Afterwards he and his wife moved back to Florida because they got lonely living alone in the mountains (7:00) Marriage • Stuart and his second wife had six children combined • Together they had nine grandchildren • All six of their children have successful jobs • They taught them to work hard, be honest, and to give 110% (10:30) Working in Florida • Stuart was the manager of a RV manufacturing company • He was the chairman of the research and development product planning committee • He was able to buy a forty foot yacht in Key Largo �(14:15) Hobbies • Stuart enjoyed working with wood • His father and grandfather both worked in the wood business • In his past, he has built 12 airplanes, 16-foot long canoes, furniture (19:20) Experimental Air Association • This group put on yearly air shows and many pilots were volunteers and those who had retired from the service (24:00) Life in the Masonic Home • Stuart and his wife could not easily take care of themselves anymore • Their kids did not feel that they were ready to move there (28:30) His Second Marriage 1959 • His wife, Dorothy, is from Lansing • She was a singer in many different Michigan bands • They met through her brothers (36:15) The Depression • The Depression effected many different people in very different ways • It taught many people his age important values (41:50) The Masonry (42:15) Relatives in the Service • In 1766 Stuart’s family immigrated from England to Virginia • He had two relatives that fought in the Revolutionary War • His two grand fathers fought in the War of 1812 and in the Civil War • His dad was in World War One, he was in World War Two, and two of his sons were in Viet Nam • He has a grandson in the Marines stationed in Africa (50:15) Air Force Training • Stuart was not drafted; he enlisted because he liked planes • Speaking of the men he transported to different hospitals, Stuart said that “some men were wounded so badly, it was pathetic.” • Stuart never went overseas • He thought that joining the service was a good experience, but he would never repeat it • He also feels that every many should have to serve some time in his life � 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 Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 JenningsS Title A name given to the resource Jennings, Stuart (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jennings, Stuart Description An account of the resource Stuart Jennings was born during the beginning of the Depression in Michigan. He said that growing up through that taught him to share, to do things on his own and to treat people well. After graduation Stuart became a cadet in the Army Air Corps in Texas and eventually a Barracks Corporal in the Air Corps. Stuart never experienced combat or went overseas. His job was to fly wounded men back and forth from hospitals in the United States. After his time in the service, Stuart got involved in the post-war house building boom after the war. The business allowed him to make a good living and travel. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Collins Sr., Charles E. (Interviewer) Collins, Carol (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Air Force Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-05-26 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0333a8207d88261894dc3b17656c6964.jpg c55a5d66fa8df23c133c4a1413410268 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 Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 Merrill_FilmPacks_V_13_012 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938-08-09 Title A name given to the resource Jere F. Hall stone, Forest Hills Cemetery Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of the gravestone of Jere F. Hall which reads, "Jere. F. Hall died July 20 1870 aged 52 yrs." Subject The topic of the resource Boston (Mass.) Gravestones Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7b90c8422bfb840ef601c76c4c48dec6.jpg 3c04c1a8742876ee3a926cd8bcc6f6a4 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 Faces of Grand Valley Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource University Communications Description An account of the resource A non-comprehensive collection of photographs of Grand Valley faculty, staff, administrators, board members, friends, and alumni. Photos collected by University Communications for use in promotion and information sharing about Grand Valley with the wider community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960s - 1990s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived GV012-03. University Communications. Vita Files Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copryight Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University College administrators College teachers Colleges and universities -- Faculty Michigan Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 JerkatisJames_Photo01 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Jerkatis, James Description An account of the resource James Jerkatis, WGVC-TV Art Director Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College administrators Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Communications. Vita Files, 1968-2016 (GV012-03) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/abf69a0b21149f8719986ee259cd6902.jpg 933975b42eeedc90582dea0877899448 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 Faces of Grand Valley Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource University Communications Description An account of the resource A non-comprehensive collection of photographs of Grand Valley faculty, staff, administrators, board members, friends, and alumni. Photos collected by University Communications for use in promotion and information sharing about Grand Valley with the wider community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960s - 1990s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived GV012-03. University Communications. Vita Files Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copryight Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University College administrators College teachers Colleges and universities -- Faculty Michigan Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 JerkatisJames_Photo02 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Jerkatis, James Description An account of the resource James Jerkatis, WGVC-TV Art Director Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College administrators Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Communications. Vita Files, 1968-2016 (GV012-03) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0c34fa351ebb81e79c7b5b17ed160257.jpg b2525bd27c5655edba6ff06b2a150037 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 Faces of Grand Valley Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource University Communications Description An account of the resource A non-comprehensive collection of photographs of Grand Valley faculty, staff, administrators, board members, friends, and alumni. Photos collected by University Communications for use in promotion and information sharing about Grand Valley with the wider community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960s - 1990s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived GV012-03. University Communications. Vita Files Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copryight Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University College administrators College teachers Colleges and universities -- Faculty Michigan Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 JerkatisJames_Photo04 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Jerkatis, James Description An account of the resource James Jerkatis, WGVC-TV Art Director Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College administrators Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Communications. Vita Files, 1968-2016 (GV012-03) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c66877a16ee019104e3eb13442a67054.pdf c147e2271c03ea72b369168fa1cdb35b PDF Text Text Jerusalem and Jesus: Déjà Vu Forever? From the series: God In the Mirror of a Human Face Text: Luke 19:42 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan March 28, 1999, Palm Sunday Transcription of the spoken sermon Luke’s portrait of Jesus was written over a half century after the events. By the time he wrote, the Temple at Jerusalem was an ash heap and the city no longer the center of Jewish faith nor of the Jewish Jesus movement. Thus, the words he puts in Jesus’ mouth as he overlooks the city from the Mount of Olives are not prediction but description of the actual situation when Luke wrote. But the core of Luke’s story, as well as that of the other Gospels, is most certainly true; Jesus came to Jerusalem. In the Synoptics he came only once; in John, three times. In any case, Luke, after the birth narratives, the Galilean ministry, puts Jesus on the way to Jerusalem (9:51.) The crisis will build until it spills over in his tears; he weeps for the City. He needed not to be a predictor of future events; any sensitive, insightful person might have known catastrophe was around the corner. In spite of his sense of the inevitable disaster, he entered the City and went to the heart of the religious, spiritual life of his people - the Temple. His coming was peaceful. Mark, followed by Matthew, has overtones of the Messiah King coming to claim his place. Neither Luke nor John present it as such, using instead the images found in Zechariah 9:9-10 of humility, peacefulness, non-apocalyptic, non-political. Jesus acted out symbolically his non-violent protest - he negated the Temple and all it stood for. It had become a den of thieves. The politics of domination and the economics of injustice were all tied up with the Temple as symbolic center, and Jesus’ symbolic action was the climax of his non-violent protest in the name of the God of justice. It was a dangerous, subversive action, for it called in question the legitimacy of the whole structural, religious, political, economic life of the Jewish nation under Roman imperial domination. For this action he was executed as a threat to the safety of the State. So, there Jesus is on the crest of Olivet overlooking the city - weeping, "O Jerusalem, if only you were able to recognize the things that make for peace. ... © Grand Valley State University   �Déjà vu Forever? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   but they are hid from your eyes. Devastation approaches, for your violence in response to Roman violence will bring on greater violence and you will finally be destroyed, the Temple a charred ruin." Yogi Berra said, "Déja vu all over again." Seeing Jesus and Jerusalem, one wonders will it ever be so? Will humankind forever experience déja vu, injustice creating violent reaction leading to violent response, a cycle unending? Is there no hope for the human endeavor, indeed, for the cosmic drama that has incubated the human for 15 billion years and seen its emergence over the last 10,000 years? Philip Hallie, the Jewish philosopher at Ephesus was immersed in Holocaust documents in the 70s. He had grown up in New Lenox, Illinois and, as a young child, had his face smashed in simply because he was Jewish. He had gone to World War II as an American soldier; he had fired 155 mm shells at German troops and had seen the butchered bodies of those along the road that had been slain by the artillery assault, and in the midst of the immersion in the darkness and the evil of Holocaust, he became totally overcome with despair at the evil and darkness and the seeming hopelessness of the human situation, and he said to himself, "If this is the way it is, life is too heavy a burden to bear. What lies will I have to tell to my children to give them any hope which they need like plants need sunshine?" And he went on to write, "I needed to find passionately some ground for hope, lest I succumb to the coercion of despair." In the midst of his studying of the documents of the Holocaust, he came across the story of a French village, Le Chambon, the story of the village that was led by a French Huguenot, French Reformed pastor, André Trocmé. André Trocmé grew up in northern France near the Belgian border, the child of wealth and privilege. He, however, had some early experiences. During the First World War, he hated the Germans, although his mother was German. But, he hated them because he saw the way they were treating Russian prisoners who were slave laborers. Then one day as a seventeen-year-old he saw the German wounded coming down the road in retreat. He saw a man stumbling, led by two others, his head all bandaged, his jaw blown off, and in that moment he knew that this also was a human being whom he could not hate. And then he had an encounter with another German soldier, a man named Kendler who offered him bread, and he said, "I wouldn’t take bread from you if I were hungry because you’re the enemy," and the soldier said, "I’m not the enemy. I’m a Christian. I belong to Jesus. I carry no weapon. I would shoot no one." Kendler eventually came to a religious union meeting with Trocmé, and Trocmé came to a profound experience of Jesus Christ and of Jesus’ non-violent way. Led by this German soldier into an understanding of non-violence, Trocmé wrote, "If Jesus really walked upon this earth, why do we keep treating him as if he were a disembodied, impossibly idealistic, ethical theory? If he was a real man, then the © Grand Valley State University �Déjà vu Forever? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Sermon on the Mount was made for people on this earth, and if he existed, God has shown us in flesh and blood what goodness is for flesh and blood people." Trocmé became a pastor, eventually in Le Chambon in the late 30s, and through the four years of occupation, 1940-1944, when the Germans had occupied France and a provisional French government Nazified France, the Vichy government. Le Chambon became, through Trocmé’s leadership, a city of refuge. The network spread and many Jewish people came to find refuge there, to be hidden there or to be brought over the border to Switzerland. There was a deliberate and conscious resistance on the part of the people of Le Chambon under Trocmé’s leadership. It was not just a willy-nilly kind of thing; it was a deliberate intention to do no harm. He was informed by his own Vichy French government that he must deliver up the refugees, the Jews, and he said, "I don’t know any Jews. I only know human beings." He refused. It is a fascinating story, full of peril and risk, of heroism and dedication and commitment. He, himself, served some time in an internment camp, which was filled with all sorts and conditions of humankind, including some Communist rebels against the French national government and against the Nazis, of course, and he turned the camp almost into a revival meeting. First of all, derided because of his principles of non-violence, but finally through the integrity of his person and the consistency of his witness, breaking through even to some of the officials. The story of Trocmé, a village pastor and the village people is an amazing tale which Philip Hallie researched and finally wrote about in a book, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed. That was in the mid-70s, about thirty years after the events themselves. He was able to meet many of the people and find out exactly what had gone on there in those years of occupation in the early 40s, when this became an oasis of grace through an insistent non-resistance and the determination to do no harm, no matter what the cost. Trocmé was a violent man himself, full of energy, dynamic, ready to burst like a volcano, but Jesus conquered him and kept him in tow, and he was able, through that commitment to the way of Jesus, to contain himself and his own emotions and the power of his person, and was able to lead that village into that kind of consistent witness. He would be called a pacifist and yet he never liked the word because of the nuance of passivity. His mother was German; he spoke German fluently. In 1939 he even writes about debating whether he should infiltrate the entourage of Hitler in order to assassinate him, in order to stave off the catastrophe that obviously lie ahead. But he decided No, because he said, "I must not be separated from Jesus." I said last week that these are very complex matters. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in 1944, likewise a brilliant and strong person who was also a pacifist in his conviction as to the way of Jesus, determined he must become one of the conspirators in the attempt on Hitler’s life. Two Christians, two followers of Jesus, two followers of Jesus convinced of the way of non-violence as being the way of Jesus, the one © Grand Valley State University �Déjà vu Forever? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   through active resistance but without moving to violence. The other fighting it all the way but finally believing he must take that violent step to end the horror of a Hitler. You see, these things are not easy; they are very complex and different people will finally have to wrestle out in the concrete situation what their response will be. But, certainly if we’re serious about Jesus and we must know that there is a calling to follow in his steps which is not passivity and standing on the sidelines. Trocmé was convinced that the most dangerous people in the world were the people who simply stood apart, unengaged, allowing evil to happen. He was active; he did not simply allow evil to happen, but in his standing the way of evil happening, he was non-violent because, we he writes, he was convinced that Jesus was non-violent and refused to defend himself in the face of the crime that was about to be perpetrated against him. And here we are in 1999 and we are at war as a nation, and one wonders, if there any hope? Will it be deja vu forever? I asked you last week what you would do if you were meeting with the President on Sunday morning. Well, the decision was made, the rockets are flying and the bombs are falling. We have ostensibly for humanitarian reasons moved to violence, and we already have the violent backlash, and whatever devastation we have inflicted has stiffened the resistance. Our violence has not caused the violence to cease, but at least at this point, exacerbated it. What is one to do in such a world? When Trocmé was in the internment camp, the Germans were defeated at Stalingrad and the Communist internees rejoiced, but Trocmé couldn’t enter into their celebration and years later he was asked, "Should the Russians simply have given up Stalingrad?" And he said, "No, it was too late. For them at Stalingrad, to have given up would have been suicide. It was too late." The way of non-violence has to be carefully laid and preparations have to be made and the groundwork has to be laid for it. The Berlin Wall fell in the late 80s after the Cold War that had ensued upon the euphoria of the victory of World War II, and we thought perhaps the decade of the 90s would usher in a whole new world order, and it has continued to be a decade of war and violence, and one wonders, will it be deja vu forever? Is there no hope? I find at least a ray of hope in that I believe that we, as an American people, are becoming more critical of the spin doctors that would shape our mind. I’m not at all confident about the veracity of the reports that come out of the Pentagon or the State Department or the Administration. I try very hard not to become cynical. I want to believe, but I think a certain self-doubt and a critical mind in receiving such reports is important for us and I think it’s happening across the body politic. And then I see an interview or two of an American pilot or a young man or a young woman on a ship from which are being launched the missiles, and I see in them not a rage, but a question - "Are we doing right? Are we doing right?" I would hope no trigger © Grand Valley State University �Déjà vu Forever? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   could ever be pulled or any rocket ever launched without that serious question, Are we doing right? And maybe, maybe the way of Jesus will be picked up here and there by a growing number of people who will commit themselves like an André Trocmé to do no harm. We cannot take on the whole world, but we live in a network of relationships in families and in communities, and if before the face of Jesus there was that inward commitment on our part to do no harm, just maybe, just maybe sometime the critical mass of humankind will come to realize that the way of Jesus was not the embodiment of an impossibly idealistic ethic, but the only viable solution to the human dilemma. Jesus may be our only hope. References: Philip Hallie. Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of the Village of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There. Harper Perennial, 1997. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f5c3ae073e2582507daf2f92a9598714.mp3 e32e4311c55d597632b42270c13de9b1 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 Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Palm Sunday Series God in the Mirror of a Human Face Scripture Text Luke 19:42 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI 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 KII-01_RA-0-19990328 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-03-28 Title A name given to the resource Jerusalem and Jesus: Deja Vu Forever? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 28, 1999 entitled "Jerusalem and Jesus: Deja Vu Forever?", as part of the series "God in the Mirror of a Human Face", on the occasion of Palm Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 19:42. https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c8d7bc1e9b559642765329dbbca36e14.mp4 f09d8774c5b52e8dee4540943b38ac5e https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7e21c315e611d5d30274fdb24ab921f2.pdf e5a76fd0e0733e138271130bcbd3c11b PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Ben Jerzyk Vietnam War 40 minutes 41 seconds (00:00:32) Early Life -Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan on October 6, 1945 -His father was serving in the military at the Soo Locks -His mother was eighteen or nineteen when he was born -His father was on deployment in the South Pacific when he was born -His father was from Chicago and his mother was from Canada -They were married in Canada in 1944 -He is the first and oldest child of the family -He had seven other siblings (six brothers and one sister) -His youngest sibling was born in 1968 while he was in Vietnam (00:03:02) Education -He graduated from Marquette High School in the Upper Peninsula (of Michigan) in 1963 -He attended Northern Michigan University for one year -After that he went down to Menominee, Michigan where his parents were living -Parents couldn’t afford to send multiple children to school at the same time -Went to school on a rotational pattern of school one year, work for one year -He attended Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan -He went to Battle Creek, Michigan for a six month course for physical therapy -This was from January 1967 to June 1967 (00:03:58) Getting Drafted -He was drafted at the end of June 1967 after completing the physical therapy course -From Battle Creek, Michigan he was bussed to Fort Knox, Kentucky -There he was processed into the Army -From Fort Knox he was bussed to Cincinnati, Ohio -From Cincinnati he was flown to Fort Sam Houston, Texas -He was a conscientious object due to being a Seventh Day Adventist -This led to his placement into the medic training program (00:04:52) Medic Training -He was placed into the HUMMRO: Human Military Medical Resource Organization -His training was basic and advanced infantry training combined into one long training session -His class was the first to use electronic education as a means of teaching course material -He and the other recruits would be brought into a room and watched instructional tapes -He also received hands on medical training as well -How to properly apply bandages and give shots -His training class had a total of eighty recruits -Seventy eight of them went to Vietnam -Two brothers were sent to be stationed in South Korea (00:06:05) Deployment to Vietnam -He was deployed to Vietnam in mid-December of 1967 right before Christmas �-Wound up spending Christmas in Vietnam -He was assigned to the 133rd Medical Detachment Company -Worked with two transportation battalions -They had two doctors, a pharmacist, ambulance drivers and other medics on staff -His job was to give patients a preliminary medical screening before being sent to doctor -Check their temperature, blood pressure and other rudimentary conditions -Never ran into any severe illnesses or injuries -He was stationed at a place called Cat Lai -It was on old French military base from the 1950s -Located north of Saigon and south of Bien Hoa -His unit also had access to ambulances and medevac helicopters (00:07:40) Enemy Contact -The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces stayed away due to the high amount of U.S. troops -At night the Vietnamese would fire six to ten mortars at their base -Afterwards they would immediately retreat -They never consistently damaged anything -A few buildings were damaged once in an attack -He felt fairly safe where he was stationed -Never had to go out into the battlefield (00:08:10) Downtime -He met some soldiers that he befriended and would spend off duty time with them -During downtime there were a variety of things to do -He would play ping pong -The base had a swimming pool and a movie theatre -There was a chapel that soldiers could attend on Sunday -Some days it didn’t even really seem like you were in a warzone -During the day he would never hear any signs of combat (00:08:54) Tet Offensive -During the Tet Offensive in early 1968 the base was mortared every other night -During the Tet Offensive the medical tent and dispensary were hit by mortar fire -He was advised to stay in one spot and make himself as small as possible -Minimized the chance of getting hit while running for cover -Just had to hope that a shell didn’t land close to him, or directly hit him (00:10:17) Reflections on Service Pt. 1 -He feels that his two years of military service was an overall good experience -He didn’t want to make it his career, just fulfill his obligation -Advises that any young person that doesn’t have any direction in life to join the military -He enjoyed his time in the Army (00:10:57) Fort Carson, Colorado -His last five months of service were spent at Fort Carson, Colorado -While there he got to see Pike’s Peak -He was there when former President Eisenhower died (March 28, 1969) -Remembers that all the flags were lowered to half staff -Relatively close to the Air Force Academy headquarters there which he found interesting (00:11:22) Training in Saigon -While he was in Vietnam he got to go to Saigon for further medical training �-His education in physical therapy allowed for him to go to the 3rd Field Hospital -He received further physical therapy training there (00:11:38) Medical Career -When he was at Fort Carson he was allowed to go to Denver for further medical training -Went to Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Denver for physical therapy training -After the Army he wound up not going into physical therapy as his career field -He went on to become a radiology technician -He had always had an interest in the medical field -He had originally wanted to go into nursing after serving -Kellogg Community College didn’t have any openings so he went into radiology -He wound up having a career as a radiology technician for thirty five years (00:13:15) Reflections on Service Pt. 2 -He wouldn’t have enlisted in the Army if he hadn’t been drafted -This is because if he had enlisted he was worried he would have been in a combat role -Due to his religious beliefs that would not have set well with him -Proud and willing to have served his country -He was among a lot of other conscientious objectors in Vietnam -He just had a total aversion to killing, or causing harm to, anyone (00:16:45) Travelling in the Army -When he flew from Cincinnati to Fort Sam Houston he got plane sick -First time that he had ever been on a plane -When he flew over to Vietnam the jet stopped in Hawaii -He remembers that the airport they stopped at had beautiful natural décor -The flight to and from Vietnam was fairly uneventful -When he returned home he was allowed to bring a little less than 400 pounds of souvenirs -He had bought a high end stereo and music, so he brought that home with him (00:19:52) Arrival in Vietnam -His first thought upon arriving in Vietnam was that it was warm -He met a soldier from Battle Creek, Michigan his first day in country -After arriving he had to wait two days to receive his assignment -After receiving those orders he was transported to Cat Lai by jeep (00:21:12) Life at Cat Lai -In Cat Lai they were next to the Saigon River -Transportation battalions would unload barges at Cat Lai -Used Vietnamese and Filipino workers to do the supply handling -American soldiers would oversee the workers -His main job was to aid U.S. troops who got sick, or injured at Cat Lai -Never ran into anything too severe -Gave him a chance to do physical therapy -Feels fortunate to have been at a place where nothing extreme happened -He slept in a tent for medical personnel, but the base did have barracks -He doesn’t recall any American soldiers getting killed while he was at Cat Lai -A few men received minor shrapnel wounds during the mortar attacks -Three or four foreign workers on a barge were killed during the Tet Offensive -Distinctly remembers the smell of the bodies after being pulled from the water �(00:27:44) Medical Work at Cat Lai -He administered a fair amount of penicillin