10 24 538 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e592cd5e187b073ef1b6b1009645d919.pdf fdc65009c5abf87fa904cac9bfc5294d PDF Text Text Day 243. by windoworks Because apparently thats Trump’s game plan. Yesterday was the best day. It was sunny and warm and we drove to the Muskegon State Park and drank coffee and looked at the wide, sparkling expanse of Lake Michigan. There were a few other cars in the parking lot and we all smiled at each other. After we had finished our coffee, Craig went for a walk along the shoreline and found this: �Then we came home and our neighbors were doing chores in the sunshine and chatting and joking over the side fences. We talked to Zoe and Oliver via FaceTime, and then I FaceTimed Zar. Zar said it was the happiest he’d seen me look in months. All in all, a good day, the sort of day that I remember from before the pandemic. And then this morning the news feeds are full of Trump’s Last Stand. His maliciousness is brimming over and we in the country; Democrats, Republicans and Independents are prisoner to his rage. Here’s this: �I wish this was how he was, but that’s a visual of Anderson Cooper’s words. Instead, Trump is planning to hold rallies across the country and mount even more lawsuits, seeing his first 10 were quickly laughed out of court. What bothers me most is that only 2 prominent sitting Republicans have said anything at all supporting Biden’s conclusive win. New York Times: Only two Republican senators — Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — have acknowledged Biden’s win. “At some point, truth, freedom and democracy have to ascend,” Romney said, “and you step aside.” All the rest of the Republicans are under the thumb of Godfather Trump who is vowing to run the Republican Party forever. Here’s a really distressing example of what might unfold over the next 72 days until Biden and Harris are formally sworn in. Washington Post: A Trump administration appointee is refusing to sign a letter allowing President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team to formally begin its work this week, in another sign the incumbent president has not acknowledged Biden’s victory and could disrupt the transfer of power. �The administrator of the General Services Administration, the low-profile agency in charge of federal buildings, has a little-known role when a new president is elected: to sign paperwork officially turning over millions of dollars, as well as give access to government officials, office space in agencies and equipment authorized for the taxpayer-funded transition teams of the winner. It amounts to a formal declaration by the federal government, outside of the media, of the winner of the presidential race. But by Sunday evening, almost 36 hours after media outlets projected Biden as the winner, GSA Administrator Emily Murphy had written no such letter. And the Trump administration, in keeping with the president’s failure to concede the election, has no immediate plans to sign one. This could lead to the first transition delay in modern history, except in 2000, when the Supreme Court decided a recount dispute between Al Gore and George W. Bush in December. Because we did! Craig and I and Elle my niece and Zar, my son. And hundreds more, all across America and the rest of the world - I’ve seen the video clips, I’ve heard the cheering. I’ve watched the video of the Native American man who got out of his car in a busy street somewhere in New Mexico and performed a celebration dance while all the cars and people around him whistled, cheered and honked their horns. Remember when Trump was elected and after the horror and shock wore off, we all hoped that he would rise to the occasion and become a reasonable, responsible man, using his enormous power wisely? So why should we imagine he would be gracious or even compliant in defeat. Last week he said this: �But of course that’s just another lie, one of 22,247 lies in 1,316 days - and that figure was from August 27. Since then he hasaveraged 50 more lies a day. �Ah, the virus. Yesterday’s count is not up (because Sunday) but CNN has recorded 105, 927 new cases and with that, the US tips over 10M cases. Doctors and researchers are saying they cannot understand why people are failing to understand the importance of mask wearing, physical distance and hand washing. They also cannot understand why people who have been alerted by contact tracers and advised of their close contact with a person who has tested positive and is displaying covid symptoms - they cannot understand why these people won’t isolate for 14 days but go happily back out into society and possibly spread the virus further. They are now saying that sociologists will have to explain it. Well, why are they surprised when Trump re entered society, maskless, after 3 days. I’m going to stop there as I can feel the steam coming out my ears. �And here’s a piece from NPR: "To build an effective government ready to address the urgent needs of our great country, the new president will have to recruit 4,000 political appointees, including 1,250 who require Senate confirmation; prepare a $4.7 trillion budget; implement a strong policy agenda; and assume leadership of a workforce of 2 million civilian employees and 2 million active duty and reserve troops," said the leaders of the bipartisan Center for Presidential Transition in a statement on Sunday. A daunting task in the best of circumstances. CNN Health: With 42 states reporting at least 10% more new Covid-19 cases this past week, according to JHU, an emergency physician at Brown University warns that the United States is "heading into the very worst of this pandemic." "We're about to see all of these little epidemics across the country, crossed and mixed, and it's going to be an awful lot like pouring gasoline on a fire," Dr. Megan Ranney told CNN's Fredricka Whitfield Sunday. And also from CNN Health: President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris say they will move the US Covid-19 pandemic response in a dramatically different direction. “The pandemic is getting significantly more worrisome all across the country," Biden said on Friday. "I want everyone to know on day one, we're going to put our plan to control this virus into action." There were dauntingly high new case numbers last week, and by the time Biden takes office January 20, the influential University of Washington Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation model projects there will be more than 372,000 Covid-19 deaths -- that's 135,000 more than the current total. So here we are. A despotic, insane fat man with delusions of grandeur is refusing to even acknowledge his loss and that his time is over; a capable, honest team ready to try and address the hundreds of egregious actions taken by the Orange Buffoon; the world leaders across the world willing and eager to work with sane US leaders again; and an unknown rabid Trump supporter in a little known government position, refusing to write the transition letter which unlocks the funding for a smooth transition - which apparently Trump has to sign. Good luck with that. 72 days. In the words of Bette Davis in All about Eve. Fasten your seat belts. Its gonna be a bumpy ride. ���Everyone - put your hands in the air, like you just don’t care. � 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_2020-11-09_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-243 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-09 Title A name given to the resource Day 243 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1a8117a3eaa9450e6dc2cf8594139b63.pdf 69764e2e576350796fd9cd4e21b1ac42 PDF Text Text Day 242: oh happy day! by windoworks And this is the way it ends. Not with a bang but with a WI/MI/PA. My fellow Americans, the people of this nation have spoken. They have delivered us a clear victory. A convincing victory. A victory for “We the People.” We have won with the most votes ever cast for a presidential ticket in the history of this nation -- 74 million. I am humbled by the trust and confidence you have placed in me. I pledge to be a President who seeks not to divide, but to unify. Who doesn’t see Red and Blue states, but a United States. And who will work with all my heart to win the confidence of the whole people. For that is what America is about: The people. And that is what our Administration will be about. Joe Biden President-Elect of the United States of America And just like that, Trump begins to fade into the background. I am sure he will try to say the results are rigged and he actually won - but no he didn’t. Joe Biden has won 290 electoral college votes - 20 more than he needed. All across the country people celebrated by dancing in the streets and making a joyful noise. I was watching the news feed on my phone and suddenly the Associated Press called it. Craig and I �danced together on our front porch under our rainbow flag. My niece Elle danced in the dark and the rain with a lantern in Cornwall, England. And then we all cried. We all cried for a promise of sanity and reason, for an end to trampling all over proper rules and restrictions. Cried for an end to abolishing carefully thought out procedures and regulations to such things as clean air etc. And lastly, we cried for the 238K Americans - mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandmothers, grandfathers, sons, daughters, cousins and friends who have died, alone and struggling to breathe, because the President of the United States didn’t know how to do his job. In the Truman library there is a sign which President Truman kept on his desk during his presidency. It reads: The buck stops here. It means that the President has to make the decisions and accept the ultimate responsibility for those decisions. Just in case anyone forgot, here are some of Trumps most famous quotes when speaking of the virus “It is what it is”; Its rounding a corner”; “Its just going to fade away”; “I lied about how bad it was because I didn’t want people to panic”. I think the buck slipped off his slimy shoulders and landed on the floor. NBC News LONDON — Sighs of relief rippled through the capitals of the United States' traditional allies Saturday after Joe Biden became president-elect. Many leaders have been battered by four years of the convention-smashing President Donald Trump, and see in Biden a counterpart who will try and return America onto a path of multilateralism and international cooperation. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who had a fraught relationship with Trump, was among the first world leaders to issue a statement congratulating Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris. “Our two countries are close friends, partners, and allies. We share a relationship that’s unique on the world stage," Trudeau wrote. "I’m really looking forward to working together and building on that with you both.” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo was less diplomatic. "Welcome back America!" she wrote on Twitter. "Congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for their election!" German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas welcomed the "clear figures" that propelled Biden to victory. “We look forward to working with the next U.S. government. We want to invest in our cooperation for a new transatlantic beginning, a new deal," he wrote on Twitter. Relations with NATO, and in particular Germany, were strained under Trump, so a new U.S. leader will be greeted warmly by many in the military alliance. From a friend on FaceBook: �I hear that Trump's legal squad has tried to spin up some lawsuits claiming voter fraud, and that courts have been throwing the cases out due to lack of evidence. I think it's adorable that Trump honestly thinks he can just claim something and we're all just supposed to go along with it. I wish I could be in the room when someone has to sit down the current US President and explain to him how "evidence" and "burden of proof" works. And, �Last night, having discovered that my streaming TV allows me to watch news in real time, Craig and I watched Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris and President-Elect Joe Biden speak on an outdoor stage in Wilmington, Delaware. People sat on the tops of their cars before the stage and cheered and waved flags and even though you couldn’t see their smiles through their masks - their eyes said it all. Kamala Harris came onstage entirely dressed in white in a nod to the suffragettes who fought so tenaciously for the right to vote. I know you all know she is the first Black Indian woman to be elected to the office of the vice presidency. Here’s something she said that resonated with women across America: �This morning Joe and Kamala are beginning to work. Sadly Joe cannot enact any orders or programs until January 20, but he is already putting together a task force of (gasp!) scientists and experts to work on a virus strategy. As he has said (and Dr Fauci): we have to work on getting the virus under control to allow us to work on the economy. And speaking of the virus: yesterday the US recorded 12,156 new cases bringing the case numbers to a total of 9,96M - and that’s just up to yesterday. There were 1,013 new deaths bringing the total number of deaths to 238K. �In Michigan, there were 6,283 new cases yesterday, bringing the total case numbers to 229K. There were 60 new deaths bringing that total to 7,943. In Kent County there were 447 new cases bringing the total number of cases to 18,993. There were 2 new deaths bringing that total to 209 deaths altogether. I’m starting to wonder if it is just spreading through the air. Two days ago in Denmark, the authorities ordered the slaughter of all farmed minks, (17 million) as they had detected a mutant form of coronavirus in the minks which was transmittable to humans. The more troubling question here, is what does this mean for vaccine efficacy? And this: �So Oliver has found his voice and he never stops “talking”. I have an adorable video of him walking across the grass to 2 ducks, shouting “duck, duck, duck” all the way - but its too big to attach. So you’ll have to make do with this instead. ��To finish, here is the happiest news of all: See you tomorrow - and be careful out there. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-08_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-242 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-08 Title A name given to the resource Day 242 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6847dfcdfaee2974115ccf768acb9aa1.pdf ca87af5d26027549e7001c4312a94fa3 PDF Text Text Day 241. Saturday November 7 ……and they’re still counting by windoworks All indications are that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be our next President and Vice President. In Trump World, people have begun to resign, saying falsely “Its been my privilege, yada, yada, yada”, while other people say: who cares - and who are you? Biden is already ramping up his transmission team while being entirely surrounded by a ramped up 24 hour security team. In an unsurprising development, Mark Meadows, Trump’s Chief of Staff, has tested positive for Covid-19. Because the administration and the White House learnt absolutely nothing from the Rose Garden superspreader event. To at least half of all Americans, news/confabulation from the current White House has reached that - Really? But how’s the vote count going? moment. Sadly, with the avid Trumpers, their anger, rampant racism (and every other negative thing you can think of) are becoming more and more obvious and blatant. You know, soon this will be over and all indications are that Biden/Harris will be �declared winners. And then all those with opposing yard signs and flags living right next door to each other, will have to find a way to live together again, on the same street. Will this happen? I don’t know. My family in Australia have wondered why Joe Biden was chosen as the Democratic candidate. Surely there was someone younger and more charismatic they asked. Trump was initially thought of as charismatic and look how well that turned out. I believe Joe Biden is the steady hand on the tiller, the kind, compassionate man who listens to both sides and tries to get the opposing sides to find a middle ground that all can live with. Someone who thinks before he speaks and sleeps at night, rather than twitterstorming arrant and destructive nonsense all night long. As a friend said; I want a president that I don’t have to think about every moment of every single day. I want a president who will let me get on with my life. Hear! Hear! Thats what I want too. In ever frightening daily virus news, the US recorded 132,797 new cases yesterday. I have heard predictions that that number may double going forward. Here in Kent County and adjacent Ottawa County, numbers are beginning to spiral upwards. The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (close to Detroit) has asked all students to return home at Thanksgiving (Thursday November 26) and not return to the campus. I think they are planning all online classes for the winter semester. At GVSU, half of one of Craig’s classes have tested positive. GVSU will close at Thanksgiving and most students will return home to stay until the end of the winter semester in April. There are still some international students who have been living at GVSU since March and they are still unable to return to their homes. The state of Michigan recorded 4,287 new cases yesterday and 50 deaths. Kent County - 388 new cases and 8 new deaths, Ottawa County (where GVSU is located) recorded 225 new cases yesterday - at least double the usual daily numbers. At a Thursday afternoon briefing alongside the governor, Michigan’s chief medical executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun said she was “very concerned” about the state of the outbreak. “We are really at a tipping point right now when it comes to COVID-19 in the state,” she said. “Our rates are rising exponentially and we have general community spread.” She said the state’s numbers of new cases daily are now five times higher than in early September. While every region of the state is seeing more cases, the worst figures are in Southwest Michigan, West Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. The percentage of positive tests each day has been rising for five weeks, with the seven-day average now above 8%. Public health officials say a rate below 3% shows community spread is controlled. Khaldun said in about half the cases investigated, the patients have no idea where they picked up the virus. And one of Craig’s students tested positive and she has no idea where she picked up the virus. But she and her 3 housemates now have to isolate. �People are beginning to wonder what the world will look like after the pandemic subsides. Here’s 8 predictions from Columbia Threadneedle Investments: PEAK GLOBALIZATION Companies will start to think more about where stuff comes from — both in terms of consumption and supply chains. They will question over-reliance on certain countries. Diversification of manufacturing could mean changes in manufacturers’ capital spending. CASH TO CARD ACCELERATES The use of credit cards could grow as people are forced to shift from offline to online shopping and as many physical stores no longer accept cash for hygiene purposes. HEALTH AND HYGIENE Rules and regulations will step up, particularly in China where pressure will grow to regulate its food industry given the source of the virus outbreaks. We’re also likely to see more telehealth, including mental health coaching and video-based medical consultations. Issues like antibiotic resistance and other global health challenges could get more attention now that the world understands the economic impact of health crises. WORKING FROM HOME BECOMES MORE ACCEPTED Companies are now forced to enable working from home, and it could become a more acceptable way of working. This has implications for computer equipment and cloud computing investment, as well as commercial real estate and travel, as companies evaluate their need for office space and business trips. PERCEPTIONS THAT TECH AND PHARMA ARE SHIFTING We’ve all relied heavily on technology platforms, including social media, during the isolation period. In the longer term, tech firms will benefit from stronger user growth and rising engagement, while privacy concerns and government attacks may diminish. Pharmaceutical companies may also see a less adversarial environment as they work to develop drugs and therapies to address COVID-19. ONLINE CONSUMPTION GROWS Online consumption is rising, especially for groceries, education and broader retail. What started out of necessity for many may perhaps become the norm. This is likely to accelerate certain trends already occurring within retail (e.g., fewer physical locations) and online grocery delivery (which was already growing 100% year-over-year for some retailers).1 The set of online experiences is also likely to grow — many gyms are switching to streaming exercise classes, and many schools and universities have shifted to online courses. It’s possible that these changes could become permanent. RISE OF THE GREEN AGENDA Countries are now seeing the benefits of cleaner air and waterways, and they may try to find ways to �maintain these positive changes post-outbreak. Boosted by fiscal stimulus, we might see a greater push for the green agenda and rising investment in things like renewable energy and electric vehicle infrastructure. THE RISE OF MORAL CAPITALISM Companies may have a fundamental reset and look more toward their purpose like their impact on the environment, their customers, community, employees and the supply chain. Corporate scrutiny may also accelerate in a post-COVID-19 world. So there we are. Lots to think about. Is it Oliver time yet? ��His sleeves are rolled up because the cars are sitting in pink goop. Don’t ask me, I’m only the grandmother. A word from the scientists (you know, those highly educated people who know stuff and update their knowledge every single day) don’t line your nostrils with hand sanitizer it will not stop you breathing in the virus droplets. Don’t spray sanitizer in the air over your dinner party food. It won’t help and it will make the turkey taste funny. And hopefully, this: �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-07_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-241 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-07 Title A name given to the resource Day 241 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6bbd3a4421fa20df6fb6b643bcb0524e.pdf 8fff3c7da1d65630fd9f3a5cc16d2096 PDF Text Text Day 240 by windoworks Every morning , after breakfast, Craig takes the dog out for a long walk and I sit in bed and write this post. And each morning it is harder to write than the day before. I persevere though, because months and months ago, I applied to have this blog saved in the Pandemic Archive at Grand Valley State University and it was accepted. Every week, Craig forwards on a weeks worth of the blog and every so often we hear back from the woman collating. She always says thank you and keep them coming (although in more academic terms than that). And that keeps me writing. First because it allows me to shout my feelings (fears and hopes) into the great internet void to be picked up and read by interested browsers; and secondly, because one day, far, far into the future and some researcher is wondering what it was like to live through the 2020-2022 pandemic, there will be my blog to consult. Last night, the supposed leader of the free world, lurched into the press room at the White House and spewed spurious lies and fantasy for 15 minutes. Apparently, the larger proportion of news channels cut away from this event fairly quickly. What a momentous occasion. Whatever happens now, the sitting President is becoming an also-ran, that ranter to whom we all say: yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it all before. How dismissive is that? �Yesterday I read a post that began with this: From a friend: An anguished question from a Trump supporter: ‘Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?’ The writer listed 24 egregious actions/words of President Trump, each followed by his supporters acceptance/approval and then the writer ended the post thus: What you don't get, Trump supporters, is that our succumbing to frustration and shaking our heads, thinking of you as stupid, may very well be wrong and unhelpful, but it's also…hear me…charitable. Because if you're NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and most of them are less flattering. I am so tired of all the vitriol. I watched Stephen Colbert do last night’s opening, standing, and dressed entirely in black. He was visibly upset about the White House press room episode, at one point he took several seconds to get his emotions under control. One of his angriest points was that no Republican had said anything and silence means agreement. I have never seen him do a cold, angry, distressed opening before. Joe Biden spoke again yesterday afternoon and said again - this is a democracy. The people will decide who wins the presidency. As I write this, this morning, there are 3 states still in flux. If Biden wins one of them, he wins the presidency. �It has been a long four years. It has been especially hard because Barack Obama was such a decent man. But that is when the divide in the country began to show itself. One half of the country loved and admired Obama, and the other half of the country were speechless that a black man - a black man! should have the audacity to run for the highest office in the land - and succeed! And then along came Donald - and you know the rest. And right in the middle of the pandemic, he is quietly taking away civil service rights and protections, which will allow him to fire Dr Fauci; he’s stripped away protections from Alaska’s Tonga’s National Forest - one of the world’s largest intact temperate rain forests. But here’s the thing: the logging industry in Alaska has now declined almost completely - and no company is really eager to start logging again, as far as I can tell. Now to the virus. Its not just on the increase in the US but all over Europe. However, the US is in a terrible position. Here are the stats for today, and once again, I suggest you sit down. The US recorded 121,504 new cases yesterday. Thats a staggering number. And thats only the people who were tested. The real figure might be ten times that number. We added 1,108 deaths in the US yesterday. Just so we all understand - that’s 1,108 people who probably died on a ventilator in a hospital room, perhaps totally alone or perhaps with a nurse who was covered in so much PPE, they had to have a photo of themselves on their chest so patients could tell if it was a man or a woman. And then their body was probably placed in a refrigerated truck until the overwhelmed undertakers could collect it and give it some sort of burial or cremation. As Anna Navarro said on The View: a relative drops their loved one off at the ER - and never sees them again. In Michigan, our governor has asked the predominantly Republican legislature to help write a state mandate for the wearing of masks outside the home. If they won’t work with her, she will have to enlist the help of the Michigan State Health Department. They have the ability to issue such an order - but it would hold a lot more clout if it came from the State. In Michigan we had 6,010 new cases yesterday and 50 more deaths. Remember how the experts said the deaths would begin to increase after a week or so? And lastly, here is Kent County (and I almost can’t type this) we had 633 new cases and 5 more deaths yesterday. In one day. The hospitals are either full or almost full and they are discussing setting up a field hospital in one of the large empty venues downtown. The Michigan Health Department had issued an order asking all restaurants and cafes to have their patrons sign in to facilitate contact tracing, but apparently that was either too hard, or a violation of a customers rights. Aaaaaagggghhhh! And to demonstrate just how hard this is for brew pubs, restaurants and cafes, a week ago, on the day that Harmony Hall was to reopen after months of being closed, a staff member tested positive. So both Harmony Hall and Harmony Brewing closed. Yesterday Harmony Brewing was able to open again but another staff member at Harmony Hall tested positive, so that venue remains closed. �If you were wondering, I have visited my dermatologists so frequently that even the receptionist knows me by name. The wound is slowly improving and just as I became adept at sponge baths, I am now allowed to shower again. Yippee! And here is Oliver at daycare, reading a book. ���Before I leave you today, I’ll remind you that no matter what Trump says, the virus is not rounding a corner, and if it is, its rounding a corner and increasing exponentially. So mask up! Wash you hands! Stay far, far apart from others outside. ��� 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_2020-11-06_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-240 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-06 Title A name given to the resource Day 240 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ffda4ce6b9e5c347b23deeed83304466.pdf fe06468e50adcd09882c1b8bfe4d0fa6 PDF Text Text Day 239 by windoworks New York Times This is a dark and dangerous moment for American democracy. A sitting president has spent months telling lies about non-existent voter fraud. Now that his re-election bid is in deep trouble — but with the outcome still uncertain — he has unleashed a new torrent of falsehoods claiming that the other side cheated. He has demanded the Supreme Court intervene to decide the election in his favor. His supporters are staging protests in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania meant to interfere with legitimate vote counting. In Phoenix, some have showed up at the State Capitol with guns (as you can see in this short video taken by my colleague Simon Romero). The worst democratic outcome — in which judges appointed by the president’s political party intervene to overrule the apparent will of voters — seems likely to be avoided. The Supreme Court has shown no signs of halting vote counts, and Joe Biden’s leads in the decisive states may end up being large enough to avoid the election hinging on the sort of ballot-counting minutiae (like hanging chads) that decided the 2000 result in Florida. �But President Trump’s actions are still causing significant damage. They undermine his supporters’ faith in the country’s government. They also undermine the credibility of the United States around the world. And they force election officials, journalists and social-media platforms to choose between telling the truth and sounding nonpartisan; it is impossible to do both about Trump’s election claims. In the simplest terms, the president of the United States is attacking American democracy in an effort to remain in office. And with that, my (renamed) fact file is empty. This is the state of play. In Michigan and Arizona, Trump supporters have surrounded the vote counting centers with guns (of course) and are shouting ‘stop counting votes’ because, as we all know, if you don’t count them, you won’t hear the will of the people. �Yesterday I watched Joe Biden speak, calmly and quietly. He emphasized several times that elections are by We the People. Presidents are chosen by We the People. Governments govern by the will of We the People. At the same time, Democratic supporters have mounted demonstrations and are shouting ‘Keep counting’. This has become a deeply divided country. There is talk resurfacing of letting the civil war play out as apparently the outcome was never resolved. There is also talk of dividing this country formally into Blue States of America and Red States of America. There is a lot of talk about let’s try to understand the other side. Let’s talk to each other. Be kind. I would just like to say that I have striven all my life to be kind and I hope I have achieved some measure of it. But now I am asked to be kind to people who refuse to wear a mask and consider me a sheepie for doing as I was asked. To make overtures to people who decided that �the best thing for Michigan in an uncontrolled pandemic was to take away our Governor’s executive powers because closing the state down in a perilous situation where doing so might mitigate the rising virus numbers - was a gross overreach of her authority. Because their right to absolute freedom far outweighed my right to stay healthy and safe. Lets see how close Trumpers are prepared to come to meet us. Compromise only works when both sides meet in the middle. I believe that this is how life works - try to meet in the imperfect but livable middle. But of course Trump has taught his followers well. Their rights are always paramount and greed is good. I have often wondered how the religious right equate Trump beliefs with those of Jesus, who is always held up to their congregations as the gold standard of Christianity . Maybe they’ve erased those portions of the Bible which show him as a compassionate man. But, religion is a discussion for another day. And all the while, the virus keeps creeping, sliding into every careless and unguarded nook and cranny. Tell us the stats for today, Pamela, I hear you ask. Well okay, but I think you better sit down first. Yesterday the US recorded 107,771 new cases. 107,771. The US case total is now 9.58M. Deaths recorded yesterday: 1,616. The total deaths from Covid-19 in the US now number 234K. Lets visualize 234,000 small heart flags in a lawn, one for each death. How far would those flags reach if they were 12 inches apart? We are reaching that moment when the numbers become unimaginable, simply too big to grasp properly. In Michigan there were 4,327 new cases recorded yesterday and 25 new deaths. In Kent County (where Craig and I live) there were 463 new cases and 3 new deaths. So here we are. In some states they are again utilizing freezer trucks to contain the bodies as morgues are once more overwhelmed. Hospitals have begun converting surgical wards into Covid wards in an attempt to manage the influx of positive patients. Scientists are researching and discussing long term effects such heart problems, fatigue etc. And there is a disturbing theory emerging that one of the long term effects may be the development of Parkinson’s Disease. The virus has become this unseen enemy, lurking around every corner. My friends and I are all sequestered inside our houses, communicating online or by phone. This is the tenuous thread that holds us all together. So here is Oliver, come to cheer us all up. ��Every morning I wonder what I will have to write about and every morning, somehow, I write. This is always as true an account of the day as I can find. Stay well, stay safe and always, stay kind. � 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_2020-11-05_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-239 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-05 Title A name given to the resource Day 239 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a154c8f9b78d814ae40e3c7333091aaf.pdf 0b21c4937c5a9388e52eb3afac7a183c PDF Text Text Day 238 by windoworks ��That says it all really. I think I had 12 stories from the Washington Post in my inbox this morning. I didn’t read them. But here’s what I think. The fact that it is so close is enormously disturbing to me. Almost half of all voters voted for Trump. Yesterday the BBC interviewed 2 women waiting in line to vote in Detroit. They happily told the interviewer that they were voting for Trump because they just loved him. They had no idea of his policies (slash and burn, I think), but they just loved him and said every time he talks he speaks straight to me. And that’s the most heartbreakingly depressing thought to me. I ask myself - what has happened to America? But I know the answer. Trump leads half of America to believe that he will take them back to that magical time of the 1950s. That time when immigrants and colored people knew their place - well and truly at the bottom. That magical time when every sitcom was about a middle class middle American white family. Where women knew their place - barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. Where the biggest goal in any woman’s life was to find a good husband who provided well. And where every ugly thing was hidden, swept under the carpet and never acknowledged. Where the rich got richer and the poor struggled on with the Republicans calling them lazy and ignorant. So here we are, and it isn’t over yet. New York Times has Biden just ahead and Trump starting to call fraud. The number of yet to be counted absentee ballots in the 8 uncalled states is enormous and anything could happen. But my heart has gone out of the race. Think of every negative human belief and trait and then think that almost half or more Americans ascribe to that. Yesterday I FaceTimed with my brotherin-law in Sydney Australia. He expressed what the rest of the world must be thinking: isn’t the US such a joke now? My oldest son in New Zealand said it was like a real life comedy show that New Zealanders are thoroughly enjoying as they read the latest news from the States. �I cannot sufficiently express my disappointment. Shame on all the people who voted for Trump and his acolytes. Mitch McConnell easily (easily) won his seat. Its a wonder anyone can find him in his D.C. office, the pile of unseen House bills not brought before the Senate must reach to the ceiling by now. And thats a really sore point for me - I have been on a number of boards and there have been occasions when a board member has presented a proposal that few board members supported, but at least it was presented to the whole board for voting. It would be fair if all those House bills had been presented to the Senate but not supported - thats how a government is supposed to work. �This morning Canada has announced that they are looking for 400,000 immigrants per year for the next 3 years - so there’s that light at the end of the tunnel. And Canada has managed the virus MUCH better than here. Ahhh, the virus. So half America believes (a) that we’re rounding a corner and (b) if you get it, it’ll be just some sniffles, nothing more. In our conversation yesterday, my brother in law asked if Trump really had Covid. At this point, I’m pretty sure he didn’t. I think of that episode as Trump theater. Unfortunately Walter Reed Hospital is the loser in this event - I wouldn’t go there for treatment if I was bleeding out on the sidewalk outside. And lets be real - if Chris Christie (similar weight and health issues) got the virus at the same time and from the same event and ended up in hospital for a week on oxygen and is still convalescing at home - then Trump didn’t have a 3 day episode of Covid. He had pretend Covid. But, how is real America doing? Stats: in a very scary week the US has swung between 91,000+ - 99,000+ cases a day. In Michigan we had 3,664 new cases yesterday and Kent County had 361 new cases, continuing its 300 - 400+ daily average. Kent County also had 4 deaths yesterday which I believe is the most number of deaths in a single day since March. Grand Valley State University raised its alert level to High, one step below critical. In Craig’s online classes yesterday, 4 students have been quarantined. In Kent County, the percentage of positive cases reached 15.2% yesterday - higher than any other Michigan County. The virus is creeping closer to us, house by house. The internet and the telephone remain my only contacts. I am truly at a loss for words. As I write this, this came into my newsfeed: Washington Post: For four years, President Trump has sought to undermine the institutions of a democratic society, but never so blatantly as in the early morning hours of Wednesday. His attempt to falsely claim victory and to subvert the election itself by calling for a halt to vote-counting represents the gravest of threats to the stability of the country. Millions of votes remain to be counted, votes cast legally under the laws of the states. Until they are all counted, the outcome of the election remains in doubt. Either he or former vice president Joe Biden could win an electoral college majority, but neither has yet done so, no matter what he says. Those are the facts, for which the president shows no respect. A president who respected the Constitution would let things play out. But Trump has shown once again he cares not about the Constitution or the stability and well-being of the country or anything like that. He cares only about himself and retaining the powers he now holds. And so he cries “fraud” when there is no evidence whatsoever of any such thing. And yes, this brings the tears to my eyes. The United States of America is no longer a beacon of hope to the world. Some other country will have to assume that mantle. No words. No words. No words. � 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_2020-11-04_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-238 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-04 Title A name given to the resource Day 238 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/01979a79443ae1498576da047a1d5ec0.pdf 77ac7a840229d436616a537d996c5ed6 PDF Text Text Day 237. Election Day. by windoworks Well here it is. Apparently Trump held his final rally at the Gerald R Ford Airport in Grand Rapids last night around 10:30pm. Earlier in the evening a police car with lights flashing and siren blaring came racing down our block and almost hit Craig as he was turning the car into our driveway. It didn’t take �long to find out why there were so many sirens - a drive by shooting outside Wealthy Market. The victim sustained a head injury and was in critical condition in hospital last night. My neighbors remember a time when you automatically locked your car doors when driving down Wealthy, but in 17 years, I’ve never felt the need. Yesterday my neighbor was picking up some supplies at a hardware store and 2 men with long beards walked through the store, maskless, and glowering at everyone. In the afternoon we went to the grocery store to buy bread for the freezer, and the customers were buying cartloads of groceries. I have never heard the term ‘hunker down’ used so frequently before. So, just because its 2020, I had to go to the dermatologist’s office yesterday. To back up: about a year ago I noticed a small hard object on the edge of my groin. My dermatologist said: its nothing, just a cyst - and its common among athletes (Flattering but no). If it changes, call me. Well, 10 days ago, it changed. It got much bigger, inflamed and sore. I was supposed to see the doctor on Friday but the appointment was mysteriously postponed to yesterday. Then yesterday the appointment was moved to later in the afternoon and with my doctors PA (Physicians Assistant). This rescheduling all came about because some of the staff at the practice tested positive. So, nervously double masked (damn, its harder to breathe with 2 masks on), in I went. Many small injections of painkiller and 20 minutes of the PA carefully removing all traces of the cyst etc, etc. she then packed the wound with a string soaked in antibiotic and iodine. I must point out that she and her assisting nurse had on double masks and she had a disposable jacket on, gloves and a face shield as well. When the painkillers wore off, OUCH, and it is painful this morning. At lunchtime I go back to the practice and she will remove the string (Eeeeww). Then a last visit on Friday to make sure all is going well. In the meantime I’m taking more antibiotics and with these ones you can’t lie down for an hour after taking, and no dairy foods for 2 hours afterwards. Lovely. �The polls opened at 7am and people were already lined up. I have gotten a number of posts saying ‘If you are in line at 8pm and the polls close, STAY IN LINE. You can still vote’. And here’s a handy voter protection chart. �My newsfeed is full of predictions and warnings. Here’s this: Washington Post: President Trump is signaling that Election Day could be followed by a stretch of uncertainty and chaos as a purge of top officials, legal challenges to election results and potential �resistance to a normal transition cloud the prospects for an orderly post-election period no matter who wins. Among the possible scenarios is a quick effort to fire or sideline Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, whose prominence and increasingly pointed criticism of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic have angered the president. Trump, speaking at a rally in Ohio recently, openly suggested that he might throw a wrench in the transition process if Biden prevails, making unfounded claims that his own transition was undermined. “They ask me, ‘If you lose, will there be a friendly transition?’ Well, when I won, did they give me a friendly transition?” Trump said. “They spied on my campaign. They did all this stuff. That was not a friendly transition.” Trump has also complained about mail-in voting, erroneously casting much of it as fraudulent and falsely claiming that it is unusual or dangerous to continue counting ballots after Election Day. That has prompted a frustrated reaction from Biden. “What country are we in?” he said when Trump declined to commit to a peaceful transition. “Look, he says the most irrational things. I don’t know what to say.” Biden’s team is preparing for the possibility that Trump, should he lose, would block hundreds of Biden officials from gaining access to government resources as required by law. Top Biden transition members have discussed potential legal responses and are eyeing other ways, should Biden win the election, to begin what could be one of the most volatile transfers of power in American history, occurring at a moment when the economy is in shambles, coronavirus cases are on the rise and emotions are raw after a divisive election. More than 100M Americans have already voted. That is a staggering number. Does it foretell a change? Who can say. �Meanwhile, in ongoing senseless acts of desecration, this happened at a local Jewish cemetary: �Who knows what will happen today, or tonight, or in the days to come. There is fear and uncertainty all around. And all the while, the pandemic surges ahead, sweeping everything aside in its path. Remember I said no statistics on Sunday? Michigan had 6,634 new cases by yesterday and Kent County had 720 new cases bringing us to a total of 15,715 cases. I am beginning to hear about people I know who are sick. Crooked Media President Trump suggested at one of his superspreading rallies that he might fire Dr. Anthony Fauci after the election, after Fauci told the Washington Post that the U.S. “could not possibly be positioned more poorly” for the fall and winter. Here’s just a glimpse of what Trump has personally contributed to that poor positioning: A Stanford University study estimated that Trump’s rallies were directly linked to at least 30,000 infections and 700 deaths—and that’s before Trump went into campaign overdrive during the �last few weeks of accelerating outbreaks. In the great tradition of ending one’s campaign by killing a few more people closer to home, Trump reportedly plans to hold an indoor election-night party at the White House, with some 400 guests. Apropos of nothing, this is a great article on how Trump set the stage for a catastrophic White House outbreak (from the reporter who made that outbreak public), and this is another on how we might still learn more about the White House cluster through genetic sequencing. And from Washington Post: A top White House coronavirus adviser sounded alarms Monday about a new and deadly phase in the health crisis, pleading with top administration officials for “much more aggressive action,” even as President Trump continues to assure rallygoers the nation is “rounding the turn” on the pandemic. “We are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic … leading to increasing mortality,” said the Nov. 2 report from Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force. “This is not about lockdowns — It hasn’t been about lockdowns since March or April. It’s about an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented.” Birx’s internal report, shared with top White House and agency officials, contradicts Trump on numerous points: While the president holds large campaign events with hundreds of attendees, most without masks, she explicitly warns against them. While the president blames rising cases on more testing, she says testing is “flat or declining” in many areas where cases are rising. And while Trump says the country is “rounding the turn,” Birx notes the country is entering its most dangerous period yet and will see more than 100,000 new cases a day this week. Does anyone else keep thinking about Nero fiddling while Rome burned? Like a light burning brightly in the darkness, here comes Oliver to lighten up your day - because who can resist this cutie? ����We’re on the razor’s edge and peering into the Great Unknown. Wherever you are, stay safe and hold fast! Tomorrow then. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-03_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-237 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-03 Title A name given to the resource Day 237 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a9fdf2a51a5ac0dd82e3bac8b820d11d.pdf 76ee46dbce91ffcb3cb3698c5e283635 PDF Text Text Day 236. The election eve. by windoworks ��It has arrived. Tomorrow the United States decides who will be our president for the next 4 years and who will hold the balance of power in the House and Senate. There are mad scrambles by the Republican Party to find Republican judges in various states to overturn thousands of mail in ballots. In Texas a judge threw this case out, so today the party has asked another more sympathetic judge to hear their case. Here’s an opinion piece from Washing Post about covertigo which resonated with me. Every day is Blursday. While we’ve been struggling through the pandemic, another malady has swooped down on us. It has no official name — so let’s just call it covertigo. It feels like a loss of balance in a world spinning out of control. Years from now, psychologists will surely have a better name for this collective fog. In some cases, it can be serious. There are clear indications that rates of depression, anxiety, loneliness, unmanageable anger and the threat of self-harm are on the uptick. We are feeling wobbly and off balance in part because norms have been shattered and far too many lives have been lost. Even friends who are still with us are lost to us in other ways if they root for the wrong team. Covertigo is not just an outgrowth of our politics. It’s an outgrowth of the current brand of politics practiced by the man who lives in the White House. When constant lying becomes part of the daily discourse, it’s no wonder that our sense of reality is distorted. In the last days of campaigning to hold on to an office he does not deserve, the president is claiming that hospitals earn more money when patients die of covid-19 — a reprehensible lie. He is still claiming that the United States has rounded a corner even as infection rates are surging in nearly all 50 states. And he is continuing to hold massive rallies in defiance of common sense and best practices. Covid-19 has spiked in several townships and cities following Trump rallies. This is a man who is not interested in stability, and his rhetoric and actions show he is not tethered to reality. �I think I passed overwhelming some weeks ago. Sometimes as I research and cut and paste words into my fact file (it has stopped being big and fat), I have an out of body experience. I feel as though this is a tale I am somehow caught up in - like those mazes where you cannot find the way out. Hampton Court in England has a maze and it features a panic button. You press the button and a doorway opens to let you out of the maze. But there is no way out of our situation. We are stuck waiting for tomorrow to dawn and hoping - when the votes are all counted, it might be over. I cannot explain how high my anxiety level is. I am not a weak woman, I have striven to be strong all my life, but nothing has challenged me like this. On FaceBook I cannot look at friends posts where they have their faces pressed together (friends and relatives) and are smiling at the camera. I know they are smiling because they’re not wearing masks. I ask myself - are all those 20 or so people in the same bubble? Are they safe or are they at risk? And then the answer comes to me and this I know to be shamefully true: I don’t care. I have the capacity to care about Craig and myself (and Murphy our dog, I guess) and to strive to keep the two of us safe. We have been here, in our house, since March 11. This has been our choice. The thought of one of us catching the virus, going to hospital and perhaps dying alone while the other one stays trapped inside our house, is dreadful. I can hear you saying: oh Pamela, that’s a bit over dramatic! No its not. There’s only the �2 of us here in the US. All our family live far away, mostly in countries that handled the virus aggressively, and are maintaining careful contract tracing. Did you know that the US has pretty much given up on contact tracing as the case numbers are so massive, no one has the capacity to trace contacts any more. Instead, virus sufferers are asked to notify their own contacts. I have no stats today as none are ever gathered over the weekend. Don’t ask me, I don’t know. You would think that in this country with all its assets and capabilities, they would be able to tabulate the virus over the weekend. On Friday Kent County had over 400 new cases. There is no end in sight and oh, here’s a really cheering tidbit: New York Times Trump suggested at a rally that he might fire Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, after Election Day. Fauci had told The Washington Post that the U.S. “could not possibly be positioned more poorly” heading into the winter. �And here’s the thing that bothers me. After the election is over, if Trump loses, he will have approximately 2 months to do whatever he likes before Inauguration Day on January 20. �Here’s this from NPR: Americans have cast a record-breaking 93 million early ballots as of Sunday afternoon, putting the 2020 election on track for historic levels of voter turnout. That's almost twice as many pre-election votes as were cast in the 2016 election, according to the U.S. Elections Project, a turnout-tracking database run by University of Florida professor Michael McDonald. McDonald calculates that nationally, voters have cast nearly 68% of the total votes counted in the 2016 election. And if Trump wins (by fair means or foul), I cannot imagine what life will be like. And that’s the point. No one is prepared to believe the polls or the predictions. And all the while, Trump fans continue to intimidate and harass voters. People have had lawn signs stolen or desecrated, online posts have been trolled, Biden car rallies have been threatened by Trumpers. There is such ugliness all around. On Sunday, while the wind howled (really) and the light snow fell all around, we drove out to Lake Michigan to take a break and look at the waves, while we ate our morning tea. Craig got bravely out of the warm car to take these photos: ���Its hard to tell from this perspective but the waves were huge and they were undercutting the beach in front of us. The temperature was right on freezing. We sat and gazed at the waves and the sand blowing hard along the beach, and we thought of nothing at all. It was wonderful. Tomorrow is an unknown country. Who knows what will happen? �Maybe. � 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_2020-11-02_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-236 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-02 Title A name given to the resource Day 236 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d3e440487ea5f740e84ff34e70162f4a.pdf 11b88f0021ec05572ca68ef8d19c01d5 PDF Text Text Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on Stuff Day 235. 2 days. Terra Incognita by windoworks Last night we watched the last Gardeners World for the year. Monty Don and his dogs and his stunningly beautiful garden, Longmeadow, have been a Friday night balm since April. At first he used handheld cameras and his family to film, and then in summer, the BBC laid miles of cables across the garden and installed remote cameras so that he could talk and demonstrate gardening techniques entirely on is own. At the beginning of April, he asked people across the world to send in videos of their gardens and 80,000 people did. Each episode featured several home gardens and many featured young children learning to garden. Monty and his team entertained us, educated us, comforted us and all the while acknowledged what a dreadful year this was. The phrase ‘if you look after your garden, it will look after you’ rang true, week after week. And Monty didn’t care if you lived in an estate or a tiny one bedroom apartment with only windowsills to put your garden on. Even the tiniest collection of potted plants could bring comfort and joy. Winter is almost upon us and I will miss Monty’s kind, smiling face until March or April next year. And yes, I’m crying as I type this. �The Atlantic America’s political schisms are so profound that we risk a repeat of the 1850s, when the country was on the precipice of the Civil War. Two Atlantic writers warn that the 2020s could mark another dangerous decade for the American experiment. This time, the split is between those who embrace the country’s diverse future and those who fear it. Should Donald Trump win, America will enter an 1850s-style death spiral. On the left and right, “extremism will spread, mutate into new forms, and gradually become entrenched in more areas of American life,” Anne Applebaum argues. A Joe Biden victory wouldn't necessarily soothe the nation's wounds. Especially if the GOP deepens “its reliance on the most racially resentful white voters,” Ronald Brownstein writes. So here we are. 2 days out. Here’s what Trump has done: Washington Post An analysis by The Washington Post found that nearly three out of four opinions issued in federal votingrelated cases by judges picked by President Trump were in favor of maintaining limits on voting rules in the 2020 campaign. The pattern shows how Trump’s success installing a record number of judges in his four years in office has played a critical role in determining how people can vote this year and which ballots will be counted. There are many articles predicting chaos after Election Day and a local friend sent me this last night: �Have you heard? Millions of people are planning to protest in the streets if Trump loses the election and refuses to leave office – it's called Protect the Results. This is a coalition of more than 100 organizations that are committed to protecting our democracy if Trump throws our country into a manufactured constitutional crisis. Here's the plan: we will hit the streets in our communities and demand that every vote be counted, even if it takes days or weeks to get an accurate count from critical states, especially given the expansion of mailin and absentee voting during the COVID-19 pandemic. We need to ensure that the loser of the election concedes and that Congress, the Electoral College, and state officials honor the accurate, final vote count. And all the while, the virus is spiraling out of control here in the US. Washington Post President Trump’s repeated assertions the United States is “rounding the turn” on the novel coronavirus have increasingly alarmed the government's top health experts, who say the country is heading into a long and potentially deadly winter with an unprepared government unwilling to make tough choices. “We’re in for a whole lot of hurt. It’s not a good situation,” Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s leading infectious-disease expert, said in a wide-ranging interview late Friday. “All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors. You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.” Fauci, a leading member of the government’s coronavirus response, said the United States needed to make an “abrupt change” in public health practices and behaviors. He said the country could surpass 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day and predicted rising deaths in the coming weeks. He spoke as the nation set a new daily record Friday with more than 98,000 cases. As hospitalizations increase, deaths are also ticking up, with more than 1,000 reported Wednesday and Thursday, bringing the total to more than 230,000 since the start of the pandemic, according to health data analyzed by The Washington Post This morning I watched an earnest plea online from the CEO of Spectrum Health here in West Michigan, asking us to mask up, maintain physical distance and wash our hands. Yesterday Kent County recorded 424 new cases and 1 new death. The graph is going steeply upward to the point it is almost vertical. And here’s what scares me: New York Times Gone are the days when Americans could easily understand the virus by tracking rising case numbers back to discrete sources — the crowded factory, the troubled nursing home, the rowdy bar. Now, there are so many cases, in so many places, that many people are coming to a frightening conclusion: They have no �idea where the virus is spreading. “It’s just kind of everywhere,” said Crystal Watson, a senior scholar at the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who estimated that tracing coronavirus cases becomes difficult once the virus spreads to more than 10 cases per 100,000 people. In some of the hardest-hit spots in the United States, the virus is spreading at 10 to 20 times that rate, and even health officials have all but given up trying to figure out who is giving the virus to whom. Yesterday was Halloween and some houses in Eastown gave out candy in very inventive, safe ways: �����I feel as though we have reached the edge of the known world. In 2 days we will enter uncharted waters and Terra Incognita (unknown lands) lie ahead. I am tired and scared and too mistrustful to really be hopeful. Last night there was another shooting in Grand Rapids. I’ll leave you with this because, somehow, it seems appropriate. I'll send an SOS to the world I'll send an SOS to the world I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my message in a bottle, yeah Message in a bottle. HELP. �� 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_2020-11-01_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-235 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-01 Title A name given to the resource Day 235 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7a2217833ff76281d049f4c3c796e76b.pdf 59843b68759dbaacc3d446e3d11993cd PDF Text Text Day 17,459 – oh all right, Day 234. by windoworks ��What does this map mean, Pamela? It means this: • On Friday, Covid Act Now reports that Michigan is recording 25.7 new COVID-19 cases each day per every 100,000 residents -- a number that the research group considers “critical.” • Any number higher than 1 is considered “medium” and anything above 10 is considered “high.” A state has reached “critical” standing if it reports more than 25 daily new cases per every 100,000 residents, according to the group. • Michigan is not the only state experiencing an active or imminent COVID-19 outbreak -- in fact, most of the country is. All states, excluding Hawaii, are labeled at either high risk (orange) or critical risk (red) for a