shots during his time there -U.S. soldiers would fraternize with local women and contract diseases -His main function as a medic was to carry out basic processing -Collected information from soldiers who came in requesting aid -After that ran a preliminary check up on them (temperature, blood pressure) -Medical facility that he worked at would close by about 8 PM -They were able to react quickly at any time if they were urgently needed though (00:29:26) Reflections on Service Pt. 2 -He has good memories of his two years of service -He feels that being older helped him cope better with being in the Army -Knew how to respect superiors and be disciplined -Understood why the war was being fought (00:31:23) Coming Home and Readjusting -Readjusting to civilian life was very easy for him -When he came home from Vietnam he was allowed two weeks to visit his family -After that he went to Fort Carson, Colorado for five months -He had no problems with PTSD upon coming home -Attributes that to not being in the field and witnessing combat -He never experienced any harassment from people who were anti-war -On the contrary he was actually routinely thanked for his military service (00:33:10) Reflections on Service Pt. 3 -Looking back he isn’t happy about how American leadership allowed for the war to turn out -Tries to remind himself that there’s nothing to be done about those decisions now -Glad that he was able to serve his country -Feels that most who served are happy to have done their part -He feels that his service enforced having a good work ethic, being disciplined and ambitious -He also attributes his time in the Army to furthering his interest in medicine -He feels extremely lucky to have made it through psychologically and physically unharmed � 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 Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 JerzykB1630V Title A name given to the resource Jerzyk, Benjamin (Interview outline and video), 2014 Description An account of the resource Ben Jerzyk born in 1945 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. He was the oldest of eight other children and his father was a World War Two veteran. He attended college and trained as a physical therapist and was drafted into the Army in June 1967. He trained as a medic at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He was deployed to Vietnam in mid-December of 1967 and was stationed at Cat Lai with the 133rd Medical Detachment Company. He spent eleven months in Vietnam during which time he lived through the Tet Offensive in early 1968. After returning home from Vietnam he completed his service at Fort Carson, Colorado in early 1969. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jerzyk, Benjamin Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jerzyk, Isabel (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014-05-22 Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e3ff50ae1dfa124b6cc4868f60ec43bc.mp3 2abafdeae2a3ec2fc47f2b10ff84682d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/78dc814216571c6d79bf558e00bfbb2c.pdf 1fee1028110f9cf021697ff908a05222 PDF Text Text GV043-07 Connected Exhibit Interviews Interviewee: Jesenia Rincones Interviewers: Gayle Schaub Date: May 5, 2016 Gayle: Okay so don’t worry about what it’s– because we’re going to edit it all. Cause I don’t want my voice in the back. Jesenia: So we’re just talking. Gayle: We’re just talking. Jesenia: Ok. Gayle: Where are you from in Grand Rapids? Jesenia: 00:09 I from Wyoming. So it’s like right out of Grand Rapids. When I was younger, I grew up in Grand Rapids on Coate St., off Grandville and Hall. It’s like a little Hispanic area. Gayle: Jesenia: Okay. Where’d you go to school? 00:22 I went to school… I went to a few schools. In high school, I went to Wyoming High School, but then our community doesn’t have that much money so our rival schools combined, so then I went to just Wyoming High School. Gayle: Jesenia: That happened in Grand Rapids too. Like Creston closed. 00:39 Yeah. I was there for that whole thing. Gayle: Jesenia: Oh, in Grand Rapids? But, you didn’t go to any GRPS schools, did you? 00:47 No, I went—it happened in Wyoming like our school… when the middle schools first combined and then I was part of that year—the first year and then the high schools, so yeah. Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: So, tell me about like coming to Grand Rap— Grand Valley. What year are you? What’s your major? You can just… anywhere you want to start. 1:10 I’ll be a junior next year. My major is nursing. So, hopefully, next year I plan on applying. I’m taking it slow at my own pace. Because it is competitive. Coming to Grand Valley was a big step. I was one of 14 grandchildren who is, like, going to college. A lot of people in my family get their diplomas and they just get a job, and I was the only one who was expected to go to college because I talked about it. So, it was like a really big thing and a lot of pressure. So, I was excited but I was very, like, nervous…because I didn’t want to…ruin it I guess, or not just like ruin it for myself but like my family. And nobody probably had a lot of guidance or advice to give you. �Jesenia: 1:59 No, not many. So, like it was hard cause I lost my confidence definitely when I got here. Because my school wasn’t, like, super small, and everyone around me like had parents who were still married or parents who were alumni somewhere. They went—they just knew all these things that I never knew or that my family never even thought of, because we didn’t grow up like that. So, knowing that I was already a— in a competitive field and knowing like I’m usually the only Hispanic in the room, and I’m a girl in the room and just all these different labels on me that could set me back was… It was hard because I never felt like a minority until I got to this campus. Yeah, so… Gayle: But you knew you wanted to do nursing even..? Jesenia: Yeah. Gayle: Okay. Jesenia: 2:47 Gayle: Jesenia: And you weren’t scared off by some people want to do this and then they realize some of the classes you have to take are…? 3:43 Gayle: Jesenia: My mom was a medical assistant. So, she was like a single mother. My dad went to prison, but he’s… I mean my dad’s still a great dad now, but things happen. He went to prison, and then my mom was like a single mom with two kids, me and my older brother. This is when they didn’t always have a lot of after school programs back then. So, like getting off—her boss of the clinic used to let her bring us to work. So, we used to like… we didn’t always listen, and we used to run around, and I always saw like doctors and new like… residents or like interns and stuff like that, and I thought it was so cool. So, I always knew I wanted to be in the medical field, just because I got to have a playground in it, when I was little. Well, I was. I—first I wanted to be a pediatrician, and I… my senior year I did the Health Science Early College Academy through KCTC. It’s like a skills tech center in Grand Rapids, and one of our jobs was to do a portfolio, and then we had to interview with either head of the nursing department I think at Davenport and then human resources, like the guy who basically hires you if you’re at Metro Health, and tell him like what we want to do, what our major was, and I saw like all the classes I had to take to be a pediatrician, and like all the chemistry classes if I was a BMS major, and I was like “oh my goodness, this is intense.” Like it was my dream, but I guess I just modified it in a way that’d work for me. I can be a nurse. I can then go and be a nurse practitioner, just specialize in peds, and it won’t be a pediatrician, but I can still do a job that I love. Cool. 4:49 Yeah, it was… I don’t know. It was different. It kind of made me sad because you’re like, you know, everyone has a dream that they want to do, but then when you like realize maybe I like can’t do it then I guess I just made a plan B. If that makes sense? Yeah. �Gayle: Jesenia: You’re not necessarily, though. Like you’re not deciding this for the rest of your life. I mean you can always… 5:16 Gayle: Jesenia: Make changes. Yeah, but I’m determined I guess. I had like my freshman year I was… had a lot of doubts I guess, cause I was like the honor roll student in high school. My parents didn’t have to worry about my grades, and then I did like… I remember I cried when I got a C+ in my Bio class. That was my first science class here, and I was like telling my mom like ‘I’m not going to be competitive’ and all these things it just felt like everything was coming downhill, but then this year I took it as like ‘I can’t focus on what everyone else is doing around me’, ‘I can’t keep thinking about how competitive it is’. I guess I have to compete with myself, and stop letting the little voice in my head bring me down. And this year I made Dean’s list both semesters, so I was pretty excited about that. Wow. Those tough classes, yeah. 6:10 Yeah, so I was pretty happy. Gayle: So how do you balance your academic schedule with…Do you have a social schedule? Jesenia: My social life has definitely declined I would say. Right now I work thirty two hours a week, Gayle: Oh my god. Jesenia: 6:29 Gayle: Jesenia: No kidding. 6:42 Gayle: Jesenia: Between two jobs. I work on Saturdays and Sundays from 6am to 3pm, and then I work in the financial aid office, and I’m a full time student this semester. So I don’t know how I got the grades I got. I just kind of lived in the Library. It was worth it in the end for me. When I was in high school it was easy to go out on the weekends with your friends and get an A on your test because the curriculum wasn’t that hard. I just realized maybe I can put that on a hold for now and do what I have to do to get my career, because there’s always going to be a time to go out. That was hard for me too, when I stopped talking to my friends that always wanted to go out and do these things that we used to do in high school. I was like “I can’t go out on a Thursday night and have a 10am class on Friday morning.” That just doesn’t work for me. Are they friends here on campus, or are you kind of straddling two worlds? 