COVID-19 outbreak. Well thats a scary start to the day, isn’t it? And from Crooked Media - Donald Trump and his Large Adult Surrogates have three days left to convince voters that the virus sending their neighbors to the hospital doesn’t exist, and by golly, they’re gonna try. �A perfect weekend to hold 17 rallies! President Trump kicked off his Campaign of Death Farewell Tour with a stop in Michigan, where he ran through a litany of his favorite coronavirus lies, including the baseless conspiracy theory that doctors are fraudulently inflating the number of COVID deaths for cash. Meanwhile Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) is now in quarantine after appearing alongside COVID-positive Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA) at a rally that violated Georgia state limits on public gatherings, and will have to do the rest of his voter suppression over Zoom. After all, if coronavirus denial doesn’t pan out, there’s always pretending the voters don’t exist. �And if that didn’t bother you - in a 3am tweet (because Trump never sleeps) he said: “If Sleepy Joe Biden is actually elected President, the 4 Justices (plus1) that helped make such a ridiculous win possible would be relegated to sitting on not only a heavily PACKED COURT, but probably a REVOLVING COURT as well.” Because, as we all know, he believes he owns the Supreme Court. They are there to do his bidding, Here’s what the Constitution of the United States says: The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. It doesn’t say anywhere: the Supreme Court of the United States shall do the President’s bidding. In fact it only mentions Congress as controlling the appointment of courts. There is increasing discussion of the Trump stench - an odor not unlike that of skunks - a strong, nose wrinkling smell that is almost impossible to wash off with ordinary soap. Here’s some thoughts from the New Yorker: The right-wing intelligentsia has formed three broad categories of response to Trump. The most enthusiastic, on the right, have defended the president unreservedly. The most disgusted (“Never Trumpers”) have denounced him, and often his enablers as well. In the broad middle of conservatism is a third category of conservative. These are the conservatives who will occasionally acknowledge Trump’s flaws even while supporting him broadly. They will ruefully and sarcastically bemoan his childishness, egotism, and self-destructive habits without ever urging a course of action that might stop him (Democratic control of Congress, enforcement of congressional oversight, impeachment, voting for Joe Biden). The conservatives could make a case for supporting Trump despite his racial politics. Instead they present his racial politics as a point in his favor. One day, after Trump is gone, they will make it out that they never liked the racism. But the stink will cling to them nevertheless �This is a photo of the line up in El Paso Texas. These are people waiting to be tested for Covid-19. In Utah, the numbers of people needing hospitalization is so high that in less than a. weeks time, they will have to start making war zone decisions - which patient can we do nothing more for which will free up a ventilator for someone we might be able to save. Locally, Blodgett Hospital has opened up a 3rd covid ward as the first two are full. And here’s a chart from CNN which shows the increasing speed of the virus: Here's a look at the progression of cases: • Johns Hopkins recorded the first case of coronavirus in the United States on Jan. 21. • 98 days later, on April 28, the US hit 1 million cases • 44 days later, on June 11, the US hit 2 million cases • 27 days later, on July 8, the US hit 3 million cases • 15 days later, on July 23, the US hit 4 million cases • 17 days later, on Aug. 9, the US hit 5 million cases • 22 days later, on Aug. 31, the US hit 6 million cases • 25 days later, on Sept. 25, the US hit 7 million cases • 21 days later on Oct. 16, the US hit 8 million cases • 14 days later, today, the US hit 9 million cases �But what are the stats for today, I hear you ask. Here they are, but remember, I just report them. US: 98,959 new cases overnight and 971 deaths. The US total cases stand at 9.12M and the total deaths so far are 230K. Michigan: 3,234 new cases overnight and 13 deaths. Michigan total cases stand at 193K and total deaths so far are 7,664. Kent County: 418 new cases overnight and 0 deaths. Total cases stand at 15,528 and total deaths so far are 186. Here are the top 10 ways to reduce your COVID-19 risk, according to infectious disease specialists at Spectrum Health: 1. Wear a face mask in public and in groups—always. 2. Wash your hands as frequently as possible—use soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer. 3. Try not to touch your face. 4. Avoid crowds. Stay at least 6 feet from anyone not in your household. 5. Avoid contact with frequently touched surfaces and objects. 6. Restrict gatherings to less than 10 people. (This may seem extreme, but as we go indoors more, it’s even more important.) 7. Skip the potlucks. Bring your own food and drinks to a gathering, and have just one person serve all shareable food. 8. Avoid contact with anyone who is sick—and stay home if you feel sick. 9. Avoid indoor visits to bars and restaurants. Order take-out instead. 10. Skip the carpool and ride separately. And if you do ride in a vehicle with someone outside of your household, wear a mask. �And after all that, a photo of Oliver to cheer you up: ��Caption: Oliver in the bath, with ducks. After our visit to the Buddhist Grotto, we climbed back on our boat and went to a floating village. ����It really was a floating village and in the photo of us together I think we’re standing on the football pitch. The scenery was spectacular. It was such a different way of life. �Here we are then. 3 days out. Who will win the election? How long will it take to count the votes? Will the case count reach 100,000 a day tomorrow? Will the pandemic ever go away? 3 days out. What insanity will I report on tomorrow? Who knows? 3 days out. 3 days. Please stay safe today and forget about the candy -its not worth getting sick for. � 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_2020-10-31_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-234 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-31 Title A name given to the resource Day 234 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a8101145f17a1ae29056f7423c4e9c6d.pdf 539ae4bf927caee11207468fc64ef7a1 PDF Text Text Day 233. 4 days out. 4 days out. 4 days out. by windoworks ��Its all about the virus . Yesterday, in the US, after several days of at least 70,000+ new cases a day, we surged to 90.446 cases IN ONE DAY! I guess Dr Micheal Osterholm was right - we’ll make 100,000 cases a day any day now. In Michigan we saw 4,108 new cases yesterday and 45 deaths and lastly, Kent County had an increase of 316 new cases and 3 deaths. Kent County’s positivity rate is over 7%. This email came from Spectrum Health: We are at a critical time as we are experiencing a big spike of COVID-19 cases in West Michigan. The number of patients and testing positivity rate is higher than anything we have seen since the pandemic began. And we are seeing COVID-19 significantly affecting the old and the young. This has the potential to challenge our region’s Intensive Care Units and hospitals. Although the numbers are climbing, we have proven that when we work together and each do our part, we can change those numbers and save lives. Here’s what you can do: Do your part. COVID-19 has been challenging in many ways. But we need everyone to keep doing preventative measures because they work. Limit gatherings, even small ones, as the research shows that most of the transmissions of the virus are happening in small groups. Continue to wash your hands, please wear a mask and social distance. Staying the course is our best chance at limiting the spread. Thank you for doing your part. Darryl Elmouchi MD And this is for all those who think they’re young, fit and healthy and will ‘get over the virus quickly’ . A cautionary tale: FB post In the past six months: I landed in the hospital because my chest pain was so bad that it required iV pain killers and my fever required iv fluids. I’ve had pneumonia twice. My lung capacity has been reduced because of lung fibrosis (damage) I’ve had pleurisy I’ve had inflammation of the cartilage in my rib cage I’ve had so much brain fog. I haven’t thought straight for 6 months. I constantly have to go back and do things twice. I can’t drink alcohol because my liver is inflamed and the alcohol makes me feel bad now. I have had chest pain and shortness of breath every single day. I can only walk for exercise. Anything more and I cannot breathe normally. Before March 16 I used to do spin classes 3/week. My resting heart rate is 101. It used to be 55. Today I just left the cardiologist because I’m going to have to have two different echocardiograms and a MRI to determine the severity of my heart damage. Covid is scary. Covid can cause an inflammatory response that doesn’t land you on a vent but can be life �changing. I would be characterized as having a “mild to moderate” case of coronavirus. My cardiologist is hopeful but doesn’t know what to do about me. It’s not in my head he says! I’m his tenth patient in September who has come to him with these long term symptoms. Average stats of “long haulers” as we are called is 44 (me!) a woman (me!) and previously fit/healthy and no preexisting conditions (me!) �And is kind. NPR Members of a Quaker congregation in Maryland are so concerned that President Trump will prematurely declare victory when states are still counting ballots — a process that could take days — that they are ready to take to the streets in nonviolent resistance. They say such a scenario would amount to a "coup" — even if it involves legal fights and not military action. With Election Day less than a week away, anxiety, distrust and suspicion are running high. Activists and extremists on both the right and left are worried the other side will somehow steal the election, and they're making plans for what to do if they believe that's happening. �Experts in global conflict warn that this is a toxic brew and that conditions are ripe for conflict and maybe even violence in the U.S. There's a good chance that no clear winner will emerge on election night, and experts are concerned about what will happen after that — especially if protesters and counterprotesters collide in the streets. Several human rights and conflict resolution groups that typically monitor elections abroad, mostly in fledgling democracies or places where sectarian violence could erupt, are now turning their attention to the United States for the first time. People on both sides of the political spectrum feel this rising tension, too. Global conflict experts say it's not inevitable that the election or its aftermath will devolve into chaos. But they say it's crucial for political leaders on all sides to deescalate tensions in case there's a long contested election. "Probably the biggest issue is the president of the United States right now, who has portrayed himself as somebody who, you know, is not necessarily interested in calming the waters," said Stephen Pomper, senior director for policy at the International Crisis Group. He added that Trump "might actually court unrest in order to serve his political and personal goals." Still, Balian at the Carter Center hopes it won't come to that. "We have become intolerant, we have started dehumanizing the other side," Balian said. "We are at the edge of an abyss, and we better see this and try to step back before it is too late." It appears that I am not neurotic and this is not all in my head. So far, more than 80M Americans have voted: Democrats, Republicans and Independents. There’s still 4 days before the end of voting. This may be the biggest turnout ever, and if every single vote is not correctly counted, there’s going to be millions of pissed off people. So this morning we got up early and went down to Trader Joe’s. We got there as they opened the store and when we went in, that made a total of 16 shoppers in the store. We bought enough supplies for the next 2 weeks. Partly in case there’s chaos after Election Day and partly because the case numbers are climbing and case studies suggest that 20% of grocery store workers are asymptomatic. Thats 1 in 5. Pay attention people - thats just grocery store workers. In Eastown, Harmony Brewing (and their sister premises, Harmony Hall on the west side) are closed due to a staff member testing positive. They are not sure how long they will be closed. And a successful gym in Eastown, Allegra Coaching is closing its doors at the end of the year. The virus has proved too much. Daylight saving ends on Sunday morning - a real sign that winter is upon us. �Halloween and Oliver (he has no idea). Don’t you just love that face? ��Not the batmobile but close enough. Our next port was in Phuket. ����Phuket is one of the southern provinces (changwat) of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands off its coast. It lies off the west coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea. Phuket Island is connected by the Sarasin Bridge to Phang Nga Province to the north. Wikipedia Our day tour was by boat and our ship was anchored at sea. Our first stop was at a Buddhist shrine in a cave. I think we were warned not to touch or feed the monkeys. More Phuket adventures tomorrow. I wanted to say thank you to all the readers who have stayed with me for 233 days, or just over 34 weeks. I had no idea I would be writing every day for this long and at this moment, I can’t see an end point. Maybe March or April next year. So as ever, stay safe, stay well and keep your chin up. Here’s something to make you laugh: �� 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_2020-10-30_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-233 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-30 Title A name given to the resource Day 233 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bfe0254122c02a2fd4e3c99f89df3e6c.pdf 5f11ef4d4542edb1cd047b1bfc4b8dc9 PDF Text Text Day 232. 5, only 5 days out. by windoworks November 1st we set our clocks back. November 3rd we take our country back. Biden/Harris 2020 Crooked Media: As the fall coronavirus surge overshadows the final days of the election, President Trump has been campaigning as if the pandemic is over, in the very places now suffering their worst outbreaks since it began. Just in case that closing message was too subtle for anyone, he also went ahead and left his supporters out in the literal cold. Hundreds of Trump rally attendees in Omaha were stranded in the cold for hours after the event ended on Tuesday night, when the buses meant to take them back to their cars �failed to materialize. The crowd included many elderly people and children; 30 people needed medical attention at some point in the night, and seven had to be taken to the hospital. Totally unbelievable. Trump is now saying that if you vote for Biden there’ll be no school, no Thanksgiving, no Christmas, no weddings, no birthday parties. Where does he actually live? There’s none of those things now and he’s in charge. As for the pandemic, here’s todays stats: US: 81,181 new cases yesterday and 1,016 deaths - in one day! Michigan: 3,534 new cases yesterday and 21 deaths. Kent County: 361 new cases yesterday and 1 new death. Last night I watched a post from the President of Spectrum Health. He said, and I quote: ‘this is the second wave and many are hoping it is the peak. I believe we may at the base of the mountain looking up’. Frankly, this morning’s figures confirm this. So, across America, cases are rising alarmingly. People are still arguing against the masks and distancing although Ive never heard any complaints about hand washing. Here’s what I wonder. There is loads of footage of Trump supporters (if you want to watch) and they are all braying about what nonsense the virus is etc etc. But I am sure a number of them have contracted the virus and landed in hospital - and we never hear the ‘I was wrong’ speech from them. I think back to the summer and the Sturgis Rally and all those bikers who then traveled home and spread the virus to their near and dear. It just amazes me how selfish and arrogant people are. Last weekend, before she traveled to Canberra to visit her aunt and her 88 year old grandmother, Zoe took Oliver and herself to be tested for Covid as they both had a slight cold. She then waited for their results (thankfully negative) before packing her suitcase. Because thats how grown ups behave. I read an article about how Canada has dealt with the virus. The focal point of the article was this, from New York Times: Some of Canada’s success is probably cultural and would have been hard to replicate in the U.S., as Ian Austen, a Canadian who has covered the country for The Times for more than a decade, told me. “There is generally a lot of deference to authority in Canada,” Ian said. Deference to authority - hmm. Does that mean that some people such as scientists and doctors who have gone to college for at least 4 years and might actually know something that we (the general public) don’t know? So when they suggest that wearing a mask might cut back on the number of infections - they’re actually right? �And this I just had to share: Crooked Media.: CNN reported today that Jared Kushner boasted to Bob Woodward back in April about Trump “getting the country back from the doctors,” and said without a shred of irony that “the most dangerous people around the president are overconfident idiots.” Biden 2020: Look, Just, Everything Jared Kushner Said. �So far, over 75M American have voted. Yesterday I watched Governor Whitmer, Lieutenant-Governor Gilchrist, Attorney-General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson talk strongly and reassuringly about voting safely in Michigan and describing the counting process. Once again, the only person without a mask was the sign language interpreter. You can check online to see if your ballot has been received and both Craig’s and mine were received at the end of September. Governor Whitmer said that it might take 2-3 days to count all ballots and we shouldn’t expect a result on Tuesday night. Trump is ready to claim victory NO MATTER WHAT on Tuesday night. If he does, imagine all those angry voters who didn’t vote for him, me included. Ah, fun times. 5 days, 5 days, 5 days................ Oliver ��He loves daycare. Tomorrow is their virtual Halloween Parade and he has Batman pajamas for his costume. This takes me back! So 3 years passed before Craig was invited to be a speaker on a cruise again. This time it was a New York Times Cruise and was our first cruise with Maureen Dowd an op-ed writer for the Times and Carl Hulse, the Washington Bureau Chief for the Times. We embarked in Singapore and Craig and I had a day and a night to explore Singapore some more. �������From the top: a storm rolling in as we watched from our hotel room; exploring Singapore; Belitung shipwreck artifacts - The Belitung shipwreck(also called the Tang shipwreck or Batu Hitam shipwreck) is the wreck of an Arabian dhow which sank en route from Africa to China around 830 CE. The wreck has given archaeologists two major discoveries: the biggest single collection of Tang dynasty artefacts found in one location, the so-called "Tang Treasure"; and the Arabian dhow, which gives a new insight into the trade routes between China and the Middle East during that period. Wikipedia Craig was very excited to see the salvaged cargo from the ship as it was part of the Maritime Silk Roads. Next, Craig in front the Singapore Parliament site; the next morning while exploring before sailing, we saw a marathon being run; the Marina Bay Sands Casino Hotel at night. ��5 days. Numbers are climbing. Wear a mask. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-10-29_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-232 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-29 Title A name given to the resource Day 232 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/32d175ec227532ebd390a836c580e653.pdf 37a1e90d5c737a4ed00d230b3a97458d PDF Text Text Day 231 by windoworks ��6 days out. Every morning I think: it can’t get any worse today - and then it does. Everyone is scrambling. The Democrat voters are scrambling to get their votes safely in while the Republicans (Party and politicians) are scrambling to avert election disaster by making voting as difficult as possible while planning to steal the election anyway they can, if it seems as though Joe and Kamala are winning. In my state, IN MY STATE, a court of appeals just overturned the ban on open carry weapons at polling booths because thats what all Michiganders want - right? Because every potential voter needs an automatic weapon proudly on display. You can’t make this stuff up. Meanwhile, a man shot and killed a woman in the early hours of this morning and then raced over to his parents house (about 2 blocks from me) and the streets near my house were closed while hostage negotiators and tactical response teams surrounded the area. In Grand Rapids there have been 31 fatal shootings this year - more than 2018 and 2019 combined. The GRPD has been conducting a series of successful gun buy back days with more to come. And, in a reassuring note, GRPD has a well thought out plan for November 3 with 2 teams of police stationed on the South side and the North side of town. But only to be engaged as a last resort. By last night almost 70M Americans had voted. From New York Times: Democrats and Republicans are engaged in a furious struggle over voting rights. In almost every instance, Democrats are trying to make it easier for Americans to cast ballots, and Republicans are trying to make it harder. And here’s what Trump’s up to, from Crooked Media: On Monday night, Donald Trump and the conservative hacks of the Supreme Court announced exactly how they would like to steal this election. But like any good cartoon villain, they’ve done so while we still have time to thwart them. Big problems and discrepancies with Mail In Ballots all over the USA,” the president wrote on Twitter, triggering a warning label that the tweet contained misleading information. “Must have final total on November 3rd.” Buoyed by the Court’s Wisconsin decision, Trump kept that drumbeat going on Tuesday. Republicans are counting on huge GOP-voter turnout on Election Day itself, which could create a “red mirage”: the illusion that Trump is winning, before all absentee votes have been counted. The new median Supreme Court justice has obligingly helped Trump lay the groundwork for demanding an end to vote counting if and when partial tallies in swing states show him in the lead. You can’t make this stuff up. �So here’s the question: what will happen if he tries to steal the election, which at this point it seems pretty likely. Friends and neighbors have decided to hunker down from Tuesday until there is a result. I now understand a siege mentality. I really do have supplies of everything in my basement, cupboards and freezer. I have no idea what will happen from Tuesday onwards. A friend and I actually (half jokingly) discussed if it was possible to sneak into Canada as refugees. And just an FYI: • Trump plans to fire the heads of the FBI, CIA and Defense Department if he wins reelection, Axios reports. You can’t make this stuff up. And all the while, the virus continues to spread further and and deeper into communities. In the US, the daily case number averages 71,000 and above per day. In Kent County, there are over 200 new cases a day and at least 1 death. The hospitals have had rising case numbers for over 3 weeks now, and soon will delay all non essential surgeries. �Washington Post A two-page ad in the Tulsa World, placed by Saint Francis Health System, echoes what health-care workers and experts are saying across the country: “WE’RE HEADED IN THE WRONG DIRECTION.” Fox17: Local hospitals are also facing high COVID numbers. Spectrum Health has hit a record for hospitalized patients. As of Monday, 156 patients were hospitalized -- the highest since the beginning of the pandemic. Health experts attribute the uptick to colder weather, indoor gatherings, and the beginning of respiratory virus season. They are urging everyone to social distance, wear a mask, and continue proper handwashing. "I know it’s been a long haul here with wearing masks and social distancing and everything like that," noted Hartl, "but really now is the most important time to adhere to those precautions, to make sure that we are doing that, so we can really try to stop this transmission." And in case you were wondering if that sore throat or runny nose is a cold or Covid, the CDC posted this reminder again: COVID-19 affects different people in different ways. Infected people have had a wide range of symptoms reported – from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19: Fever or chills Cough Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing Fatigue Muscle or body aches Headache New loss of taste or smell Sore throat Congestion or runny nose Nausea or vomiting Diarrhea Look for emergency warning signs for COVID-19. If someone is showing any of these signs, seek emergency medical care immediately: Trouble breathing Persistent pain or pressure in the chest New confusion �Inability to wake or stay awake Bluish lips or face Washington Post For his part, Trump continues to be in a state of deep denial. His own recovery appears to have made him less sensitive to the plight of ordinary Americans who do not have access to the world-class care and medicines he did. Experts say Trump is giving false confidence and projecting that people do not need to take this contagion seriously. “I don’t see forceful policy intervention happening any time soon,” former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “We have a moment of opportunity right now to take some forceful steps to try to abate the spread that’s underway. But if we don’t do that, if we miss this window, this is going to continue to accelerate.” I’m pretty sure we missed the window. You can’t make this stuff up. My youngest son (just turned 39 years old, OMG!) has only a small balcony space to grow things on. Look at these photos and imagine what he could do with even a small garden plot. ����Obligatory Oliver shot. Fun in Singapore. ��In the fabulous Botanical Gardens. Juhani, Auli and me in another section of the Botanical Gardens �Remember the 3 part hotel with the ‘ship’ on the top? Here I am at the public access end. Very high up. �Looking down at the Botanical Gardens Domes. �Looking across to the hotel end and the infinity pool. Very high up. �The famous Raffles Hotel. �Where we indulged in a really expensive Singapore Sling before dinner. And the next morning we flew home. �If you’ve got them, wear them. 6 more crazy, scary days. I hope you’ve voted and I hope you voted Blue all the way. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-10-28_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-231 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-28 Title A name given to the resource Day 231 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c71be6c6a6cd08c9379d27417e98ebf0.pdf 186e374ad262863b4e0e592111bfddf7 PDF Text Text Day 230 by windoworks Don't stand, don't stand so Don't stand so close to me Don't stand, don't stand so Don't stand so close to me Who sang that? And how appropriate. I think its my theme song. �The Atlantic Welcome to the great wait. The 2020 election is now close enough that you can feel its dragon breath on your neck. And yet! There’s still one more full week to go. �There are some days (and this is one of them) when I think: don’t make me write. But then I think: if not me, then who? There are 7 days to the election and you just can’t make this stuff up. First up: the adventures of Trump and Pence. Washington Post Faced with record levels of U.S. coronavirus infections and a new White House outbreak, President Trump declared Monday that the pandemic was “ending anyway,” further tying his reelection bid to his ability to convince voters, including those at large rallies that defy health authorities, that the viral danger is fading. Financial markets fell as he spoke, with investors reacting to the growing infection rates and dwindling hope of a pre-election stimulus package. Vice President Pence canceled a planned appearance at the U.S. Senate for the expected confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett as a Supreme Court justice, after Democrats objected because he has been in close contact with at least one of the five staff members who tested positive for the disease in recent days. And yes they did confirm Amy Whatsherface to the Supreme Court where she will rule any way that Trump tells her to. In my research i discovered that the Constitution makes no reference to size of the court and over time, there have been as few as 6 Justices and as many as 10 justices. I’m not sure why a Supreme Court appointee is seen as a lifetime appointment as there is no reference/guidance on this in the Constitution. Amy will take up her seat in the next few days. Will this make the conservative/democrat split 6-3? No one knows. Here’s what McConnell (he of the blue hands) had to say: Crooked Media: • If any Democrats were still feeling squeamish about court reform, they should take a good long look at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s gleeful admission that Barrett’s rushed confirmation was about securing minority rule: “A lot of what we’ve done over the last four years will be undone sooner or later by the next election. They won’t be able to do much about this for a long time to come.” Well Mitch, have you read the Constitution? One last word from RBG: �And we are, Justice Ginsburg, we are. As of yesterday 62M and counting. �Here’s a quick roundup of virus news: ABC news A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1.1 million people worldwide. Over 43.5 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The criteria for diagnosis -- through clinical means or a lab test -- has varied from country to country. Still, the actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks. Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the virus has rapidly spread to every continent except Antarctica. The United States is the worst-affected country, with more than 8.7 million diagnosed cases and at least 225,735 deaths. California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 910,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 898,000 cases and over 782,000 cases, respectively. Locally, Kent County recorded 469 new cases yesterday and 2 new deaths. And how about this - we were in Meijer’s at Knapps Corner yesterday and everyone had masks on (not always correctly, but they’re trying) except for one 30ish woman and her child. She was angrily motoring through the produce dept. I guess she was one of those special ones, dancing in the rain but not getting wet. Then last night I read a post from a friend who said he had had Covid. What struck me most was the first comment from (I guess) a friend who asked - is this a share or did this happen to you? My friend explained in short terms that it was a personal post. Scrub that friend off your list. I read the post and at no time did I think it was a share. And just in case you thought Trump had turned a corner and begun acting like a real person: Crooked Media Lest anyone forget the president is a full-blown sociopath, this was his response to news reports about the third surge that’s already overwhelming hospitals in multiple states: “The Fake News Media is riding COVID, COVID, COVID, all the way to the Election. Losers!” Funny he should mention riding COVID to the election—Trump’s superspreading campaign rallies appear to have accelerated coronavirus outbreaks in at least five counties. Together, those counties reported 1,500 more new cases in the two weeks after Trump’s rallies than the two weeks before. The earliest post-rally spikes happened while the country’s overall coronavirus case numbers were in decline. �7 days. 7 days. 7 days. 62M already voted. More to come. ��Oliver: thank you for coming to this meeting. I have called you all here today....... Docking in Singapore �Farewell to the Volendam �Setting off with Juhani and Auli to explore the city. �Walking towards the Botanical Gardens. That’s a hotel behind Craig. More Singapore tomorrow. �Listen up. Vote. Wear your mask, dammit. Wash your hands. And ‘don’t stand so close to me’. You knew this - it was Sting and The Police. � 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_2020-10-27_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-230 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-27 Title A name given to the resource Day 230 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/38eee71a6c9d15881315bcee48dcad1b.pdf f35bfd8ccc08994ab7b75df2304923f7 PDF Text Text Day 229. 8 more days. by windoworks Another day. On Saturday the total of new cases in the US was slightly less than Friday’s total. In China, the total number of cases since the outbreak began is approximately 85,000. How can this be,you ask. Part of their containment program is immediate and aggressive testing in the millions daily. And they quarantine areas of breakouts immediately. And in the ‘you knew this would happen’ category, at least 5 members of staff in close daily contact with VP Pence have tested positive, some with symptoms. But its okay, Pence has tested negative and instead of following the rules and quarantining for 14 days, he has been designated an essential worker and is continuing to crisscross the country, campaigning. I think that’s a bit of a slap in the face for the real essential workers. ��How true, Donald. Yesterday almost 60M Americans had voted. And there’s still 8 days to go! Here’s a comparison from last week: New York Times • President Trump and Joe Biden presented sharply divergent cases for how they would handle the crisis still ravaging the country: Mr. Trump sought to minimize it, while Mr. Biden said there was “going to be a dark winter ahead unless we change our ways.” Yesterday Mark Meadows, the White House Chief of Staff said, we can’t contain the virus, we can only mitigate it, that is lessen the gravity of it. Well how are we going to do that, I ask you? Micheal Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy said last week that we could soon see daily case counts in the triple digits in the US. So how is the White House going to mitigate that? �Every year our block holds a children’s Halloween walk. We have lived here for so long that one group of children have grown up and the next batch are the Halloween children. We and one of our neighbors have decided that there is no safe way to provide candy this year and we will not be participating. My neighbor is scheduled for hip replacement and the presurgery routine is daunting - sleeping in a separate bedroom with the bedsheets washed daily for the week before surgery. I have another friend who thought that her husband had Covid and they did the whole quarantining on different floors of the house etc - only to find out he had something entirely different. Both men are worrying that the surge in virus cases might delay their surgeries. My FaceBook page is full of stories with photos of people putting their ballots into the nearby ballot collection box. I hope it makes a difference. I hope that there is such a blue tsunami that the Senate is flipped, Mitch McConnell (he of the blue hands - what’s with that?) is ousted and Joe and Kamala win. Now the White House is discussing marshal law - to keep them safe? To escort them out of the White House? Surely not marshal law to rig the election results. ��I really want this woman as VP. She makes me happy just looking at her exuberant smile. And apparently some farmers show their allegiance this way: �Which makes up a little for all the other Trump supporting farmers out there. I’m still trying to figure out how this was done. Yesterday we walked along the Grand River at Ravine Park. It was cold with a watery sun shining. At one point we saw a Bald Eagle fly over us with a stick in its claws. Bald Eagles nest beside the river - but this is fall. Was it early nest building for next year? ��Here’s your daily Oliver shot - not quite sure what he is saying. ��Our last cruise stop was in Singapore. From memory it took us a day of sailing to get there. Anyway, Craig took photos of shipboard life. The Asian food market night �Me ‘exercising’ �Sunrise through our cabin window ��One night the towel artist outdid himself and left us a friend for my traveling companion, Poochie. Poochie was a Mothers Day gift from my son when he was 6 or so, and Poochie always travels with me. He’s my security companion. Don’t judge. �I couldn’t have said it better myself. 8 days. � 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_2020-10-26_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-229 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-26 Title A name given to the resource Day 229 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e82a742529dfe4a33d3cfd834747d865.pdf 648c5e0912e577df70aa6405bbeb508a PDF Text Text Day 228 – 9 days out by windoworks Its Sunday. The sun will rise at 8.09 this morning and set again just after 6pm. The trees are past their fall glory and more and more have assumed their bare branch winter look. Yesterday morning there was ice on our front steps. Winter is close. Already the doctors and scientists are warning people about gathering as usual for Thanksgiving - but many people intend to go ahead regardless. Dr Fauci is calling for a national mandate for mask wearing but that is falling on Trump’s deaf ears. It is going to be a dark time for us. Speaking of Trump, he is in a frenzy of rallies across America with his fans maskless and crowded together. In the only concession to the virus, he is holding these rallies outside, but if you’re shouting loudly in your neighbor’s ear - being outside doesn’t make that much of a difference. This week the CDC released a study which finds there is a shorter time of contact needed to catch the virus. You realize the situation in Michigan is bad when you see Governor Whitmer, Dr Joneigh Khaldun and Lieutenant-Governor Gilchrest all speaking at the podium with their masks still in place, covering their mouths and noses. That was Thursday and here’s how we are doing: Michigan - 3,257 new cases yesterday and 37 more deaths. Kent County (which is right up there with the counties surrounding Detroit) - 326 new cases yesterday and 2 new deaths. In other big news which we all seem to have greeted with ‘of course’ is this: �Washington Post: A fresh coronavirus outbreak in the White House has infected two of Vice President Pence’s top advisers and a third person who is on his staff, officials said late Saturday night, though officials said Pence tested negative and plans to continue his heavy schedule of campaign travel. Marc Short, the vice president’s chief of staff, who is among the administration’s fiercest skeptics of coronavirus restrictions, tested positive for the novel coronavirus Saturday afternoon, has experienced symptoms and has begun isolation, officials said. Marty Obst, one of Pence’s top outside political advisers who has traveled with the vice president in recent days, tested positive for the virus earlier this week, according to two officials familiar with his diagnosis. A third person in Pence’s circle, a member of the vice president’s staff, has also tested positive, according to one of the officials. The White House has not disclosed that staffer’s name. How on earth has Pence tested negative? Is he and the President on some sort of virus prevention medication? And here’s a question - whatever happened to Hope Hicks who was the superspreader for the last infection at the White House? Has she recovered? Is she in hospital? Was she fired? Early voting continues apace. As of last night more than 56M Americans have already voted. Trump has so muddied the waters that Republican voters are worried about their mail in vote being counted. And you know - there’s nothing on the envelope to show your party affiliation and if your state is scrutinizing signatures on the back of the envelope to count or discard votes -its all the same for Democrats and Republicans. What genius didn’t think of that? Oh and (of course) the open carry citizens of Michigan are taking the Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to court to sue for the right to open carry at polling booths because - wait for it - they won’t feel safe without their assault rifles to help them intimidate possible Democrat voters who are waiting in line to vote. Does anyone else think they might have fallen down a rabbit hole? Washington Post: BRUSSELS — Well into Europe's second wave of the coronavirus, so many Belgians are sick or quarantining that there aren't enough police on the streets, teachers in classrooms or medical staff in hospitals. In some hospitals, doctors and nurses who have tested positive but don’t have symptoms are being asked to keep working, because so many others are out sick with covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. School principals are marshaling secretaries and parent volunteers to replace falling ranks of teachers. “We have runaway numbers in terms of contamination and a major issue is the risk of the collapse of the hospital system of our country,” the minister-president of Brussels, Rudi Vervoort, said Saturday as he announced a host of new restrictions. �Unlike in the spring, there are enough masks and gowns to go around. But months of preparation haven’t been able to avert a shortage of people. And a decision by the national government to remove a mask mandate and loosen restrictions on social contacts this month contributed to an acceleration of the virus before being largely reversed in hard-hit areas since Friday. Take note America! This is what happens when we make masks optional and loosen restrictions on social gatherings. Some states are teetering on the edge of this chaos right now. In other news, we drove to Kalamazoo yesterday for something different. Kalamazoo is hovering on the edge of becoming a virus red spot. The streets were almost empty of people. We drove into Western Michigan University to find somewhere to stop and eat our homemade lunch. We parked in front of a beautiful old building under some trees and ate. You could have fired a canon down any of the streets and not hit a soul. But it was nice to drive further afield. �I’m ready for my close up, Mr DeMille. It was hot in Koh Samui and our last stop was at a coconut plantation. ��They train these monkeys to climb the coconut palms and harvest the coconuts. The trainers use each monkey for about 30 minutes and then rest them. I don’t know how I felt about that. �Drinking coconut milk from a freshly harvested coconut. Surprisingly refreshing. I was so hot. �That night the towel creature in our cabin was a monkey! Off to Singapore tomorrow. �A new sign in our neighborhood. 9 days. � 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_2020-10-25_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-228 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-25 Title A name given to the resource Day 228 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/42adc2e555fb838b3a5bb56472b238e0.pdf d56a3972ac23fb7fe316b81d8158f4f6 PDF Text Text Day 227: 10 days out by windoworks Here are the stats for today: US - a mind boggling number of new cases: between 83,757 and 85,085 new cases (if you count probables as well). Im Michigan we had 2,026 new cases and in the new red hotspot of Kent County we had 228 new cases. On Thursday Dr London from the Kent County Health Dept told us that our case numbers had risen from an average of 145 new cases per day last week to an average of 165 cases per day this week. And the death rate has risen from 1 new death every 3 days in the summer to 1 new death a day now. I read in the Atlantic that 1 in 1000 Americans tested was testing positive. Now I know this next piece is a long and alarming read, but this is where we are. There are so many ‘if onlys’. Washington Post Equally alarming is that no one knows how high this wave will grow before peaking. We are starting this wave much higher than either of the previous waves. And it will simply keep going up until people and officials decide to do something about it. Hours later, White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx warned that closing public spaces may not be enough. “It won’t be as simple as closing public spaces,” Birx said, pointing to increased gatherings in people’s homes. “What has happened in the last three to four weeks is that people have moved their social gatherings indoors.” In some areas of Wisconsin, 90 percent of hospital intensive care unit beds are full, the office of Gov. Tony Evers (D) said. The first patient was admitted Wednesday to a makeshift field hospital erected at a state fairgrounds. In Utah, leaders are trying to open a field hospital at an exposition center. State epidemiologist Angela Dunn warned that the health-care system is at capacity, hospital staff are exhausted, and Utahans are getting scared. “You know, I just, I don’t know what to do anymore,” Dunn said at a Thursday news conference, pleading for residents to be more cautious. “I’m really not trying to scare anyone. I’m just trying to inform you of what’s going on.” “Creating beds is relatively easy, but what do you do when you outstrip ICU nurses, doctors and teams?” said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. A report this week by Osterholm’s center showed shortages in 29 of the 40 basic but critical drugs often used for covid-19 patients. That includes antibiotics, sedatives like propofol that are used to calm patients during intubation and heart medication such as norepinephrine. And because of the widespread nature of the infections, hospitals are finding it harder to draw from excess supplies of such drugs elsewhere. Even as hundreds of people are dying each day, “there’s this false sense of calm right now,” said Tom �Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “We have the president saying, ‘We’re rounding the corner.’ We have state leaders openly defying public health guidances.” Inglesby pointed to plans and metrics many states laid out last spring for reopening. “That’s been completely disregarded in many places,” he said. In North Dakota — among the hardest-hit states — Gov. Doug Burgum (R) put the onus on individuals to wear masks and avoid gatherings. “It’s not a job for government,” Burgum recently declared. At Thursday night’s final presidential debate, President Trump claimed the virus was “going away” and “we’re learning to live with it.” His Democratic rival, former vice president Joe Biden, responded, “We’re learning to die with it." And then there’s this from The Atlantic: This surge is far more geographically dispersed than what the country saw in the spring or summer: The virus can now be found in every kind of American community, from tiny farm towns to affluent suburbs to bustling border cities. This is the first of the American surges with no clear epicenter: From North Carolina to North Dakota, and Colorado to Connecticut, more Americans are contracting COVID-19. As you know, the last presidential debate was on Thursday and here’s a piece from Crooked Media. Sometimes I think I should just post Crooked Media and leave it at that. In his final debate appearance, Donald Trump lied his face off about the pandemic, spoke fondly of family separations, and wandered out into the furthest reaches of the Fox News conspiracy universe, but he didn’t interrupt as much, so let’s call it a tie. • Asked about his coronavirus plan, Trump instead trotted out the claims that way more people could have died (if the country had done nothing at all), that he himself recovered (thanks to treatments nobody else has access to), and that a widely-available vaccine is just weeks away (it’s not). “We’re rounding the corner. It’s going away,” said the president, as the country recorded its second-highest daily increase in new cases since the pandemic began, and hospitalizations rose in 38 states. Joe Biden opened with a simple message: “Anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States.” �This is another of those ‘ a picture’s worth a thousand words’ moments. And an astonishing endorsement from The Atlantic chief editor : “Two men are running for president,” he writes. “One is a terrible man; the other is a decent man. Vote for the decent man.” For just the fourth time in our 163-year run, The Atlantic is endorsing a candidate, and that candidate is Joe Biden. We are doing so because President Donald Trump represents a threat to our collective existence. �This morning at least 52M Americans have already voted. Thats a really big number and we are still 10 days out. Today is our 43rd wedding anniversary and I only remembered when I was updating my calendar. Our celebratory dinner will be home cooked and we will probably finish the evening by watching a favorite show on TV. Personally I’m tired of it all. I look at family members in other countries such as Canada, New Zealand and Australia and I envy those who have far more freedom than me. I am worried because the Republican majority in our state house went to the conservative biased Michigan Supreme Court and had our governors executive powers overturned, and now the state health dept has had to pick up the slack. Yesterday they lost patience with a faith based school that refused masks and physical distancing, and the dept closed the school. A local business we frequented immediately stopped wearing masks after the courts ruling- so we stopped frequenting them, and we may never go back. The list of businesses I won’t use gets longer and longer. I’m tired of warily entering grocery stores, hoping everyone keeps their mask on once they’re inside. And what’s with the covering of the mouth but not the nose? I’m tired of wiping down groceries and washing my hands for 20 seconds. I’m tired of not visiting my neighbors or friends. Some days I’m tired of cooking and cleaning and running the dishwasher every day. I’m tired of watching the world pass by outside the TV room window. And I’m really tired of FB and news stories from people like Chris Christie who tell everyone ‘Gosh, the virus is real, who knew?’ But although I’m tired of it, that’s all we have and the way the virus is exploding, that’s all we’ll have for the foreseeable future. I think I might have lost my sense of humor. Oliver and Zoe have gone to visit family in Canberra for a long weekend. ��Flashback: The next day we anchored off Koh Samui. Ko Samui, Thailand’s second largest island, lies in the Gulf of Thailand off the east coast of the Kra Isthmus. It's known for its palm-fringed beaches, coconut groves and dense, mountainous rainforest, plus luxury resorts and posh spas. The landmark 12m-tall golden Big Buddha statue at Wat Phra Yai Temple is located on a tiny island connected to Ko Samui by a causeway. ― Google Tendering to the shore. �The Buddha at Wat Phra Yai temple. �Small Buddha statutes representing the different aspects. I know these are significant but as it was 6 years ago, I just can’t remember. �Looking out at the coast from the temple. �Inside the temple. The monks wear saffron colored robes. And my thoughts exactly as Halloween approaches �10 more days. You know the drill. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-10-24_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-227 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-24 Title A name given to the resource Day 227 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7c3badfc84b06db286868ed27ddca49a.pdf d409401acd18348522b2a89631d33916 PDF Text Text Day 226 -11 days to the election by windoworks Its 11 days out from the election. People are voting early in droves. Washington Post: More than 47 million Americans have already voted in the 2020 election, surpassing the total number of early ballots cast in 2016. The record for most early ballots cast was set with 12 days to go until Election Day. Tens of millions more votes are expected, a sign that highly enthusiastic voters are adapting to an election taking place during a pandemic. Also from Washington Post: The line is a barrier. It stretches along sidewalks, around corners and through parking lots, zigging one way and zagging back the other. It is a daunting impediment to those who cannot wait. A reminder of this nation’s long history of voting hurdles. Protection against a deadly virus and a defiant response to those who have sought to deny the most basic right in a democracy. The line is an inspiration. The crowd moves with shared purpose. Strangers hand out water bottles. A woman sways to gospel music. Lawn chairs are pulled out and pizzas ordered. Red, white and blue are the colors of the day. The line is a promise. Hours of standing, six feet apart, a few steps at a time, for the chance to make a choice. One person, one vote. A right first granted to White, male landowners in 1776, then claimed through political and violent struggle by women, Native, Black and Latino Americans and naturalized citizens. All now have a place in the line. This was a very interesting long article with photos of people lining up and zigzagging through parking lots, lining up across fields and lining up along many city blocks. I tried to save the photos but they are copyrighted and were too fuzzy to be of use. 11 days out. Here’s all I want to share about the final debate between Biden and Trump: New York Times I understand you may be tired of hearing about President Trump’s untruths. I’m tired of writing about them. They hardly qualify as surprising anymore. But it’s impossible to analyze a debate filled with untruths without first acknowledging them. They undermine an event meant to highlight differences between candidates. They undermine democracy. To �ignore them is to miss the biggest story: a president trying to construct his own reality. How are voters supposed to choose between, say, two different health care plans if one candidate makes up stories about both plans? No previous president has behaved this way. Democrats often accused George W. Bush of lying, and Republicans accused Barack Obama of lying. And both men made questionable statements and statements that later proved untrue. But when they proved untrue, Bush and Obama stopped making the claims. Trump just keeps making them. 11 days out. So I know you’re tired of virus news but here are the latest stats because I think we all need to pay attention and keep ourselves safe. US: yesterday saw 75,049 new cases, bringing us to a total of 8.46M. New deaths: 828 (although some sources say deaths climbed over 1000 yesterday). Total deaths: 223K. Michigan saw 2,245 new cases and a total of 170K. Deaths: 45 and a total of 7,465 deaths. This death number brings Michigan to one and a half Ford Theaters capacity. Kent County: 162 new cases for a total of 13,168 and 2 new deaths bringing our total to 182. The Kent County stats are from a different source today. Meanwhile in Europe: Washington Post Britain, France, Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic are all facing calls for national lockdowns after Ireland implemented one this week. That such economically devastating, often deeply unpopular measures are being considered is a sign of Europe's desperation in the face of a massive winter outbreak. And locally, many states are desperately calling for medical workers from other states to come and help them with the onslaught of new cases. Rural areas where hospitals have closed due to inadequate funding and staffing have been especially hard hit. And virus fatigue has hit everyone. West Michigan Schools Superintendents have said that if students fail to wear masks they will close all schools down. Craig and his classes are trying a new system - first half of class is the lecture to the whole class and the second half is discussion with the whole class. A more ‘normal’ routine but online. Washington Post It should not be a partisan moment and, yet, he has made it that way to deflect from his administration's inability to get their arms around it,” Whitmer told Chuck Todd. “People are dying. People are out of work. People are looking for help just putting food on the table. And there is no relief in sight. Our numbers keep getting worse. And that is the sad, hard truth of this moment. We should have acted as though we were in a war, but not a war with one another, a war with a virus. And this virus doesn't care what side of the aisle you vote on. This virus is still a very real threat to all of us.” �Now I know this sounds strange, but Craig and I are seriously discussing staying indoors during the Election Day and perhaps for a few days afterwards. In recent days there have been gunshots recorded in streets near us and during the pandemic there have been 27 murders in Grand Rapids. And this article was upsetting: The Atlantic Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!” So declared the alt-right leader Richard Spencer to the crowd of white nationalists gathered in Washington, D.C., one week after the 2016 presidential election. His audience responded with cheers and Nazi salutes. As a video journalist for The Atlantic, I captured exclusive footage of this chilling moment. In the days after Spencer’s speech, the footage would be viewed nearly 50 million times on Facebook and YouTube, and broadcast on dozens of television networks. It revealed something crucial: The alt-right wasn’t some cool, new brand of conservativism, but a fundamentally violent movement, and its followers—emboldened by President Donald Trump—saw a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring racism, anti-Semitism, and conspiracism mainstream. Four years later, displays of white nationalism have become more brazen, more violent, and, at times, deadly. Extremist forms of racist rhetoric have migrated from the dark corners of the web to mainstream American politics and the world’s biggest social-media platforms. 11 days out. Do we need Oliver now? Yesterday he was very tired and grumpy but when we said goodbye, he waved and then took his pacifier out and ‘blew’ us kisses sitting on his mothers lap. ��Flashback: so along with the stage show and the elephant show, Nong Nooch boasts a fantastic tropical garden to wander through. ���I had forgotten that while we were enjoying the gardens, a keeper brought a tiger out and chained it to this platform. I don’t think the tourist on the left has noticed. Off to Koh Samui tomorrow. 11 days out. � 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_2020-10-23_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-226 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-23 Title A name given to the resource Day 226 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9fa1df99d2255a21c4aa747fb072a38c.pdf 7f434eb0d8ffbb8896ddc95a30e3b1a4 PDF Text Text Day 225 by windoworks So here we are. 12 days to the election. Some mornings I don’t know where to start. President Obama gave a powerful stump speech in Philadelphia - and when the camera pulled back, it showed everyone parked in their cars (safely) listening and beeping their car horns in appreciation. It was the new definition of a car rally. Meanwhile, from a friend living in Florida: I received the following threat to my private email address, with my name and home address… “We are in possession of all your information You are currently registered as a Democrat and we know this because we have gained access into the entire voting infrastructure. You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you. Change your party affiliation to Republican to let us know you received our message and will comply. We will know which candidate you voted for. I would take this seriously if I were you.” They end with my home address. Anyone have any suggestions where to send this to and whether the FBI should be informed or local election offices… Well that seemed scary - and then this came out on the Web: Crooked Media: A number of voters in Florida and Alaska have received threatening emails warning them to “Vote Trump or else!” from the nominal email address “info@officialproudboys.com.” The Proud Boys denied any involvement, and the Department of Homeland Security has concluded that the emails were in fact an Iranian campaign to create the appearance of a serious security breach, and undermine confidence in the integrity of the election. And how about this: • In homegrown chaos, a man in Maryland has been arrested for threatening to kidnap and kill Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, in the logical conclusion of the right-wing kidnapping craze that’s sweeping the nation. At polling places around the country, Trump supporters have been gathering to hold disruptive, confrontational rallies, and harass early voters from just beyond the legal buffer distance. In Miami, a uniformed police officer entered an early polling location wearing a Trump mask, an act that the chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party correctly deemed to be “city-funded voter intimidation.” Crooked Media But its all right because as Helen Reddy famously sang: I am woman, hear me roar In numbers too big to ignore �Trump thought he could appeal to suburban women by scaring them with Biden sending low income colored families to live on their wealthy, white privileged streets. But the Ladies Who Lunch/Wine have a very strong idea of what they want - and it isn’t Trump. Here’s the Atlantic headline: A century after winning suffrage, women voters will choose the next American president. And just in case you’re wondering - that’s women, women of all religions, sexual preferences, ethnicities, income groups. Women all across America, women with a lot more sense and compassion. Brave women and frightened women. Women refusing to be intimidated. Women who break the glass ceiling and women who keep the home fires burning. Women, all of us, who are often underestimated. Women who despise Melania and who adore Jill and who are immensely proud of Kamala. Women who keep reaching for the stars no matter what. I am woman - hear me roar! And all the while, the virus is growing, every day. From Crooked Media: • The U.S. reported more than 60,300 confirmed new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, suggesting we’re in a phase of exponential case growth, according to former FDA chief Scott Gottlieb. We’re likely two or three weeks behind Europe, where a second wave of outbreaks has quickly spiraled out of control—to the point where Ireland has announced a six-week nationwide lockdown, and other countries have imposed new curfews and mask mandates. • Because many Americans spent all summer breathing on each other at motorcycle rallies/White House ragers, we’ve rolled into fall with a much higher case baseline than Europe, and the surge here could be substantially worse. (U-S-A!) The toll has already been worse than the official numbers suggest: A new CDC analysis found that the pandemic has caused 300,000 deaths in the U.S., including fatalities that were an indirect result of the virus. That report came out on Tuesday. On Wednesday, a reporter asked Donald Trump if there was anything he would have done differently in his handling of the pandemic. His answer: “Not much.” • In lieu of the many steps the Trump administration could be taking to slow our national descent into hell, we’re stuck with this shit: The