7:32 One was a friend her on campus and one was like back and forth. She went to Western but then she didn’t want to go anymore and things like that. So it was hard because I grew up with these people since I was like 11. So you think “oh we’re going to go to college, it’s going to be great, we’re going to be friends” blah blah blah. Like friends for so long and then it gets kind of hard to realize maybe it wasn’t �the best friendship at the time. I enjoyed and I cherish the moments that we did have, but I realize it is ok to grow out of people. Gayle: Jesenia: Yeah, I think it’s just part of the whole process. 8:10 Gayle: Jesenia: So where do you work on the weekends? 8:22 Gayle: Jesenia: Yeah and that’s something that hurt at first because then you’re like “What do I do now when it’s summer?” But you just keep moving I guess. On the weekends I work at a factory, it’s called Vention Medical. It’s a factory but not really, we make tubes for heart surgeries. How’d you get that job? 8:33 I had a friend that was in my dorm my freshman year. She lived with my roommate because I can’t afford to live in off campus apartments, but my freshman roommate did. Then one of the girls in her house worked there and she told me about the job and I was like “sure.” Because I needed extra cash just to save and pay for school this next year. Gayle: Do you live on campus now? Jesenia: No. Gayle: You commute? Jesenia: Yeah I commute from home. Gayle: Ok. Jesenia: 9:05 Gayle: Jesenia: I did the first year and I loved the experience I had, but I knew when everyone was going to sign applications and things like that I knew financially that I couldn’t do it and I didn’t have parents that could do it either. So I wasn’t going to stress myself out about it and I wasn’t going to stress them out about it either. Yeah, but I mean I guess that’s the benefit of having a friend that does live off campus, because I can see what it’s like. Yeah, but your mom is pretty lucky to have a strong capable… 9:38 Well, I don’t know, my family situation is totally different. My mom lives in Puerto Rico now. And my dad, I live with him and my step mom. We have this huge blended family. I have a half-sister named Jade, and my brother and me, those are my dad’s kids. Then my step mom has Frankie and Jack, and those are my step brothers. Now I have my niece, Sariyah, who’s my brother’s daughter. She’s one. I think she’s going to be one and a half soon, which is crazy. And then my nephew was just born in February. Yeah, I’m my dad’s last kid, his baby. He’s like “please just graduate college, no kids” and I’m like “I got your back.” (laughs) Yeah, but it’s fun, I guess. My baby fever goes away. I guess the best babies you can have are the ones you can give back. �Gayle: Yeah I was the youngest of a big family so I had a lot of nieces and nephews. Jesenia: Yeah, it’s fun though, there’s always something new happening when you’re in a big family. Gayle: But you’re all living in the same place? Jesenia: 10:47 My brother is probably going to move I think with my niece’s mom. Now he’s like growing up with his family. My sister, she lives with her mom in Cedar Springs. So it’s complicated but we all make time for each other on the weekends. Or we try, because there’s so many things going on. Gayle: So one more year and then? Jesenia: Well I’ll be a junior this year. Gayle: Oh you’re just going to be a junior this year, ok. Jesenia: Yes. Gayle: So you just finished your sophomore year. Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: 11:17 Yeah, so I might be an extra year. But I mean, for me, I know a lot of people who are like “I need to get out of here in four years, and I need to do this” and all these expectations but I just kind of look at is as, I didn’t do the nursing program by the book and it’s working for me now. So why rush it? And I’m paying for my education so if that’s what works for meHave you been able to get any scholarship money or financial aid? 11: 46 I get financial aid and I just won a scholarship through the TriO program for $500, so it was nice. So I think that’s what made me stay at Grand Valley is TriO. That’s actually how I got contacted with you. My advisor Marnie, I wasn’t even supposed to be in the program, I met her at my first job and Papa John’s so it was like so weird how it happened. I was just giving her pizza and we started talking about Grand Valley and I was like “Oh yeah, I’ll be a student there”. She gave me her card and I don’t know if it wasn’t for Marnie I think I would be lost on this campus. Like, how you said, I said I’m a first generation college student, I don’t have many people to talk to. Finding guidance is hard, and I would have to say that’s what that program is for me. Making me feel like when I’m at my lowest, they’ll build me up. Or when I’m nervous or scared to take a hard class, Marnie pushes me. So I definitely appreciate her and the relationship we have as my advisor. Gayle: So is that what the program does for you is provides you with an advisor? Jesenia: Yeah. Gayle: How do you keep your contact with this organization? Jesenia: 13:06 You’re supposed to meet, I think, once a month. I think the older you get each year the less you have to meet, but I meet with Marnie all the time. Like it can be �random like “Oh can we meet up and just talk?” Or things like that. She’s my advisor, a friend, a counselor. She’s all things in one but they’re pretty helpful. Like the have a final study break and a place for you to relax, and if you need help financially with like…I know they have like a laptop or a graphing calculator program and stuff to help students who can’t afford it. Unfortunately I wasn’t in it my first semester of my freshman year but it definitely made a difference my second semester and now. It’s helped me build my confidence academically and let me know that there is a place here at Grand Valley, because the Latino community is so small and it’s hard for me to feel like I’m one with the campus. But TriO has definitely helped. Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: I forgot what I was going to ask you. I don’t remember. Oh I was going to ask you, did you go through transitions? 14:24 Yeah, I did. I was with my roommate a lot of the time. We didn’t even know each other, it was weird. We never knew each other, we never met, and we went in blind. But actually one of her cousins was my cousin’s cousin. That’s weird, I know but we never met each other in all the times we grew up and we ended up being college roommates. Are you still in touch? 14:49 Yeah, we’re still best friends. We talk every now and the cause we both work and go to school so we understand when we have time to meet up we will. We don’t bug each other about it or get mad about it, it’s like a mutual understanding. So it’s definitely a friendship I appreciate because losing friends over not going out and this and that is something I would never do to Kaitlyn, or she would never do to me. Where’d you live when you first moved on campus? 15:18 I lived in Frey Living Center on North campus. The apartment, I know, was more expensive than traditional, but I did it so I could buy groceries and cook food. But a part of me did wish, once freshmen year ended, I could live in traditional because I felt like so many people that lived in traditional were meeting new people and doing new things and I was a little bit of a home body in my apartment living. So if I could change anything I would do that but I’d still want Kaitlyn to be my roommate. Gayle: The fact that you have this really demanding schedule though, and that you’re working, and you’re studying, and you’re doing all this. I guess that in a way… Jesenia: Mhmm. Gayle: If you lived on campus do you think it would be as…could you potentially have distractions, did you ever worry about that? Jesenia: Yeah. Gayle: Wanting to be too… Jesenia: Wanting to be like, social. �Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Yeah. Making it harder to keep your eye on the prize. 16:27 Yeah, now like being at home, it’s definitely hard because you do have your distractions, not everybody in the house is going to school. You have family events and you have other things to go do. Or when I just want to play with my niece, or just hang out with my dad, or even my boyfriend at that. That’s hard but I have to tell myself “you have to get out of bed.” My time was really vital this semester. It was my first time working two jobs so it was hard but yeah I just slept at the Library. And everyone understood that, like my boyfriend would be like “oh what are you doing?” and I’d be like “I have to go to the Library” and he’d be like “Ok!” I think the best part about it is having people who understand my schedule and don’t push me to do something that they know isn’t going to be beneficial to me. My family is very supportive. That’s good. 17:25 They understand that if I have a final…Like I felt so bad because it was the first time I missed one of my cousin’s birthday parties, and I have plenty of cousins and they’re having babies and I try to make it to everything. Our family is huge and I felt terrible because I couldn’t go to her, I think it was her fifth or fourth birthday. I was like “I can’t, I have to study and I have work tomorrow” and my dad was like “It’s fine, we understand. It’s ok. You can make it to the next one. There’s gonna be plenty to come.” That made me feel terrible, but I was like as long as I do what I have to do now I can be there for all the other birthdays, so, I guess, that’s what really counted. Then I did, I got the grade that I wanted so that felt good. What class was that? 18:13 Chemistry, and chemistry was so brutal for me in high school. Which chemistry? 18:19 Just intro to chemistry and chem 109. I hated chemistry in high school. It was so hard for me and it was like the only science class I didn’t understand and the fact that I could grasp it this semester I was like “yes!” Like when I took my final I thought it was going to be the death of me, but then I was taking it and I was like “oh my God this is the best feeling ever, I know everything on here,” so it was good. Did you ever reach out to tutoring center or anything like that? 18:51 Yeah, definitely that was the help with Marnie as well. She hooked me up with tutors and then my winter semester when I first got in TriO. So that way I knew then the Tutoring Center opened I knew to set up tutors and things like that. So I instantly, I think it was the first week of classes you could sign up for a tutor, I signed up. Before she could even ask me I told her “Yeah I got a chem tutor, I got an anatomy tutor” and she was like, “Oh, ok!” I used to work with a Spanish tutor cause its 100- and 200-level courses you can have a tutor for free. �Jesenia: Yeah, so it definitely helped. Gayle: Yeah. Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: Gayle: Jesenia: 19:35 Yeah I would have to appreciate or say thank you to Marnie or else I wouldn’t…I guess I knew there was tutoring on campus I just didn’t know how to go about it. Yeah there’s a lot of stuff there and it’s confusing to figure it all out. 19:46 Yeah, especially your freshman year, everything is just all thrown at you at once. Also all these organizations like “oh I want to do this and I want to get good grades, but I want to have a social life, but I also just want to sleep.” So it was really hard to learn time management really quick. I would say it was worth it in the end. A lot of people ask me…I see people that went to high school that were a grade younger than me and now they are hanging out with some of the people I used to hang out with like “Oh why don’t you ever go out any more? We don’t see you that often” and I was like “I really just can’t right now.” I think a lot of people I went to high school with think I have my nose in the air or things like that but I mean I wish the best to all the people I was friends with but I just know I can’t afford to do that anymore in my free time. At this point I would rather just take a nap after work on a Friday than get ready to go out cause I’m only 19 about to be 20 but I get so tired that just having a day to just lie in bed is the greatest thing ever. I mean yeah, it’s a huge transition, coming from high school to college and figuring all of that out and realizing that you have to make these tradeoffs. I remember how tough it was. 21:17 Especially in Grand Rapids and school’s just starting and you have ArtPrize and all these things going on in the community and you want to say yes because a lot of people in my dorm weren’t from Grand Rapids and were like “let’s go here and let’s go there.” So I said yes then but it ended up messing me up later on, so now I know it’s ok to say no and make time for myself. That’s something I definitely appreciate is just alone time with me. I used to always want to be with my friends and do things and now I’m like I just need time to, I guess, release my own emotions for me, and just relax for me and not always look for somebody or look to do something. I remember my dad always used to tell me “just relax, just stay home” and I would say no, no, no, and we would argue about it but now I’m like “oh my god my dad’s always right”. It’s like the worst thing to say but it’s like, he’s right. It’s ok to acknowledge that (laughs). So, you’ve finished pretty much your Gen Ed courses? 22:24 I have a few more to go, I’m thinking about applying next winter. So I might be here a whole extra year. So hopefully all together it’s just five to get my bachelor’s. I think I just have anatomy and physiology II, chem 230 which is Intro to organic and biochemistry, and microbiology. I was going to try to spread that out. I was going to do Micro in the winter and anatomy and chem in the next fall because I heard how brutal it was to do all three in one semester. I actually had a friend who did it �and I don’t want to do that, and I work two jobs so I just can’t do that right now. I did anatomy and physiology I this semester and into to chem and a gen ed and another gen ed this semester, this last semester. It was tough but…I really don’t know how I did it. Thinking back like thank God I got the grade I did because I was like “what the heck?” Because it was a lot of stress but I have to say now I remember my last final like “I don’t even have to go to class. I just have work, I have nothing but work.” I never thought I would be happy to say all I have to do is work for the summer. I never thought I would say that, like as a teenager but I’m so excited to just work and not do school. Having the grades that I did makes me feel more confident taking the classes next fall. I’m excited, but I don’t even want to think about school starting right now. Gayle: I keep forgetting the questions I’m going to ask you while listening to you talk. Jesenia: Sorry (laughs) Gayle: No, no, (laughs) that’s ok. That’s a good thing. I don’t remember. How about classes, are there any that stand out? Like what was your favorite class you’ve taken at Grand Valley so far and why? Jesenia: Gayle: 24:34 One of my favorite classes I’ve taken at Grand Valley was I think world civilizations, it was history 101. It was a gen ed course I took last fall, and it was so awesome because my professor Steven Houser was the best professor I’ve ever had. It was a lot of reading and things like that but I like that he was a teacher, we didn’t just write and take notes like we did do that every other class but he was more, like, engaged. Like let’s hear you talk and let’s hear you’re thinking, and he didn’t have this biased point of view. He’d always try and make us see both perspectives. I thought it was the coolest thing ever because I remember we were in class taking notes on the Freedom Riders, then his dad was just like the last Freedom Rider alive. We were wondering why we didn’t have class last Friday before and he told us “the reason why we didn’t have class was that my father just passed.” When he said the guy that we were taking notes on was his father we were like “What?!” And how his dad knew Nelson Mandela and if Nelson Mandela had an award in the United States his dad would get it for him. He was like “Yeah I didn’t know it but when I was little Martin Luther King Jr. was at my house for dinner”. And I was like this is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. Like it was the coolest thing and I thought it was so awesome how his dad was a part of history and his son became a history professor and is like talking about it. It was the coolest thing ever. He was just the coolest teacher, he was just a really cool guy the way he presented the information and make us talk about it. He wasn’t like here’s all this information. Store it in your brain. It was like let’s use it and we even did debates and things like that. It was pretty cool, I liked it. If I could take the class again I would take the class again just for enjoyment because I just liked talking with him about information and, I don’t know. I think he made me think way beyond the boundaries of any history class. Did you get the sense that others loved it too? �Jesenia: 25:53 Yeah. Everyone was always engaged. If you would have been there in the room when he said that everyone’s mouth just dropped. You’re taking notes and you’re listening and then you’re like, “oh my God!” Did he really just say that was his dad?” I know we live in America and I’m not saying America is a bad place, but he always tried to make us see not only the good things about our society but the wrongs. He didn’t belittle other religions and things like that. He always made us try to learn about them and why they are the way they are and the good, the bad, and everything. So that’s what I really appreciated, because you see a lot of things right now with the Middle East and why they are the way they are and everyone’s playing like the blame game but he was like, ”here’s the information and this is why it’s like this.” It was just very eye opening. I was just like “oh my goodness, this is crazy.” We actually had a student who was in the military at the time when everything first happened so he was able to talk about things and it was just a really awesome class. He was just a really cool professor. 28:11 Jarek Kozal is a very great professor for anatomy and physiology, I just took him. He was very visual which totally helped me with my tests because I did retake that class from last winter, and I took it this winter. The way he presented the information as well was very helpful. Like you can’t have a lot of debates with anatomy but he literally built this structure of a muscle fiber just so we could see it visually and break it down. He was always giving study tips and I even told him…I met with him the first week of classes, the first and second week, I told him “I took this class and I need to get a better grade. I’m in the Nursing program, I want to get an A, but I know it’s hard, and I know even if you put 85% in you probably won’t get an 85%.” I told him my work schedule and everything and he gave me this study plan and I totally followed it. It definitely helped me because I got an A this last semester. So I think some people see him as kind of stand-offish in class but he’s a teacher who’s willing to help you if you’re willing to ask for it. Gayle: Jesenia: Well, right there. 29:34 So I appreciated it a lot, and I was like really happy that I got an A and I would have to say it was because of his help. Once again it wasn’t just note taking but he took us through each process step by step and showed us pictures and I think that’s what really helped, because if you can visualize something, at least for me- Gayle: And me, too. Jesenia: Yeah, I can memorize it way better. Gayle: You understand it better. Jesenia: Gayle: 29:56 Yeah, I can explain it to you and not just say I don’t really know what’s going on here, and that’s how I used to feel so, he was just a great professor. I hope he’s teaching A&P II because…yeah I’m nervous for that class. Well I mean if you remember, the large part of what you said was you asked for that help. �Jesenia: Mhmm. Gayle: If you hadn’t asked… Jesenia: I probably would be… Gayle: You might have been struggling the same way. Jesenia: Exactly. Gayle: So…I’m not saying that he wasn’t a great professor. I’m saying it was great of you to take that step and say look here’s my thing. Jesenia: End 30:40 And I was always nervous about that coming here because you always here like stories about professors. I mean, you even have the website Rate My Professor and the things that people say and you’re like, this person has this whole…I think it’s a thing like, you’re in college, you already are, there’s so many students. You’re like, is he really going to care what I have to say. You just have all these things come in your head so I was always nervous to ask for help, because in high school I didn’t have to ask for help. So it took a lot of courage for me to just go and say, “This is what I need, tell me what I need to do because I want to get a good grade,” and he did that, just that. He told me “I know how you feel, I worked two jobs when I was a student and it was really hard for me to do time management. It is going to be hard for you. Your time is vital. You’re working this much time and you’re trying to take chemistry and Anatomy at once, that’s a lot. But if you can-“ � 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 Connected Exhibit Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource Collection of audio recordings and transcripts of Grand Valley State University students sharing their stories and experiences. The recordings were conducted as part of an exhibit created by the University Libraries in fall semester of 2016 titled "Connected" which featured short audio clips of students. The clips were combined with watercolor portraits of GVSU students by Ellie Lubbers and an interactive watercolor painting activity. Students were encouraged to paint 3" circles of paper to illustrate their current feelings about the college experience and attach them to the gallery wall. The aim of the exhibit was to inspire feelings of community, connectedness, and welcome to new and returning students. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cadena, Cara; Schaub, Gayle; Frigo, Emily; Lubbers, Ellie; Fisher, Erin Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rincones, Jesenia Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-05-05 Title A name given to the resource Jesenia Rincones interview (audio and transcript) Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Schaub, Gayle (interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07_RinconesJ_2016-05-05 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Relation A related resource Grand Valley State University Libraries. Connected Exhibit, September 2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Description An account of the resource Interview with Jesenia Rincones conducted by Gayle Schaub for the GVSU Libraries' Connected Exhibit, displayed in September 2016. Edited clips of interviews accompanied watercolor portraits of students and an interactive watercolor activity for exhibit visitors. Jesenia graduated from Wyoming High School. She is a junior, majoring in nursing. She is a first-generation student from a big family and has made the Dean’s List the past two semesters, earning top grades in tough classes while working two jobs. One of her jobs is on campus, in the Financial Aid office. She is also involved with TRiO Student Support Services, a program for first-generation and limited-income students. She feels that this program has helped build her confidence academically and helped her, as a Latina student, find her place at GVSU and feel truly a part of the campus community. Balancing the demands of her work and school schedules sometimes leaves Jesenia little time for her super-supportive family and friends, but she handles her load with grace, ability, and perseverance. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/68fdfbcfaaba44307e13928d72571094.pdf b5972338fce764836db8d6572dc7c270 PDF Text Text WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH A World That is Good for Women is Good for Everyone 2009 � 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 GVSU Sexuality and Gender Flyers Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The Rainbow Resource Center Women and Gender Studies Department Women's Commission Gayle R. Davis Center for Women and Gender Equity Description An account of the resource Digitized posters, flyers, event notices, and other materials relating to gender expression and sexuality at Grand Valley State University, with materials spanning from 1974 to 2019. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1974/2019 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digitized from collections at the Rainbow Resource Center (formerly the Milton E. Ford LGBT Resource Center), Women and Gender Studies Department, Women's Commission, and Gayle R. Davis Center for Women and Gender Equity. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Gender identity Gender expression Sexual orientation Women's studies Queer theory Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-09 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource eng 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 DC-09_SGF_WGS_2009_InvitedSpeaker_JessicaValenti.pdf Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Women's Center Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-03-23 Title A name given to the resource Jessica Valenti: Why Feminism Still Matters Description An account of the resource Flyer with information on the talk, including a synopsis of it and of the speaker, the location, time and date of it. Part of the 2009 Women's History Month. Subject The topic of the resource Community centers Women's History Month Feminism Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Gayle R. Davis Center for Women and Gender Equity 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 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9b1e3b6bf92dc4352d3a2c9168d15c49.pdf 126f2cdbdc0934a36a55a28aec8fcf98 PDF Text Text Jesus Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in Free Spirit A Quarterly Publication of Fountain Street Church Grand Rapids, Michigan May 1999 In a recent study, The Human Christ, Charlotte Allen writes, In 1909, the Modernist Catholic theologian George Tyrrell complained that the liberal German biblical scholars of his day had reconstructed a historical Jesus who was no more than "The reflection of a liberal Protestant face, seen at the bottom of a deep well." In other words, the liberal searchers had found a liberal Jesus. The same can be said of the Jesus-searchers of every era: The deists found a deist, the Romantics a Romantic, the existentialists an existentialist, and the liberationists a Jesus of class struggle. Supposedly equipped with the latest critical and historical tools, the "scientific" quest for the historical Jesus has nearly always devolved into theology, ideology, and even autobiography. (P. 5) This has been widely recognized as being the case and I readily acknowledge it to be operative in my own reflection on the identity, life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. This criticism has been met head on by a contemporary Jesus scholar recognized for both the breadth of his research into Christian origins, cross-cultural studies, and carefully articulated methodology. John Dominic Crossan, in his The Birth of Christianity (1998), cites a poem, "For Once, Then, Something," by Robert Frost, Others taunt me with having knelt at well-curbs Always wrong to the light, so never seeing Deeper down in the well than where the water Gives me back in a shining surface picture , Me myself in the summer heaven, godlike, Looking out of a wreath of fern and cloud puffs. Once, when trying with chin against a well-curb, I discerned, as I thought, beyond the picture, © Grand Valley State University   �Jesus Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Through the picture, a something white, uncertain, Something more of the depths - and then I lost it. Crossan comments, There is an oft-repeated and rather cheap gibe that historical Jesus researchers are simply looking down a deep well and seeing their own reflections from below. I call it cheap for three reasons. First, those who use it against others seldom apply it to themselves. Second, it is almost impossible to imagine a reconstruction that could not be dismissed by the assertion of that gibe. Your Jesus is an apocalyptic: You are bemused by the approaching millennium,... What could anyone ever say that would not fall under that ban? Third, those who repeat that taunt so readily must never have looked down a deep well or heeded Emily Dickinson's warning (3.970, no. 1400): What mystery pervades a well!... But nature is stranger yet; The ones that cite her most Have never passed her haunted house, Nor simplified her ghost. Crossan continues, Imagine two alternative and opposite modes of historical reconstruction, one an impossible delusion, the other a possible illusion. The possible illusion is narcissism. You think you are seeing the past or the other when all you see is your own reflected present. You see only what was there before you began. You imprint your own present on the past and call it history. Narcissism sees its own face, and, ignoring the water that shows it up, falls in love with itself. It is the first of the twin images in Frost's poem. It is when, …the water Gives me back in a shining surface picture Me myself in the summer heaven, godlike, Looking out of a wreath of fern and cloud puffs. The impossible delusion is positivism. It imagines that you can know the past without any interference from your own personal and social situation as answer. You can see, as it were, without your own eye being involved. You can discern the past once and for all forever and see it pure and uncontaminated by that discernment. Positivism is the delusion that we can see the water without our own face being mirrored in it. It thinks we can see the surface without simultaneously seeing our own eyes. It is the © Grand Valley State University �Jesus Richard A. Rhem Page 3   second of the twin images in Frost's poem. It is when, even if only once, uncertainly, possibly, and vaguely, I discerned, as I thought, beyond the picture, Through the picture, a something white, uncertain, Something more of the depths - and then I lost it. But, I would ask, if the poet's face is white, how did it see "through the picture" of itself “a something white” that was also "beyond the picture"? Maybe what it saw was its own face so strangely different that it did not recognize it. That introduces a third image not given but provoked by Frost's second image. There is, therefore, a third alternative, and I'll call it interactivism, which is, incidentally, the way I understand post-modernism. The past and present must interact with one another, each changing and challenging the other, and the ideal is an absolutely fair and equal reaction between one another. Back to the well: You cannot see the surface without simultaneously seeing, disturbing, and distorting your own face; you cannot see your own face without simultaneously seeing, disturbing, and distorting the surface. It is the third image begging to be recognized behind the two overt ones in Frost's poem. What the poet saw was his own face so strangely different that he did not recognize it as such. It was., indeed "something white" and "something more of the depths." But it was not "beyond the picture" or even "through the picture." It was the picture itself changed utterly. That is the dialectic of interactivism and, as distinct from either narcissism or positivism, it is both possible and necessary. (Pp. 40f.) After illustrating his claim, Crossan writes, Historical reconstruction is always interactive of present and past. Even our best theories and methods are still our best ones. They are all dated and doomed not just when they are wrong but even (and especially) when they are right. They need, when anything important is involved, to be done over and over again. That does not make history worthless. We ourselves are also dated and doomed, but that does not make life worthless. (P. 45) Crossan does not speak of "search" or "quest" of Christian origins. That he sees as positivistic. Rather, he attempts a reconstruction and that, he says, must be done over and over again in different times and different places by different groups and different communities. I cite Crossan and Allen to acknowledge that "my Jesus" is not "The Jesus" of history. That Jesus cannot be definitively recovered. Allen's comment about the well has been the easy way to write off the quest. Crossan knows the danger but I © Grand Valley State University �Jesus Richard A. Rhem Page 4   think has, through careful method, eliminated some of the naiveté of earlier efforts. Even before the critique of mentors Duncan and Lester, I was aware that I was replicating the 19th-century liberal Jesus in some respects, but I was also aware that I had to move through that stage. It is not quite accurate, however, to identify the Jesus I have been attempting to reconstruct with that "Jesus, meek and mild." Several issues are involved in my movement from the classical Christological creedal affirmations to Jesus as a human being as the incarnation or embodiment of God or Spirit. I have been working at dismantling the creedal Christ for some time. (Theological reflection is really my focus rather than historical research or even biblical research.) But to dismantle the Christological formulae leaves me with an historical figure and the need to give some content to this figure. Another piece of the traditional orthodox understanding that I have for some years now moved away from is the idea of Jesus' death as atoning, making salvation possible and available. If Jesus did not come into the world to die for human sin, that is, if he is not a salvific figure, what came to expression in his life and teaching and why was he executed? Here is where the work of Crossan and Borg has been helpful to me. By recognizing the Jewishness of Jesus, putting him in his historical context through reconstruction of first-century Judaism under Roman domination and crosscultural studies, there emerges a picture of Jesus as social prophet in the Hebrew tradition who, through non-violent protest, stands against the structural injustice and systemic evil of his society in the name of the God of Israel who is marked by the demand for justice and compassion. This is not the highly moral and gentle Jesus of the 19th century. This one dies the way he dies because he lived the way he lived. I will not go on to argue this, but I think it can be given good biblical support as well as being consistent with our best sense of his social/economic/political context. Why bother so strenuously with Jesus? It is claimed the idea, the meaning of the whole historical/legendary/mythological phenomenon could simply be "thought," conceived by one who contemplated the whole human-divine relationship. Perhaps so. It is claimed Newton's whole grand mechanical model of the universe was a product not of empirical experimentation but of pure thought. But, as a matter of fact, the whole Christian tradition (including its Jewish womb) emerged in history. The "story" is rooted in history and the liturgical and ritual practice represent history as shaped by the early (biblical) interpretations. And story and ritual are critical for creating community -meaning is conveyed in the © Grand Valley State University �Jesus Richard A. Rhem Page 5   telling and action. As Whitehead claimed, it takes centuries to form such tradition. Thus, it seems to me that it is valuable to re-tell the old story and through serious research I think we can uncover that which provides the data by which to reconstruct this historical person who can credibly be offered as an embodiment of the love, grace, compassion and justice of God. The canonical Jesus, however, is no longer believable to one for whom biblical authority in the sense of authoritarian claim is no longer valid. We know the Jesus of the Gospels is the post-Easter Jesus of the early communities. The Christological titles ascribed to him post-Easter are ascriptions of faith arising out of the experience of those early believers. This is where biblical criticism becomes crucial. To be sure, determining which words and deeds go back to Jesus and which are "history metaphorized" by the biblical writers is an inexact science and total agreement will never be achieved. And it is also true that here one's presuppositions - maybe one's intuition - will operate in the selection process. But the moment one decides that the biblical text is not the word of God given by whatever process to the writer, but rather, a human book reflecting the religious experience or revelatory encounter of the writer, one cannot avoid such a discriminating approach to the text. The reconstruction will be the result of the engagement with the text, interaction with the text and the best one can do is be aware of one's pre-understanding and endeavor as honestly as possible to hear the text. Now, in regard to the concatenation of texts gathered by Lester, I obviously hear the voice of the early communities. There is sharp debate as to whether Jesus held the apocalyptic view. I think he moved away from John the Baptist because he did not share that view. If he did think of himself as returning in clouds of heaven soon, of course he was simply wrong - as was Paul! In any case, I would argue that the Jesus of my reconstruction is not a candidate for Rotary. I have explained above why I do not simply shake loose of Jesus - he roots our story, concretizes the image of God. But, I think the Spirit has been embodied in others whose lives shine with revelatory luminosity. And further, I believe that which came to intense expression in him is the truth for all of us - if we have eyes to see it, and seeing it is salvation here and now, knowing the miracle, wonder and glory of being alive, and that's not bad for one without Christology, an authoritative scripture, doctrine of atonement, or ecclesiastical credential! References: Charlotte Allen. The Human Christ: The Search for the Historical Jesus. FreePress, 1998. © Grand Valley State University �Jesus Richard A. Rhem Page 6   John Dominic Crossan. The Birth of Christianity: Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately After the Execution of Jesus. HarperOne, 1999. © Grand Valley State University � 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 Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf 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. References Charlotte Allen, The Human Christ, 1998, John Dominic Crossan, The Birth of Christianity, 1999 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 RA-4-19990501 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-05-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource Jesus Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Free Spirit Journal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on May 1, 1999 entitled "Jesus", it appeared in Free Spirit, Fountain Street Church. Tags: Historical Jesus, Reimagining the Faith, Critical Thinking, Postmodern, Justice. Scripture references: Charlotte Allen, The Human Christ, 1998, John Dominic Crossan, The Birth of Christianity, 1999. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Critical Thinking Historical Jesus Justice PostModern Reimagining the Faith