White House has been considering slashing funding for coronavirus relief in the Democratic-led cities that Trump has dubbed “anarchist jurisdictions.” Those cities could also be denied funding for HIV treatment, hearing screenings for newborns, and housing for people in addiction recovery, among other programs that serve some of the poorest and sickest Americans, all for the sake of some ineffective campaign propaganda, and post-election revenge. �Some days the expression Oh My God! Just doesn’t seem to cover it. There are 12 days left. Tonight is the last presidential debate. The moderator will have the capability to mute both Trump and Biden’s microphones. That should work well. Am I going to watch it? No. I probably could on YouTube as we only have wifi streaming, but honestly I’d rather watch a cricket match and I can’t stand cricket. Also, as of yesterday, more than 40M Americans have already voted. In 2016, 138M Americans voted altogether. The numbers keep rising at an astonishing rate. It makes me wonder how many will have voted by the end of Election Day? And in some states, the vote in ballots can be counted up to 9 days after the polls close. One good thing from this election - far more people are realizing that voting matters. So Oliver, who yesterday said Hi! When he saw me on FaceTime. Who had learned to walk backwards. And who said Bye Bye and ‘blew me a kiss’ at the end of our talk. �Strawberries, all over his face as well as all in his tummy. After the stage show, we went outside to the arena for the Elephant Show. �����I am always wary of animal shows but these elephants seemed well fed, well cared for and happy. You could buy an elephant painted t-shirt if you wanted and at the end of the show the baby elephants came over to the audience looking for peanuts. And to finish today’s blog - this is Trump Tower in Chicago where someone posted this: �12 days to who knows what? � 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_2020-10-22_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-225 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-22 Title A name given to the resource Day 225 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/65d978eed2d16bd88f5a2a2f086bf848.pdf 80da5bdd5276a17a403f55a24b3c1d29 PDF Text Text Day 224 by windoworks Some days ago, some official in Australia said that they thought that Australians would not be allowed to leave the country until the end of 2021. So. The borders between the US, Canada and Mexico will remain closed for anther month and the way the case numbers are climbing, I think that will be extended indefinitely. Crooked Media The Trump administration coronavirus strategy now openly consists of nothing but denial, debunked pseudoscience, and the total abandonment of Americans to unnecessary infections and deaths. We have just under two weeks to make sure that approach comes to a hard stop in January, and we cannot fuck this up. Yesterday I was talking to my counselor who has relocated temporarily with her family to New York State, somewhere in a cabin in the woods. She told me that mask wearing is automatic in New York State everybody wears one and no one questions it. �In case your French is shaky, he said: I wish that the virus villain disappears. Yesterday I read that if Trump loses the election, he will trade his freedom for a quiet handover to Biden, because his survival is all he cares about. By yesterday evening, 33 million Americans had voted - and it could be more. Trump continues to hold an average of 3 rallies a day, crisscrossing the country. Melania has withdrawn from campaigning citing a persistent covid cough. It seems she didn’t get the gold star treatment regime. �My counselor also told me that she was speaking to a friend at Spectrum Health who said not only were they gearing up for a surge in serious cases, they had formed a game plan for civil unrest after the election. Good to know. Never imagined living in a potentially war torn country was on my bucket list. Yesterday Ottawa County Health Department put to a post which noted an alarming rise in cases among adult residents. At the bottom of their post was this. Now I know its long, but it is clear rules to live by: Public health is concerned about misinformation related to the severity of COVID-19 and the communitywide spread of the virus. Clarification Needed and Messages to Emphasize: • COVID-19 is real and very prevalent in Ottawa County. It affects all of us even if you may not feel sick. You could still be a carrier of the virus and get others sick. • COVID-19 can result in serious long-term complications, hospitalizations and even death, especially to those who may already have health complications and the elderly. Scientists are still researching the longterm impacts on health, even in those who were healthy or had mild illness. • Life is not back to normal yet. We are still in a pandemic. We cannot go about our normal lives as if the virus does not exist. Extreme caution needs to happen among us all especially when at school, work, places of worship and anywhere within the community. This includes wearing a mask, limiting gatherings and avoiding crowds as mandated by the state. Families should have a plan in place if schools or businesses may have limitations or restrictions. • Public health decisions and actions are data-driven and not based on the political landscape. Data are gathered and analyzed by state and local epidemiologists, medical directors and other public health officials to inform mitigation strategies. • Social media posts aren't always reliable sources for health information. Seek the facts from scientific research and the expertise of medical and public health officials. • It takes all the disease prevention measures working together by all of us to slow the spread of the virus frequently washing hands and disinfecting surfaces, wearing a mask, keeping a physical distance from others and staying home when you do not feel well. • Testing more people for COVID-19 does not inflate the numbers or make the situation seem worse. Testing is a critical tool to identify where the virus is spreading to contain it through isolation and quarantine and to prevent others from getting infected. Find testing sites in Ottawa County: English I Spanish. • Contact tracing is not an infringement on your rights or an act of the government getting involved in your privacy. It is a critical tool-and time-tested tool-that goes back more than 120 years to identify those who have been infected and who they may have possibly infected. This public health-community partnership action is needed to contain the virus, and prevent further disease spread and keep our community safe. Help by connecting us with those who may have been exposed. • Asking you to wear a mask is not against the law. It is good infection prevention and practiced routinely in health care settings. Michigan law imposes on state and local health departments a duty to continually �and diligently endeavor to prevent disease, prolong life and promote public health. Even with Governor Whitmer's emergency powers removed, as provided in MCL 333.2253, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Service director's emergency procedures are not limited to the Public Health Code. Wearing a mask and physical distancing are needful measures when we don’t have pharmaceutical interventions (a vaccine or a medicine). This morning West Michigan Education Department issued a warning that schools may have to close again and revert to all online teaching. Of course this is not the best way for children to learn and socialize but it is the only way to keep everyone safe. This could last until at least June/July next year. October is traditionally the spooky month and Halloween is always a big deal. I know there have been discussions locally about how to do the candy walk safely. For Craig and I there will be no decorations and no candy. We will not turn our porch light on. I just couldn’t think how to do it safely, for me or for the children. ��And this: The fly has �voted. �Oliver watching his meal cook. Yesterday he was reading a book with us when he saw a crocodile on the page. He immediately did this movement that us adults took a few minutes to recognize - the big snapping jaws of a crocodile. Wow! Daycare is amazing. Oh and they made spooky cookies this week. Yes - the under twos. I had forgotten that we stayed overnight at the dock in Thailand. After the first day spent exploring Bangkok, the second day featured a visit to the Nong Nooch Village with Tropical Orchid Gardens, a cultural show and to finish, an Elephant Show. Thai dancers. �A Thai Kickboxing demonstration �A mock battle with elephants. More Nong Nooch tomorrow. So here we are. The election is just 13 days away. The virus is surging all across the world. All we can do is keep ourselves safe. And vote. �See you tomorrow. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-10-21_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-224 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-21 Title A name given to the resource Day 224 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/39bf9d12e1414c6ae3593e6efe53073d.pdf 75713825b70f5ec052d937f718e6c71a PDF Text Text Day 223 – 2 weeks today. by windoworks This isn’t really about today but it seems relevant - who is it? Mother, mother There's too many of you crying Brother, brother, brother There's far too many of you dying You know we've got to find a way To bring some lovin' here today Cases are climbing. Trump is totally out of control and spreading fantastic amounts of dangerous misinformation. Cases are climbing. And America is angry. One side is angry with the president for getting us into this never ending mess. The other side is angry because Trump told them they should be angry. It reminds me of those hypnotism shows - you know the ones where the hypnotist makes a volunteer bark like a dog. Trump’s the hypnotist and his followers are barking like dogs. So here’s the statistics- get ready. US new cases yesterday: 64,164. Total cases: 8.26M. New deaths yesterday: 517. Total deaths: 220K. Michigan new cases yesterday: 4,718. Total cases: 164K. New deaths yesterday: 41. Total deaths: 7,364. Kent County: new cases yesterday: 314. Total cases: 11,762. New deaths yesterday: 3. Total deaths: 174. I don’t have any words left for this. Here’s words from others. The Hill • We do have vaccines and therapeutics coming down the pike, but when you actually look at the time period for that, the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic,” Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said. • Osterholm said the U.S. is suffering from a messaging problem due to the lack of a “lead” voice to guide Americans through the pandemic. Boy is that a polite way of saying that Trump is a shithead. �Crooked Media • Trump’s latest public display of animosity followed a candid 60 Minutes interview in which Fauci acknowledged that the White House had blocked him from appearing on “many, many, many shows” to talk about the pandemic, said he wasn’t at all surprised that Trump had contracted coronavirus, and described the harassment and death threats his family has endured since Trump and the right-wing media made him into an enemy. After guiding the country through health crises under six administrations, Fauci now requires a security detail when he and his wife go for a walk. Remember the barking dogs? Here’s one of their new leaders. Washington Post Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist whose commentary on Fox News led President Trump to recruit him to the White House, consolidated his power over the government’s pandemic response. Atlas shot down attempts to expand testing. He openly feuded with other doctors on the coronavirus task force and succeeded in largely sidelining them. He advanced fringe theories, such as that social distancing and mask-wearing were meaningless and would not have changed the course of the virus in several hardhit areas. And he advocated allowing infections to spread naturally among most of the population while protecting the most vulnerable and those in nursing homes until the United States reaches herd immunity, which experts say would cause excess deaths, according to three current and former senior administration officials. Atlas also cultivated Trump’s affection with his public assertions that the pandemic is nearly over, despite death and infection counts showing otherwise, and his willingness to tell the public that a vaccine could be developed before the Nov. 3 election, despite clear indications of a slower timetable. The result has �been a U.S. response increasingly plagued by distrust, infighting and lethargy, just as experts predict coronavirus cases could surge this winter and deaths could reach 400,000 by year’s end. ��Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. �So here we are. The case numbers are climbing. Hospitals are on the verge of being overwhelmed. There’s no vaccine in sight. Democratic mayors and governors are threatened by domestic terrorists (we passed right wing extremists about May this year), its 3 minutes to midnight and the Orange Devil (sorry Wendy) and his minions are dancing with thoughtless abandon. I can’t believe this is my country. I can’t believe that I spent 7 years and hours of study to become an American citizen for this to be the state of the nation. Here’s one item of many that I learned: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Say that out loud and then think about it. Those governing us are supposed to secure those rights for us. You and me. And all those 220K who died. This morning I watched a clip of Ana Navarro on The View. Whoopi Goldberg asked her what she had been doing and Ana described how someone who worked in her house brought the virus in and 16 people became ill, 3 of them in hospital, including her strong fit husband. She said she had spent the weekend (after her husband came home and was much better), thinking about all those people who drop a loved one off at the ER and then never see them again. 220K. Its staggering. �One of the things I miss the most is Oliver. Although my daughter makes a superhuman effort every day to FaceTime us, its wonderful but not quite the same. I have not seen any of my family members in the �flesh since the beginning of September last year - I’ve just realized that was over a year ago. Pause for tears. ��Who knows? Once upon a time I heard Carl Hulse, of the New York Times say: you can’t wash the Trump stench off once its attached to you. Its worse than skunk odor. Washington Post Assuming President Trump loses his reelection bid in a few weeks, the soon-to-be alumni of the Trump administration, who were warned that association with Trump would mar their careers and corrode their character, are now "hoping the Trump presidency isn’t a disqualifying blemish on their resumes or Google footprint as the door revolves the other way and they seek to land, once again, in the private sector,” The Post reports. They should think more about atoning for the betrayal of their country than trying to escape the consequences of enabling a liar, racist and wannabe authoritarian. There are practical reasons for employers outside the right-wing bubble to reject not only those who were the face of the administration but also those who labored behind the scenes. Members of this administration probably acquired bad habits (ignoring gross misconduct, lying for their boss, etc.), practiced a great deal of willful ignorance and rationalized unethical conduct. The administration, aside from its corruption and moral rot, was also grossly incompetent in its day-to-day operations. Wear a mask for me. Wear one for your mother or your father or your siblings or your cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents. Wear a mask for your neighbors, your friends, your coworkers, the passengers on your bus - for any passing stranger. No vaccine, no miracle cure, just physically distancing, hand washing and masks. �Oh - it was Marvin Gaye and What’s Goin’ On. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-10-20_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-223 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-20 Title A name given to the resource Day 223 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4890e481105b39b4d0b00305fe710aac.pdf dd8affda4d57020211caebd71204df15 PDF Text Text Day 222 by windoworks Today’s lyrics -seemed appropriate. Who sang this? Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality. �Crooked Media The first step towards making future elections fairer is winning this one in a landslide. Take this reminder from Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon that national polls don’t tell the real story, and that this election is closer than it looks. Nothing is written, everything is on the line, and we’ve got 15 days left. When you wake up on November 4, how will you have spent them? More than 28.1M Americans have voted already - by mail, by ballot dropbox and by early walk in voting. This is an unprecedented number. In the meantime, both parties continue to campaign - Trump in person and with few safety restrictions and Biden, carefully with strict safety measures. There is just over 2 weeks to go. The Detroit News Muskegon — President Donald Trump tried to tie Democratic rival Joe Biden to the radical left of his party and told his supporters to "watch those ballots"during a Saturday rally attended by thousands of people outside an airport hangar in Muskegon. The Republican president also insisted that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer needs to relax more COVID-19 restrictions, even though the Michigan Supreme Court already invalidated her emergency executive orders because the 1945 law she relied on was unconstitutional. She has since had her state Department of Health and Human Services issue new epidemic orders to wear masks and limit the capacities of businesses. “You’ve got to get your governor to open up her state." Trump said to cheering. "And get your schools open. … The schools have to be open.” Michigan's schools have been given the option of holding in-person classes or holding courses online. Many larger school districts have chosen to go with online courses, while others have done in-person classes or a mixture of online or in-person classes. In response to Trump's statement, the crowd started chanting about the first-term Democratic governor: "Lock her up, lock her up, lock her up." At another point, Trump raised concerns about the handling of the upcoming election by Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel, another Democrat. He said Whitmer and Nessel are in charge of the ballots in the state. But Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, another Democrat, is Michigan's top election official. In May, the president threatened federal funding for Michigan and erroneously said Benson planned to send absentee ballots to all voters, when the Detroit Democrat instead sent voters applications for the ballots ahead of the elections. "So how the hell do I put my political and our country’s political life in the hands of a pure partisan like that?" Trump said. "So you’ve got to watch it. Watch those ballots. Watch what’s going." "Law enforcement is watching," he added. �The chants in Muskegon also came after federal and state authorities charged 14 men over an alleged plot to kidnap Whitmer, storm the Michigan Capitol and potentially start a civil war. Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II turned the moment into a campaign pitch. "We have a choice between two types of presidents in this election: @JoeBiden, a deeply caring human, who called @gretchenwhitmer to check in after the kidnapping plot. Or this guy — a superspreader of hate and divisiveness…," Gilchrist tweeted. To Trump, Governor Whitmer responded: NPR.ORG Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who the FBI says was targeted in a foiled kidnapping plot, on Sunday accused President Trump of fanning the flames of domestic terrorism when he didn't put a stop to chants of "lock her up!" that erupted the day before during a rally in her home state. "It's incredibly disturbing that the president of the United States, 10 days after a plot to kidnap, put me on trial and execute me — 10 days after that was uncovered — the president is at it again and inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism," she said on NBC's Meet the Press. "It's got to end. It is dangerous not just for me and my family but for public servants everywhere who are doing their jobs and trying to protect their fellow Americans," the Democrat Whitmer said, urging people on both sides of the aisle to "call this out and bring the heat down." Of course you know that ‘divide and conquer’ is Trump’s entire toolbox and the rest of sane America has begun to watch all this as a creepy type of sideshow - a little distraction from everyday Covid life. People keep asking on FaceBook ‘How do we persuade Trump voters to switch and vote for Biden?’ And the short answer every time is - you can’t, so don’t bother. All this and the dire forecasts of what might happen once November 3 is over are becoming too much to contemplate, so we’re all beginning to worry that this current surge is the second virus wave. So far, the predictions made by the experts (you remember, the scientists) have been reasonably accurate. It seems this is the onset of the second wave (although some might argue that we never left the first wave) and although it seems troubling now, the real surge will be in January and February. So, in case you were wondering what is happening in other parts of the world: DM news France reported 29,837 new cases on Sunday, slightly down from the record 32,400 logged the day before. A strict night-time curfew went into effect in Paris and eight other cities on Saturday evening, running from 9 p.m. The United Kingdom remains Europe's worst-affected area in terms of deaths, accounting for almost onefifth of deaths on the continent. The British government continues to struggle to fight the outbreak, with local officials resisting attempts by ministers to impose restrictions by region. Italy The virus has hit the country's parliament, with 20 lawmakers in Italy's Chamber of Deputies testing postive for COVID-19. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is due to announce further measures later on �Sunday. Slovakia plans to test everyone in the country over the age of 10 for the virus this month – twice. It was not immediately clear whether testing will be voluntary or mandatory. Slovenia, meanwhile, has suspended its contact tracing efforts citing the country's swelling caseload. The country's public health body said the number of cases was so high that it was unable to successfully conduct tracing of those who test positive. Germany wants to address the decline of its city centers, an issue that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Online shopping has experienced tremendous growth and is now even more of a threat to traditional retailers due to social distancing rules and ongoing virus fears. The Netherlands has hit a new record of daily infections. Ireland will bring in "decisive" nationwide COVID-19 restrictions on Monday but will stop short of reintroducing the kind of lockdown imposed earlier this year. After hitting a new daily record on Friday, Switzerland is implementing new strict measures to combat the spread of the virus. Israel will reduce some lockdown restrictions from Sunday. Residents will be allowed to travel more than one kilometer (about 0.6 miles) from their homes. Beaches, national parks, and children's nurseries are expected to re-open as well. Saudi Arabia has allowed people within the kingdom to pray at the Al-Haram Mosque in Mecca, one of the holiest sites for Muslims. The mosque was closed to the public for nearly seven months over coronavirus concerns. Australia's second-largest city, Melbourne, has loosened lockdown restrictions as new and active COVID19 continue to decline. From Sunday, residents will no longer face strict limits on the time they can spend away from their homes for education or recreation. Previous restrictions stopped them from traveling more than 5 kilometers (3 miles) from home, but the limit has been extended to 25 kilometers (15 miles). And here’s a family anecdote. My brother-in-law who lives in the Australian Capitol Territory, was given a ticket to see his football team play an important game - but in Brisbane, Queensland. I went up to Brisbane for the Preliminary Final. Canberra Airport was very empty and the security check was very friendly and relaxed. Everyone on the flight was encouraged to wear masks and did, though there were a number of people that only covered their mouths. On arrival at Brisbane we were greeted by a guard of honour of about 30 police and Australian Defense Force personnel whose only function seemed to be to form a corridor and direct us to the tables where we presented our Pass and proof of identity (Luckily I got a reminder from Qantas to get a Queensland Border Declaration Pass which I did online) The Hotel beside the one I was staying in that we were told was full when we tried to book me there �originally, was obviously code for it is being used as a quarantine hotel, as there was a large police presence out the front. Oliver at daycare: ��Yesterday we drove out to Kirk Park. It was mid morning and raining and there was almost no one else there. We walked through the woods to the point where they have closed the trail due to unstable dunes. ��And then we walked down to shore - or what’s left of it. ��Walking back to the car, we passed the stairs to the lookout. ��Flashback: Still Bangkok Crazy busy streets and those overhead power lines bothered me. �The Bangkok Canal �The Flower Market on Valentines Day eve �So after a very long and extremely hot day, our guide rushed us to the flower market and then deserted us. The path through was very narrow and we were beset by Thai people frantically buying flowers for Valentines Day. We had another 2 - 2.5 hour drive back to the ship, where we ran to the restaurant just in time before closing, to get some food. I am glad I saw Bangkok, but I don’t need to see it again. Here are calming, beautiful fall colors. ��Did you guess right? Of course it was from Bohemian Rhapsody and it was sung by Freddie Mercury. You know the drill. 15 days. � 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_2020-10-19_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-222 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-19 Title A name given to the resource Day 222 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6c61b5373b608e6777639a764da8840f.pdf 81412b764b0be79aea67accd041861e0 PDF Text Text Day 221. 16 days to the election. by windoworks And it's whispered that soon, If we all call the tune Then the piper will lead us to reason And a new day will dawn For those who stand long And the forests will echo with laughter So appropriate. Do you recognize it? I liked this next thing: The New York Times Less than three weeks before the election, some Republican lawmakers are beginning to publicly distance themselves from the president in a rush to re-establish their reputations and political brands. Senator Ted Cruz warned of a “Republican blood bath of Watergate proportions,” and Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the president’s most vocal allies, predicted the president could very well lose the White House. They’re �pictured on Capitol Hill this week. Mr. Trump’s cabinet also fears a November loss: Cabinet departments are scrambling to push through dozens of new regulations that will affect the lives of millions of people. Separately, Women’s March protesters took to the streets in Washington on Saturday, galvanized by their opposition to Mr. Trump and his nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. The march was met with a counterprotest in support of Judge Barrett. But not just protesting in Washington DC. There were protests all over the country and the overriding message was: We are women and we are not happy - and we vote! While serving on the Senate Judiciary Committee that interviewed Amy Whatshername for a position on SCOTUS, one of the sitting members (and I’m sorry I don’t remember who, but I’m guessing he’s a Democrat) said to the other committee members: Remember, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. I think that describes Republican politics accurately: Just because we can. Now I can’t post this to this post, but here’s a link you shouldn’t miss: https://t.co/eoxT07d7QB https://t.couU5mRDGsXE Its Don’t Throw Away Your Shot with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and the Hamilton cast under this heading: voting is your opportunity to be in the room where it happens. Its on Twitter, see if you can follow the links or find it. Meanwhile in New Zealand: ��New York Times. Three years ago, Jacinda Ardern was a last-minute choice to lead New Zealand’s Labour Party. On Saturday, the prime minister cruised to re-election. After managing the responses to the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attacks and the White Island volcano eruption, and implementing a “go hard, go early,” approach that has effectively stamped out the pandemic from her country — all while navigating the birth of her first child — Ms. Ardern has become a global standard-bearer for a compassionate brand of progressive politics. “We will govern as we campaigned — positively,” Ms. Ardern said in her acceptance speech, adding: “We will build back better from the Covid crisis. This is our opportunity.” Is this a sign? Should we hope? In case you didn’t know (although I think I have mentioned it before) I am a New Zealander. I was born there and wherever else I live or travel to in the world, I will always be a New Zealander. And to cap Saturdays election triumph, the All Blacks (don’t look at me, I didn’t name them) won the second rugby game in the Bledisloe Cup series against Australia’s Wallabies 27 - 7. And think about this: over 40,000 New Zealand fans were seated in the stands, cheering them on. Meanwhile over here with Trump who is holding superspreader rallies back to back this weekend and into next week, he said this: Crooked Media: • The president refused to condemn the antisemitic, violence-prone cult of QAnon, in a brilliant pivot from his days-long refusal to condemn white supremacy. Trump instead both amplified and encouraged the conspiracy theory’s central premise: “What I do hear about it is they are very strongly against pedophilia. I agree with that. I do agree with that.” Trump also shrugged off his retweet of the berserk conspiracy theory that the Obama administration had a SEAL team killed, prompting this pushback from NBC’s Savannah Guthrie: “I don’t get that. You’re the president. You’re not, like, someone’s crazy uncle.” (Mary Trump begs to differ.) Who is QAnon, I hear you say? The Atlantic The pro-Trump conspiracy theory, which holds in part that global elites are secretly abusing children, isn’t going away. Here are three things to consider as you think about QAnon’s rise to prominence: • QAnon could emerge as a new American religion. At its core, the group is a rejection of Enlightenment values. • Followers of the group leverage the Instagram aesthetic to spread their message. • Reddit did manage to squash its presence. But that isn’t necessarily hopeful news. That approach may have kept QAnon out of one corner of the internet, but QAnon still spread into the real world. �I think they’re an even crazier bunch than Trumpers, but far more dangerous - and they even have a candidate on the ticket, for the Senate I think. At their heart though, each of these groups just want to divide and conquer. Its all about power. Oliver. ��Crushing the obstacle course at daycare. Bangkok. Still at the Palace. Large statues at the palace �The original royal residence - obviously we weren’t allowed inside. �More pagoda spires. �The Royal Palace soldiers. This morning there are a total of 8.14M cases in the US. On Thursday the US total was just under 8M, so that shows just how fast the case numbers are rising. In Michigan we have a total of 144,897 cases and in Kent County our case total stands at 11,448 with over 100 new cases each day. Everyone is telling us to keep going, wear a mask, wash your hands and stand over 6 feet apart. Not everyone is listening. Where did that verse at the top come from? Yes you guessed it - Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. See you tomorrow. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-10-18_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-221 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-18 Title A name given to the resource Day 221 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6af20ac8e28e5734829a62ee853dfc09.pdf 79955cee9ff05170bc29e081dcebc23f PDF Text Text Day 220: Saturday October 17. And 17 days to the election. by windoworks Covid Travel �Guides This was an example of one stop voting for New Zealanders. Last night in New Zealand, this happened: �Washington Post CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was headed for a runaway reelection victory on Saturday after widespread praise for leading a successful battle against the coronavirus pandemic. Her government’s response to outbreaks of the coronavirus— including some of the strictest lockdowns and border controls in the world — is attributed to achieving some of the lowest death rates in the world with just 25 recorded fatalities. We will not take your support for granted and I promise you we will be a party that governs for every New Zealander,” Ardern said. “And governing for every New Zealander has never been more important,” she said, noting “we are living in a polarized world where more and more people are losing the ability to see each other’s point of view.” Her embrace of international cooperation and pan-national issues, including climate change, earned her the nickname “the anti-Trump” among her supporters. �Did you notice the death toll in New Zealand due to Covid-19? 25. Now I know there’s many mitigating circumstances such as global location (at the bottom of the world); 3 small islands; socialist government etc. but the biggest difference is this: the person in charge sat down on video and explained at the onset, carefully and clearly, what the actions were going to be and why the government was taking them. She said clearly: we are all in this together and I will always listen to you and explain every next step and why it is necessary - so you will know and understand. Their first lockdown was hard, very hard, and yet most New Zealanders cooperated without too much grumbling. Of course it helped that the police did their job and policed the lockdown and arrested anyone who was blatantly non compliant. All I have heard here for months (8 months actually) is, oh we couldn’t do that here, Pamela. Its a transgression of our rights. And that’s true. The right to hold onto an enormous amount of freedom at a huge cost to yourself, and all the other people near and dear to you. Sometimes the greater good overrides the personal freedom. So here we are. Yesterday the new daily case count in the US rose to 70,451, and 909 people died. 909 mothers and fathers, and sons and daughters and aunts and uncles and grandfathers and grandmothers and babies and toddlers and best friends and choir members and church attendees and party holders and jail inmates and front line workers. Each one of the 218K who have died since March was important and left behind a hole where they used to be. But that’s okay, because your personal freedom overrides my desire to keep living. And let me just remind you - this is the middle of October. They are predicting the worst months will be January and February. That’s when numbers will rise exponentially, because the numbers now are alarming but not as bad as what is to come. You can tell I’m depressed and fed up and I’m betting that a lot of you are too. In political news, Trump and Biden held competing virtual town halls. The worst comment made about Biden’s town hall was a comparison to Fred (Mr) Rogers. On the other hand Washington Post The town hall shows how deeply in denial Trump remains about coronavirus Wisconsin reported more than 4,000 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday, a record high. With medical facilities running low on intensive-care beds, authorities just opened a field hospital on the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds. Soon, it will be able to treat more than 500 patients. “We know that this is going to get worse before it gets better,” the head of the state’s health department, Andrea Palm, warned during a Thursday afternoon briefing. A few hours later, during an NBC town hall in Miami, President Trump declared: “What we’ve done has been amazing, and we have done an amazing job, and it’s rounding the corner.” �More than 63,500 new cases were reported in the United States on Thursday, the highest number since July. “Forty-four states and the District of Columbia have higher caseloads than in mid-September,” Joel Achenbach and Jacqueline Dupree report. “During the past week, at least 20 states have set record sevenday averages for infections, and a dozen have hit record hospitalization rates. … The cumulative number of cases in the United States since the start of the pandemic is likely to surpass 8 million on Friday.” Sadly, the president is wrong. The contagion is not in its last throes. Nor is this a regional crisis isolated to the Midwest. This is a national emergency. One of the 8 million is the president himself. But Trump’s three-day hospitalization this month has not seemed to chasten or humble him. He downplayed the severity of his own illness, just as he publicly downplayed the lethality of the virus in the spring. Questioned by NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, the president declined to say whether he had taken a coronavirus test on the day of the first presidential debate, as required by the rules. Here’s what Chris Christie said this week: Washington Post Former New Jersey GOP governor Chris Christie released a statement Thursday saying he was “wrong” not to wear a mask, both during the Sept. 26 Rose Garden ceremony at which Trump announced Amy Coney Barrett as his Supreme Court nominee and in multiple debate preparation sessions with the president. “I believed that when I entered the White House grounds, that I had entered a safe zone, due to the testing that I and many others underwent every day,” Christie wrote. “I hope that my experience shows my fellow citizens that you should follow CDC guidelines in public no matter where you are and wear a mask to protect yourself and others.” Christie contracted covid-19 and spent seven days isolated in the ICU of a New Jersey hospital. Now he is back home and convalescing. “It is something to take very seriously,” Christie said in the statement. “The ramifications are wildly random and potentially deadly. No one should be happy to get the virus and no one should be cavalier about being infected or infecting others. Every public official, regardless of party or position, should advocate for every American to wear a mask in public, appropriately socially distance and to wash your hands frequently every day”. �By Friday (yesterday) more than 22M Americans had voted, either by mail or in person. I don’t pay attention to the polls, I just vote and hope for the best. If Biden wins decisively, there could be a light at the end of the tunnel. If Trump wins, there will be no limit to his self serving behavior. And whoever wins, there may be civil unrest. My hope is that Biden wins and the insane Trumpers say: Bugger! Oh okay. And they take their guns and slogans and hate and just go home. Yesterday our daughter asked us if we had built our panic room yet. She was joking and of course we’re not building one, but its a thought that brings you up sharp. One of my neighbors is concerned that the election will result in a new civil war - and this is a calm, reasonable person. �What exactly is the 2nd Amendment? A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. This doesn’t exactly say that everyone can own a gun and it doesn’t refer to any type of automatic weapons either. Their militia had rifles that had to be reloaded with gunpowder each time they were �fired, so any advanced weaponry wasn’t included in the amendment. There is much more I could say about the Constitution and the Amendments but that would be unAmerican. ��Laughing - probably at his mother. And the ever present runny nose. Bangkok. It took us about 2 hours to drive from the port to the city of Bangkok. Added to that, there were active student demonstrations occurring against the then Prime Minister and so our day’s itinerary was hastily reorganized. Our first stop was the Royal Palace. The Grand Palace (Thai: พระบรมมหาราชวัง, RTGS: Phra Borom Maha Ratcha Wang is a complex of buildings at the heart of Bangkok, Thailand. The palace has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam (and later Thailand) since 1782. The king, his court, and his royal government were based on the grounds of the palace until 1925. King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), resided at the Chitralada Royal Villa and his successor King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) at the Amphorn Sathan Residential Hall, both in the Dusit Palace, but the Grand Palace is still used for official events. Several royal ceremonies and state functions are held within the walls of the palace every year. The palace is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Thailand. Wikipedia. In the above photo, people are lighting incense prayer sticks. �Craig and I in the palace grounds. �So if you know Craig, you know he is wearing shorts. Shorts were not allowed in the Royal Palace and so he had to hire some colorful Siamese pants for the duration of our visit. You’ll note I was wearing an ankle length dress. �Some golden pagodas of the palace. Another day is here. 17 days to the election. Numbers of ill people are climbing. Lets keep us all safe. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-10-17_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-220 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-17 Title A name given to the resource Day 220 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng