12 24 538 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/84988661c4a1f55cf08b73025cf7cf56.pdf 2c23c7b751ece213c774904720f457fe PDF Text Text Day 196 by windoworks Yeah, baby! In other disturbing news - are we disturbed yet? Crooked Media The official U.S.coronavirus death toll has soared past 200,000, President Trump continues to aggressively not give a shit, and in an enigma that historians will puzzle over for centuries to come, this is still shaping up to be a close election. �• The confirmed number of Americans lost to the virus is now equivalent to a 9/11 attack every day for 67 days, and the true number is much higher than that. The current death toll—by far the highest in the world—was once seen as an unimaginable worst-case scenario, and some experts now warn that it could nearly double by the end of 2020. While New Zealand celebrates bringing its second outbreak under control, the U.S. continues to report more than 750 deaths per day. • Instead of leading a traumatized nation in grieving those victims, Donald Trump flatly dismissed them at his latest superspreader campaign event in Ohio on Monday night. “It affects virtually nobody,” said the president to a packed crowd making no attempt at social distancing. “It’s an amazing thing.” Trump meant to make the point that people under 18 are in no danger from coronavirus, which is itself a horrendous lie: Hundreds of children have been hospitalized, and dozens have died. As Trump himself told Bob Woodward on tape in March, “Now it's turning out it's not just old people, Bob…young people, too, plenty of young people.” • Over the past week the U.S. has seen an average of 41,812 new cases per day, a seven percent increase over just two weeks ago. Experts have repeatedly warned that the combination of cold weather forcing more activities into poorly-ventilated indoor spaces, flu season straining health care systems, and Republican unwillingness to promote masks and social distancing will set us up for a disastrous fall and winter. There are a lot of things the Trump administration should be doing about our high daily baseline, and none of them are encouraging Americans to let their guard down. • Each dizzying coronavirus milestone is a reminder of the new normal we’ve been asked to accept, and of the collective mourning we’ve been denied—because the crisis isn’t over, because the president is a psychopath, because it would require a national reckoning. We can be sad about that, or we can channel that sadness into rage, and then action. 41 days. 41 days. 41 days. 41 days. �These are the flags set out on the lawn at the Capitol - there are 200,000 of them. Each one represents an American who died from the coronavirus. There are so many other stories, day after day, like the huge amount of CARES money given to the Pentagon to buy PPE etc and they chose to spend it on uniforms and jet engines, because what else do we need in a pandemic? Yesterday I watched a Roundtable with Governor Whitmer, Dr Joneigh Khaldun (Michigan Chief Medical Officer) and Mark Tottenham, Chief Legal Counsel to the governor. They asked each other questions and it was illuminating hearing about the systems in place and how soon they knew and understood what was coming. Dr J said they watched and waited for the first human to human transmission and then she put testing labs in place etc. Governor Whitmer described her close relationship with other governors, especially J.B. Pritzker D - Illinois and Mike DeWine R - Ohio. The governors have had to work together because Trump won’t give any (or only meager) federal assistance. The FDA is assuring everyone that any vaccine will not be green lighted until it is thoroughly tested and declared safe - and that certainly won’t be before November 3. Airlines will insist on a test for each passenger before overseas flights. Early voting participants in Virginia had to run the gamut of Trump supporters, chanting and threatening. This morning I went early to get my haircut and my stylist and I lamented the state of our country. On the way to the salon (first time I’ve driven the car since my eye surgery), the sun was coming up behind me - blood red. A reminder of the dreadful fires in the west. Each day’s revelations and developments are so unbelievable that we are becoming immune to shock. Instead I am exhausted. Here’s a meme from my daughter: ��I wonder if this will pull this country apart? The divisions are so deep and so entrenched, I wonder what will happen after the election is over? Perhaps it is best to have a daily routine, take time to enjoy the small things and try to breathe. In the ‘its all very well to point this out to us now’ category: Washington Post The Founders recognized that checks and balances were only as good as the people who used them. “As there is a degree of depravity in mankind,” James Madison wrote in Federalist 55, “so there are other qualities in human nature which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence. Republican government presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form.” The author of the Constitution further argued that “were the pictures which have been drawn by the political jealousy of some among us faithful likenesses of the human character, the inference would be, that there is not sufficient virtue among men for self-government; and that nothing less than the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying and devouring one another.” So, leaf art: ��And Oliver. ��Flashback: we took the children to Chateau Pennautier, a winery -a chateau and a winery going back 4 centuries. I think the original owner was the Treasurer to the States of Languedoc. �������Wandering around the town of Pennautier and the Chateau before the winery visit. The tour with the owner and head sommelier. Next a comprehensive lesson in wine tasting which we all enjoyed. Last a fabulous lunch and gift shop peruse before driving home. A wonderful day. Here’s an update from Allsides: �So now you know. Tomorrow then. and keep breathing. � 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_2020-09-23_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-196 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 2020-09-23 Title A name given to the resource Day 196 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/9fa23b413163c51687b423a2ae3c2286.pdf c1b3b957cc80dde0d3578dc3273de6ac PDF Text Text Day 195 by windoworks Remember I asked my children and niece to write a piece about their Covid-19 experiences? Here is the piece from my oldest son, Zar Lilley, who lives with his wife in Auckland New Zealand. He is a journalist and his piece sets a high bar. The view from faraway: New Zealand: On March 23 Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, addressed the public in a live broadcast, announcing the most significant restrictions in the country’s modern history in response to the growing coronavirus pandemic. New Zealand would move to Covid Alert Level 3 - a lockdown - that day, and rise to Level 4, the most stringent of restrictions, within 48 hours, she said. Almost all businesses would close, schools would empty, and people would go home. Travel would cease. “If community transmission takes off in New Zealand the number of cases will double every five days. If that happens unchecked, our health system will be inundated, and thousands of New Zealanders will die,” Ardern said. �Auckland’s Southern Motorway, which usually carries 200,000 vehicles a day, was mostly deserted during the lockdown. Photo: Zar Lilley “I say to all New Zealanders: The Government will do all it can to protect you. Now I’m asking you to do everything you can to protect all of us. Kiwis - go home.” The restrictions would eventually remain in place for five weeks. In the office, we looked at each other, and at the end of our shifts, gathered the things we’d need to work from home. Within days, the roads emptied, planes were grounded, and a quietness descended over the cities as the restrictions took effect. It was surprising how quickly it all happened. �Broadway, in Auckland’s Newmarket shopping district. Deserted during the lockdown, it’s usually clogged with cars, buses, cyclists and pedestrians. Photo: Zar Lilley. The lockdown meant no travelling by car for anything other than essential trips - buying food from supermarkets (grocery stores), or going to the doctor. Exercise was restricted to the area around where you lived. A new term was coined - bubbles. “Stay in your bubble” meant isolating to only interact with the people in your house. People flouting the restrictions risked arrest. It was a warm and sunny autumn, and within days, people started walking - and then cycling on the empty roads. Soon families were out on bikes, riding through the suburb we live in. For us, life at home settled pretty quickly into a rhythm, soon taken up with daily walks, Zoom and FaceTime calls with friends and family, and home cooking. I worked from home. Even the air got better, with climate science agency NIWA reporting Auckland’s airborne pollution had reduced by 90 per cent in the absence of its fleet of just over 1 million cars, trucks and buses. ��During the lockdown many people took part in the Bear Hunt. This guy had a prime seat to watch the world go by. Photo: Zar Lilley Trips to the supermarket were highly organised affairs where I would usually have to line up, two metres from the person in front and behind, and wait to be allowed to enter the store. Only a certain number of people could be in the store at any one time. A lot of people wore masks. Checkout operators wore masks and stood behind plastic screens. Hand sanitiser was everywhere. I can’t say the lockdown was a hard time for us - we enjoyed the time together and settling into home life. However we did worry about how it would affect our jobs - luckily we were both employed in essential industries. Huge stimulus packages were released by the Government - including subsidies to businesses to keep staff on - nonetheless tens of thousands of people in hard-hit industries like tourism and education did lose their jobs, or had their hours cut, or faced salary reductions. According to Statistics NZ, in the June quarter the economy slumped by 12.2 per cent - the largest recorded fall in the country’s history. Homebound, people started baking, and doing long-put off cleaning and fix-it jobs. Home schooling was helped by the rollout of tablets to kids, with most schools moving to online learning. A TV channel was started to help kids’ education. During this, all the numbers of cases announced by the Government and Ministry of Health in daily press conferences, steadily rose. And then, just as steadily as they had increased, after a few weeks, they started to fall. �Deserted Newmarket. Photo: Zar Lilley On April 20, Ardern again addressed the country. New Zealand would move back to Alert Level 3 - an incremental step loosening the number of businesses that could open for contactless trading, and the partial re-opening of schools to the children of workers from essential sectors, such as healthcare and police. Bubbles would be relaxed somewhat, so one or two other family members could gather together. Grandparents could see their grandchildren. The biggest thing on most people’s minds, however, was the resumption of take-out food (a fast foodloving nation, McDonalds said it had sold out of food in many areas of New Zealand ahead of the lockdown as people panic bought burgers). “Orders for delivery company Delivereasy were coming in even before it was open and by mid-morning, it was averaging an order every 8 seconds,” broadcaster RNZ reported. �Socially distanced coffee pickup. Customers phone in their orders and then pay via contactless credit card. Photo: Zar Lilley Having the option of ordering food after weeks of having to cook it yourself was an excellent treat. We definitely indulged, and after all, it was helping the local businesses so why not? We also started to order a lot of things online. The local wine store had a click and collect set up where you could place an order on their website, then after receiving a text message, walk up the road to the �store, wave through the locked doors and then stand behind a mark on the pavement. The store worker would then open the door and leave your package, wave, and then close the door again. Wine sorted! As well as the re-opening of businesses to deliveries, and in some cases, click and collect, the restrictions on how far people could go to exercise were also somewhat relaxed. We walked further, heading to places that would’ve previously been out of bounds. Travel, however, remained largely closed off: only essential workers could fly. Then on Monday May 11, the prime minister again addressed the country, announcing a staggered move down to Level 2 would take place from 11.59pm on Wednesday night. This meant most of the restrictions that people had lived with under Level 3 would be removed, but social distancing requirements would remain. Restaurants, cafes, gyms, playgrounds and other public places would be able to re-open, however those using them would be restricted to groups of 10. Restaurants came up with some imaginative ways to ensure social distancing. This one used mannequins at tables to separate groups of ten patrons. Photo: Zar Lilley �Schools would re-open from the following Monday, while bars would have to wait until the following Thursday. Travel to other parts of the country would resume. It was like life kicked back into gear. Traffic quickly returned to the highways and motorways, people started going out to bars, restaurants, and shopping malls. We resumed going out to restaurants, which meant scanning in with the newly-released Covid tracer app on your phone - this recorded visits with dates and times, and could message you if you were in close proximity to someone who later tested positive for Covid-19 - putting your details in their register, and sitting at spaced out tables. Bottles of hand sanitiser were everywhere. Case numbers, meanwhile, dropped to zero, and after some days of this, on June 8, Ardern again addressed the country to announce a move to Level 1 from 11.59pm that night. All restrictions would be removed. “We are confident we have eliminated the transmission of the virus here in New Zealand for now, but elimination is not a point in time, it is a sustained effort,” Ardern said. “The world will remain in the grip of a global pandemic for some time to come and we will see cases here again, which we must remain prepared for.” Prime Minister Ardern announced in June that all restrictions would end. (Screenshot, 1 News) In the wake of the lockdown, things returned to normal surprisingly quickly. Malls filled, people went to restaurants, holidays were booked - and traffic jams returned. �While a percentage of returning travelers going through the country’s isolation system did test positive, New Zealand remained without any Covid cases in the community for slightly over 100 days. Four cases were announced on Tuesday 11 August, all within the same family. As a result, Auckland was moved back to Level 3 lockdown restrictions for just over two and a half weeks, and the border to the city was closed. The rest of the country moved to Level 2 - social distancing. Auckland moved out of lockdown to a slightly elevated Level “2.5” - social distancing but tighter restrictions on group numbers - on Sunday August 30. It will move to “proper” Level 2 at 11.59pm this Wednesday. All restrictions for the rest of the country were lifted at 11.59pm on Monday night. **************************************************************** Author’s note: Zar did not mention the substantial fines and/or jail for lockdown offenders - and some were enforced. Also, the returning travelers are New Zealanders, no tourists will be allowed into New Zealand until possibly mid 2021 and trans Tasman travel (across the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand) may resume in March or April. I did look up quarantine regulations here in the US. The CDC guidelines are scanty at best, and it seems to be a state mandated thing. That means that there are no formal quarantine regulations as far as I can see. Leaf art �And Oliver, of course. �We’re always walking now. �Flashback: we went back to Roquefixade with the children. �����This last photo is of the town of Roquefixade. You can see the steep climb up to the castle ruins. The surrounding countryside is so beautiful. And just to remind you: �42 days. Get ready. � 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_2020-09-22_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-195 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 2020-09-22 Title A name given to the resource Day 195 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/1a6c90e3eda4d18d091919c77d3b01c2.pdf 8d4ecfeee81dc18e081ca0b933ebb854 PDF Text Text Day 194 by windoworks This is one of those ‘give me a minute’ mornings. On Wednesday I will have been writing this blogpost for 28 weeks. I don’t know what I thought when I began writing it - perhaps it would be a month, 2 months, 3 months. Who knew? One of the first things I had to do was tell my daughter that I would not be coming to Australia to visit in the spring after all. It was very confronting saying: I have no way of getting to you. I had planned to visit my New Zealand family first and then go on to Australia to spend about 3 weeks or so with Zoe and Oliver and then they were coming back with me to visit here. Everyone here was so excited to catch up with Zoe again and to meet Oliver. It was hard telling families in 2 countries that I wouldn’t be able to visit. There were tears mostly from me, but we all settled down and instead continued planning our Christmas family vacation to the South Island of New Zealand. We all realized fairly quickly that this was not going to happen either, and so once again, we all set about getting refunds for deposits paid. In the middle of March GVSU closed and a state lockdown was put in place. At some point (possibly in April) Craig felt sick and so both of us were tested for the virus. Both tests were negative, and life carried on. I became adept at online shopping. We sanitized everything. We stopped sending Murphy to daycare because the staff weren’t wearing masks. I became anxious - a state which has persisted to some extent for 7 months now. I began having difficulty sleeping as did a number of friends. I cancelled dentist and doctor appointments and let my hair grow with the hope the red dye would grow out eventually. I had no memory of my true hair color as I had been dyeing it for so long. When pieces fell into my eyes, I hacked them off. It was not pretty. I had to learn to remove the shellac nail polish from my fingernails - and I have vowed to never use polish again. That was way too hard. At first I would put on smart clothes and apply makeup, but soon I let both those things drift. My youngest son who works in the fashion industry, complained that he had splashed cooking oil on every sweater he owned and now he needed to buy some new fleece tops as he was working from home for the foreseeable future. The weather changed from cold to warmer and then suddenly spring then summer was upon us. The governor relaxed some of the restrictions, and with my heart in my mouth I went to the hair salon (at 7:30am) and sat in solitary splendor as she cut my hair. The days were hotter and everything began to grow. Having painted every room in our house except his study, Craig moved on to the outside and began just with the back wall. This involved curbside pickup from our local hardware store. At the same time we made some cautious forays into grocery stores but I found this too uncomfortable and so we returned to online shopping. �We had decided (at my suggestion) to paint the top half of the house red, and once the back wall was done, Craig proceeded to paint the rest of the house. I would not let him climb up to paint the attic dormer windows, and so we paid a college house painting team to do them. And all the while, Craig was redesigning the back garden and TJ our neighbor built us a beautiful wooden fence closing off the backyard and making our chain link gates unnecessary. Like so many other items from our basement and garage clean out, the gates disappeared into some passing strangers vehicle. It was a lovely summer and apart from the onset of ragweed towards the end, I really enjoyed it. We had nightly fireflies for weeks. The hummingbirds drank the feeder dry every few days and would fly close to my face when I came out to replenish it. The seed blocks for the other birds introduced us to a pair of cardinals and a woodpecker, as well as other sparrows and finches - and one magical day, an Oriole. We returned to grocery shopping in store. I am not comfortable and I try not to be anxious, sometimes without success. I had my second virus check before an appointment with an ENT. In hindsight, I wasn’t overly impressed with him. Next up, a series of visits to an ophthalmologist to discuss the worsening cataract in my left eye. Surgery was scheduled and so was another covid test. Are 3 tests the charm? I hope so. The cataract surgery is complete for both eyes and now there is just a descending scale of daily steroid eye drops. It is now the 4th week of school for GVSU. I was so uncomfortable with Craig teaching in a hybrid fashion, that he reluctantly decided to teach online only. After a shaky start with the Blackboard system, he switched to Zoom, which is working much better. Then in the second week of term, the Ottawa county health department took precedence over GVSU and issued strict stay in place regulations for all Allendale on campus and off campus students. A lot of Craig’s time is now spent listening to and reassuring young students stuck in their dorm rooms and far from home. There are a number of students from each of his classes who have tested positive and are quarantined in a special dormitory facility. I saw in a local news story the students are running a book on when the college will be closed completely for the rest of the term. Tomorrow fall begins officially, although looking at the trees, it has already begun. There will be no candy this Halloween, and Thanksgiving and Christmas will be just the 2 of us. To compensate, we will carry out some inside jobs we have thought of. There are 43 days to the election and the world has become chaotic around me. Every day brings new disturbing developments and revelations - and anger everywhere. Who knows who will win? Who knows how long it will take to declare a winner and who knows if either side will accept that winner? The year is turning. I am hopeful that we will be able to visit our families in May next year, but I’m not certain. But I do know I will be here, every morning, writing this post and sending it into the ether. I do hope you will continue reading. �Leaf art: Oliver ��We took the children to Montsegur on a very foggy day. No of course I didn’t walk up there - I stayed in the car! They had fun though. ������I”ll leave you with these two thoughts: ��� 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_2020-09-21_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-194 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 2020-09-21 Title A name given to the resource Day 194 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/a9f61197c79e23440637c98d0fb98467.pdf 979683c05b7d57db3d4a429f3fdaefa8 PDF Text Text Day 193 Mandy Patinkin: by windoworks RED STATES; WE'RE LEAVING.We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Washington,M Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country that includes Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and Washington D.C.We also get the vast majority of the major shipping ports. So good luck with getting goods in or out of the country affordably. We also get Costco, Starbucks and Boeing. You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Branson, Missouri.We get Intel, Apple and Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Mississippi. We get two-thirds of the tax revenue; you get to make the red states pay their fair share.Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happier, intact families. Please be aware that California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. With the Blue States unified, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's quality wines (you can serve French wines at your state dinners) 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools -- Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, the Penn, Princeton, and Yale; and Mount Holyoke, Vassar, Smith, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, and Radcliffe colleges; plus UCLA, UCB, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT. With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones and Rand Paul.We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you. Additionally, 62 percent of you believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties. (See that part about �divorces. …) Oh, and you can have all the new COVID-19 cases since you're too dumb and self-centered to wear masks. Peace out. We are the people of the Blue States Ruth Bader Ginsburg. ��Here’s what Joe Biden had to say: Tonight our nation mourns an American hero, a giant of legal doctrine, and a relentless voice in the pursuit of that highest American ideal: Equal Justice Under Law. Ruth Bader Ginsburg stood for all of us. She fought for all of us. As a young attorney, she persisted through every challenge that an unequal system placed in her way to change the laws of our land and lead the legal charge to advance equal rights for women. It was my honor to preside over her confirmation hearings, and to strongly support her accession to the Supreme Court. In the decades since, she was consistently and reliably the voice that pierced to the heart of every issue, protected the constitutional rights of every American, and never failed in the fierce and unflinching defense of liberty and freedom. Her opinions, and her dissents, will continue to shape the basis of our law for future generations. May her memory be a blessing to all people who cherish our Constitution and its promise. NPR In politics, money can be a pretty good stand-in for enthusiasm. And the donations pouring in to the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue since Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death indicate there is a lot of energy and money on the left. �According to the constantly-ticking tracker on ActBlue's website, in the hours from 9 p.m. ET, when the news of Ginsburg's death became widely known, to 9 a.m. ET on Saturday, nearly $31 million was donated to Democratic candidates and causes. The number keeps rising by thousands every second. The death of the iconic justice could change the ideological balance of the court and raises the already high stakes in the race for president and U.S. Senate. Traditionally, the courts have been a powerful motivator for conservative voters, especially white evangelical Christians. The question now is whether that dynamic will change in 2020 because the vacancy left by Ginsburg is so significant for those on the left. I haven’t given you the statistics for a few days. Here we are: world case total: 30.8M, deaths: 957K. US case total: 6.82M, deaths: 202K. Michigan case total: 128K, deaths: 6,970. Kent County case total: 8,572, deaths: 164. New Normal We’ve all been trying to grin and bear an ungodly amount of stress and anxiety during these trying times. But that grin is getting a little too forced. A lot of dentists say they're seeing a huge uptick in bruxism — a word that isn’t comfortable to read let alone live through. It's the formal word for excessive teeth-grinding and jaw-clenching, and it went into hyperdrive as soon as lockdown started. Hands up if you think you might be suffering with this. I thought so. �Leaf art time. How about 3 today? ���Oliver out and about with the Greats. ��Flashback: remember Craig and I went to Lastours (the 4 castle ruins on the steep hillsides)? Well we took the children back. After a great lunch, I read my book in the restaurant while they clambered all over the ruins. ������I’ll leave you with this poem which is a suitable tribute to RGB: When Great Trees Fall by Maya Angelou When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker down in tall grasses, and even elephants lumber after safety. When great trees fall in forests, small things recoil into silence, their senses eroded beyond fear. When great souls die, the air around us becomes �light, rare, sterile. We breathe, briefly. Our eyes, briefly, see with a hurtful clarity. Our memory, suddenly sharpened, examines, gnaws on kind words unsaid, promised walks never taken. Great souls die and our reality, bound to them, takes leave of us. Our souls, dependent upon their nurture, now shrink, wizened. Our minds, formed and informed by their radiance,fall away. We are not so much maddened as reduced to the unutterable ignoranceof dark, cold caves. And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly. Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. They existed. They existed. We can be. Be and be better. For they existed. � 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_2020-09-20_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-193 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 2020-09-20 Title A name given to the resource Day 193 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/e0b035be4cbabd3c358229e661778bf1.pdf 9c7b418039d5560ee95816db672bdf66 PDF Text Text Day 192 by windoworks CNN Politics Particularly White Christian folks really did think they were the country. So if you take that really seriously, [as] something they believed to the core of their being, then what's becoming abundantly clear is that that is not true. But that is a foundational piece of their self-understanding. To fight tooth and nail for something that is going to actually undermine your basic identity is not too surprising. It runs just that deep. ROBERT P. JONES, FOUNDER AND CEO OF THE PUBLIC RELIGION RESEARCH INSTITUTE With the Democratic Party identifying much more unreservedly than even 10 or 20 years ago with the demands for change, and Trump so clearly stamping the GOP in opposition to all of them, the grinding trench warfare between these competing coalitions in the 2020 race probably only previews the struggle looming through the 2020s.the writer of the article isn't alone when he grimly predicts, "We're really getting ready for a very deep culture war coming." Its not a cheerful morning, although the frost predicted did not affect our garden and the sun is shining. The round patches are where Craig has planted wildflowers. �Yesterday the announcement came that the the Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, had died. In 2016 Mitch McConnell insisted that the vacancy on the Supreme Court not be filled until after the election - 10 months away. Yesterday he wasted no time insisting that the current Senate would choose the next justice to fill the vacancy. Honestly, men like McConnell and Trump are such little men with no morals or ethics, and their stable group of 40-45% of followers are such little, endlessly angry people. I can’t imagine how they all do it, day after day of anger, malice and most of all, fear. Lately when I begin to write the post, I often feel tired. I think the pandemic is more than enough for each of us to deal with and I would so like to return to a time when what the president is doing and saying does not consume America on a daily basis. Our lives are so much more than politics. This morning I watched Barack Obama talk online to the young voters. He shared his current life (showing us a sourdough starter he had made) and then explained carefully the voting process for new unregistered voters. I miss those days of his presidency, when sometimes I read about something he had pioneered or watched the annual State of the Union, but the rest of the time, just got on with my life. As one FB person wrote: I want a president I don’t have to think about every single day. Yep, me too. �Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an inspiration to us all but especially women. She spent her life fighting for others and for fairness and equality and she showed us all that anything is possible. Thank you Justice Ginsburg. What a gift you gave us. In other news, Washington Post Two Antarctic glaciers that have long kept scientists awake at night are breaking free from the restraints that have hemmed them in, increasing the threat of large-scale sea-level rise. Located along the coast of the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica, the enormous Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers already contribute around 5 percent of global sea-level rise. The survival of Thwaites has been �deemed so critical that the United States and Britain have launched a targeted multimillion-dollar research mission to the glacier. The loss of the glacier could trigger the broader collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet, which contains enough ice to eventually raise seas by about 10 feet. And not to depress you any further, a 10 foot rise would cover many places in the world - such as Venice which already floods annually. Here’s what Trump said about the virus: Crooked Media On Wednesday Trump tried to argue that his coronavirus response was a great success when you ignore all of the dead Americans in states that didn’t vote for him: “If you take the blue states out, we’re at a level that I don’t think anybody in the world would be at.” What’s cool about this psychopathic dismissal of human suffering is that it’s also a lie: There have now been over 90,000 deaths in red states, a total which itself would put us behind only Brazil in the global death-toll rankings. I could say a great deal about the above because its so alarming on so many levels - but hey! What’s new? �I have mislaid the citation for this but here it is anyway: The coronavirus isn’t going away this winter. In fact, the U.S. outbreak is poised to get worse. Don’t pin your hopes on a vaccine, either. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, tells The Atlantic that a vaccine will not likely be in widespread distribution “until well into 2021.” What can be done in the meantime? Our staff writer James Hamblin spoke with dozens of experts over the past few months, distilling their recommendations into five actionable steps (excerpted below): �1. Accept reality. Do not waste your time and emotional energy planning around an imminent game-changing injection or pill in the coming months. 2. Plan for more shutdowns. Everyone will be better prepared if we plan for schools to close and for cities and businesses to shut back down, even while we hope they won’t have to. 3. Live like you’re contagious. This primarily means paying attention to where you are and what’s coming out of your mouth. … During the holidays, don’t plan gatherings in places where you can’t be outdoors and widely spaced. This may mean postponing or canceling long-standing traditions. 4. Build for the pandemic. This is an overdue opportunity to create and upgrade to permanently pandemic-resistant cities, businesses, schools, and homes. … Poor indoor air quality, for example, has long been a source of disease. 5. Hunt the virus. Developing fast and reliable ways to detect the coronavirus will become only more crucial during the winter cold- and- flu season. And from The Atlantic; Merely voting and counting the votes in this year’s election will be an extraordinary challenge. The country faces the worst public-health crisis in a century, a potentially severe shortage of poll workers, mail-in voting on an unprecedented scale, mounting functional problems at the U.S. Postal Service (with many alleging a plot to undermine voting by mail), and a president already dismissing mail-in voting as fraud-ridden. And all of this is taking place in one of the worst climates of partisan polarization and distrust in American history. To say that this threatens American democracy is no overstatement. To offset this, early in person voting has begun in Minnesota, Virginia, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The lines have been long as people get out to vote. Here in Michigan, the Senate passed a law which allows counting of mail in ballots to begin the day before the election, which is a good thing. Our mail in ballots should arrive this week. They’ve run out of Hurricane alphabetical names already this year and have begun using Greek letters. Hurricane Alpha is the first up. Here’s Joe Biden’s thoughts on climate change: �And although we live in the Middle, we still experience rainstorms mad high winds. Here’s the destruction left in our neighborhood from a fallen tree: �Yes its leaf art time! �Oliver is teething again. He has 8 teeth so far and now his eye teeth are rumbling. I remember teething episodes with my children. Its hard work growing teeth. ��Stirring oats at daycare. Flashback: we took everyone back to Carcassone as Zar and Alva hadn’t visited there. This time we explored inside the main castle. �������From the top: outside the entrance; 4 views from the battlements and Zoe walking through the cobbled streets. Everyone loved Carcassone. I’ll just leave it there, shall I? � 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_2020-09-19_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-192 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 2020-09-19 Title A name given to the resource Day 192 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/656fe2eddc94fb4d4dc78c7a3504a6d7.pdf 43858706402eefc9edb0b64e948c853f PDF Text Text Day 191 by windoworks This is a classroom in Thailand. In other places in the world such as Thailand, Vietnam, and a number of African countries, they have listened attentively to their scientists and done exactly as they recommended. These countries have done so much better than us at containing and addressing the virus. Meanwhile, here where LaLaLand seems to have extended across the whole nation, especially in Trump strongholds, daily insanity reigns. Some examples: Trump has ordered that all schools begin teaching American history and values - and by that he means white, rich segregated 1950 values. He has no authority over school curriculum at all - but when has that ever stopped him? He has ordered all references to implicit racial bias training and education to be removed from all federal agencies. The chief legal officer of the USA, Willian Barr, has likened a Stay At Home order to slavery. I’m pretty sure every Black person finds that enormously offensive. Frankly I find that offensive - and dangerous. There are 46 days until the election - get ready for every crazy you can think of and more. Olivia Troye, a Homeland Security Advisor to VP Pence and his lead staffer on the coronavirus task force has resigned and is speaking out about Trump. She said the defining moment was when Trump said he was glad about the pandemic because it meant he didn’t have to shake hands with all those disgusting people. �Apparently, the administration has authorized natural gas freight trains going through towns with no penalty (or safeguards). I’m not sure the natural gas companies will want to do that. But one bright moment: a federal judge has ordered the USPS to reinstall all machinery removed and return services to pre Louis DeJoy status, after a lawsuit brought by 14 State Attorneys-General. There are still some checks and balances. In a new section , I am offering The View From Far-away. To begin with, I have asked my 3 children and my niece to tell us what it has been like for them during the pandemic. First up, my niece Elle Benjamin, who lives with her partner Terry, in Cornwall, England. I feel like things moved very quickly in the UK, before I really understood what was happening in the world, I was in complete lockdown. I worked from home for a month or so until unfortunately worked dried up and my computer broke! Left with endless time and nothing to do I began to focus on my latest hobby, weaving, (thank goodness for online shopping!) I filled my walls with creations and began making and selling rainbows to raise money for the NHS. We also clapped every Thursday at 8pm for the NHS, by the end we were banging pots and singing Cornish songs. I looked forward to seeing my neighbors and have a shouting conversation from our driveways. We discussed big things like what we couldn’t get in our food shop and what new things they would bake for me to sample this week. We began to explore the local area by foot. We were totally unaware of the amazing forests and walks we had near our house! When restrictions eased we were able to drive to explore parts of the beautiful Cornish coast. It was brilliant, no tourists, no queues, no issue about finding parking, and the Summer weather was absolutely beautiful!My boyfriend and I also managed to share our 1 bedroom flat without killing each other, even though he has possibly the worlds loudest hobby, DJing! Overall I really enjoyed lockdown in Cornwall. I began speaking to people I hadn’t spoken to for years and officially launched my new craft business. There were times when I did feel a bit out of touch with the crisis, I stopped watching the news and just took time to relax and really understand what was important to me. Last night my friend Mary Alice sent me an article about a woman who joined the Pfizer vaccine trial. I have picked out relevant paragraphs and I should point out that she has no idea if she received the vaccine or a placebo. Clinical trials need to be blind trials to be reliable. That means that the nurse administering the dose and the recipient have no idea of what their dose is. Only the scientists running the trial know who got what. Now you know �New York Times I am Patient 1133. I’ve never been in a medical trial before and I never wanted to be. As someone who suffers from pretty significant anxiety about my health, I am, in theory, the last person who should ever do any medical trial at all, and, on the way up to the hospital, this thought occurred to me numerous times. But on Tuesday, Sept. 8, I did it anyway. I drove up to Yale New Haven Hospital to get my first of two doses of the experimental Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. Smart people are worried about this vaccine. As President Trump pushes for the quick rollout, public trust is eroding. Only 21 percentof Americans surveyed in a CBS poll this month said they would get the vaccine as soon as possible if one was offered at no cost. It’s not hard to see where this is heading: a nightmare in which we have a vaccine yet mistrust of the government is so great that people won’t take it. Three in four Democrats say if a vaccine were to become available this year, their first thought would be that it was rushed without enough testing, CBS reported. These numbers just strengthened my resolve. I knew I had to do my part to help create a safe vaccine. I have never felt myself to have a calling but all of a sudden, I felt like a middle-aged Joan of Arc, except Jewish and without any of the actual fighting, and none of the fabulous armor (and hopefully no burning at the stake.) As soon as I heard there were coronavirus vaccine trials, I fought for a chance to be in them. I filled out application after application. I talked to doctors and more doctors. I begged people. I had to do this. Living through my city’s darkest hour had somehow rearranged my DNA, made me the kind of person who enrolls in medical trials. There was something I could do to help stop all this. By Molly Jong-Fast And here’s what the editors of Scientific America said when endorsing Joe Biden for President. In 175 years, the magazine has never endorsed a president before: The evidence and the science show that Donald Trump has badly damaged the U.S. and its people— because he rejects evidence and science. The most devastating example is his dishonest and inept response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which cost more than 190,000 Americans their lives by the middle of September. He has also attacked environmental protections, medical care, and the researchers and public science agencies that help this country prepare for its greatest challenges. That is why we urge you to vote for Joe Biden, who is offering fact-based plans to protect our health, our economy and the environment. These and other proposals he has put forth can set the country back on course for a safer, more prosperous and more equitable future. Its probably another two leaf art photos day: ��Here’s a local photo of the sun with the smoke from the West affecting it. ��Oliver! Yesterday we read his report from daycare. He’s doing very well and just needs to learn to eat with a spoon (he prefers to eat with his hands) and to climb up on things. I’m a bit worried about him learning to climb. ��Flashback: Zar and Alva fly in. ���A walk near our house in the early morning and a visit to the Mirepoix market. Yesterday there were roadworks closing three of the streets surrounding our house. It made driving out challenging. � 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_2020-09-18_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-191 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 2020-09-18 Title A name given to the resource Day 191 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/da9b91753fd7f8e172c72e4db983dcf4.pdf 7a4f23d6055101edc9114ac15e07e05c PDF Text Text Day 190 by windoworks Well, I think that covers it. Yesterday after she read my post, my friend Mary Alice gave me this sage advice: May you find one small thing every day that lightens the load. And put down one thing large or small that burdens you . So I’m sharing this with you all. Its obviously going to be more than crazy between now and the end result of the election. Combined with that, we have the extraordinary weather everywhere - the fires in the west, the winds and flooding in the �south east - and the onset of fall with no Halloween candy walks and limited Thanksgiving celebrations and only a virtual StreetFair celebration in Eastown. And did I mention the onset of flu season? First up Grand Valley State University. Yesterday afternoon Craig received this email: • Ottawa County, Mich. – The State of Michigan and Ottawa County are under states of emergency because of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 poses an imminent danger to public health. The public health officer of the Ottawa County Department of Public Health (OCDPH) has issued an order requiring all Grand Valley State University (GVSU) students living in on-campus housing or living in off-campus housing in Allendale Township, Michigan, to remain in their designated residence at all times for 14 days beginning September 17, 2020, at 12:01 a.m. and ending October 1, 2020, 11:59 p.m. Students may not return to their home address unless for an emergency. • Since August 23, 2020, there have been more than 600 cases of COVID-19 in the student population living on or near the GVSU campus in Allendale Township, Michigan. Case rates per million have continued to rise, indicating disease spread among GVSU students and rates have exceeded maximum indicator thresholds for risk to the community. The majority of cases are among off-campus students and appear to be driven by congregate living and congregate gathering. GVSU cases have consistently reported a lower number of contacts, compared to non-GVSU cases in Ottawa County. During OCDPH’s case investigation, many students report having no contacts or refuse to disclose contacts. Shortly after that Craig received another email from the GVSU President saying ‘we can do this’. I am not impressed. This is the result of the ‘lets reopen the college and then wait and see what happens’ game plan. Craig’s students are glad that they are on campus but depressed that they are mostly confined to their rooms. As of midnight last night, there are no sports events, no open cafeterias (take out only) and so on. I am disturbed that predominantly off campus students are reporting no contacts or refusing to disclose. The girl who infected her 2 other roommates was seen to be leaving the college yesterday with her mother and all her belongings. The four students that Craig knows of, who contracted the virus, are slowly recovering. The girls lost their sense of small and taste and had some body aches. The boys had coughs, body aches and difficulty breathing, but are also slowly recovering. I am so grateful that Craig is teaching entirely online for the foreseeable future. I see that many universities across the country are struggling with the virus and ultimately, with their financial survival. This is not just common here in the States - it is happening in many places across the world. I lifted this quote from yesterday’s Governor Whitmer’s press conference: • Grand Rapids, Lansing and UP Regions: increased to more than 70 cases per million people per day. • These increases are in large part because of outbreaks associated with universities and colleges. Here are some ‘you can’t make this stuff up’ items: 1. Crooked Media: In his latest instance of non-political up-playing, Trump took creditfor the Big Ten Conference’s announcement that its football season would resume at the end of October after all, �reversing its earlier decision. Trump has been pressuring the league to play for the boost he thinks it’ll give him in key swing states, without regard for the danger it would pose to student athletes. One university president denied that Trump had anything to do with the decision, but the Big Ten itself sees players’ exposure as so inevitable (and apparently acceptable) that it has plans to study the cardiac effects of the virus on infected athletes. 2. Crooked Media: A Maine wedding has now been linked to more than 175 coronavirus cases and the deaths of seven people, none of whom were attendees. The much darker Four Weddings and a Funeral sequel that absolutely no one asked for. 3. Washington Post Trump health appointee taking medical leave after calling on president’s supporters to prepare for insurrection: Michael Caputo, the top communications official at the Department of Health and Human Services, is taking a 60-day medical leave and his top aide, Paul Alexander, will leave HHS entirely, the agency said. The move comes three days after Caputo urged President Trump’s supporters to prepare for armed conflict after the election and accused government scientists of “sedition.” Alexander sought to alter and delay CDC coronavirus reports that he thought would make Trump look bad, and tried to control what Dr. Anthony Fauci could say in public appearances. 4. New York Times: South Dakota’s attorney general, Jason Ravnsborg, was driving home alone on Saturday night when his car hit something — possibly a deer, he told the authorities. The next day, a man was found dead near the highway, and Ravnsborg is now under investigation. 5. Washington Post Former FBI counterespionage chief Peter Strzok reveals in his new memoir, “Compromised,” that federal investigators believed there was a possibility that Trump might be a modern-day “Manchurian candidate.” Strzok opened the FBI’s 2016 investigation into whether Trump’s campaign coordinated with the Kremlin to help his election. He was ultimately removed from former special counsel Bob Mueller’s team because of private text messages with FBI lawyer Lisa Page that disparaged the president. I’m sure there are more like this, but thats enough for today. In New Zealand, a journalist and his family returned home from Rarotonga after 16 months of living there. He is a writer for newsroom.co.nz and my son Zar asks that if your interested please make a donation or subscribe. Here’s a little from the article: Flight NZ945 to Auckland helped prepare its 27 extremely well-spaced passengers, just a little, for the daunting prospect that was Auckland, community transmission and Level 2.5 lockdown. The flight crew showed us how to pinch our masks around our noses; I learnt that every time I exhaled, my reading glasses would mist up. �Little things, that billions of people around the world discovered months ago – but not us. We had been living in a big, tropical Covid-free bubble. It’s now day three of 14. Our first two full days in isolation were magnificent. The Government’s managed isolation and quarantine officials have provided our family adjoining rooms on the hotel’s 12th floor; we have three double beds, two TVs, two fridges, and one bath. As I write this in the dark early morning, I’m looking down on a street sweeper passing by the neon art of Aotea Square. We can’t use the gym, or the restaurant, or the rooftop cocktail bar, of course. Nor would we expect to. As we were told when our bus pulled up at the hotel, Auckland may be in Level 2.5, but here at the isolation facility we’re at Level 4. Four times a day, pre-ordered meals and snacks in plastic containers and brown paper bags are left at our door, with a discreet knock. By the time we’ve donned our masks and opened the door, whoever delivered them is gone. Once a day, the nurse knocks at the door to take our temperatures. There are no housekeepers to turn down the beds and clean the rooms; instead, we’re supplied with a sponge, a 500ml bottle of Palmolive dishwashing liquid, and a 450ml bottle of lavender meadows-scented Harpic toilet cleaner. The main thrust of his article is this: New Zealand’s military and health officials are operating a world- class managed isolation network that welcomed its 50,000th inbound traveller yesterday. But some of that half a billion dollars could be more carefully targeted, Jonathan Milne argues. But for my purposes, I just wanted to let you have a peek into what a 14 day quarantine entering another country looks like. This is happening in both New Zealand and Australia - and who are these people quarantining, you ask. Only returning citizens. New Zealand has allowed 50,000 citizens back and there are another 30,000 odd waiting to be allowed in. Last week ( just for fun) I looked up flights to Sydney Auckland online. There was nothing on the page except this: there are no available flights at this time. You have to seek government permission. Craig and I would be given permission by the NZ government to fly there because I am a NZ citizen by birth and Craig is my spouse. We would also be given permission to fly into Australia because we both hold Australian passports. Last night we were FaceTiming with Zar in New Zealand and I asked him when the government thought they might allow tourists back into the country. He said the short answer was sometime in 2022. It’s all a bit sobering, isn’t it? Leaf art time! Two today. I think ��No, I have no idea how its done. And now to my one small thing today that lightens the load: Oliver ��Last night it was just me talking to Zoe and Oliver as Craig was teaching online. Oliver spent some time talking to me, in whole Oliver sentences, while holding up blocks and puzzle pieces for my inspection. The inflections were correct but I have no idea what he was saying. Flashback: around La Bastide. �����Sunsets, moonrises, Christmas decorations in the Main Street of La Bastide, walks near our house and the church bell tower in the sunset. And I’ll leave you with this from Crooked Media. Donald Trump has no case to make for his own reelection that isn’t an outrageous lie, and in the process of propagating those lies, he continues to undermine coronavirus measures that would protect American lives and advocate for policies that do the opposite. The good news is, we have another option. 48 days. (Authors note: today its 47 days. Get ready.) � 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_2020-09-17_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-190 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 2020-09-17 Title A name given to the resource Day 190 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/80cf57fcb452b8a5df6ce04a012d79e5.pdf 0ebce556416c50d528257949c98c7345 PDF Text Text Day 189 by windoworks I have some really long but really important articles saved in my fact file today - and I’m not quite sure where to start. Trump held a town hall in Philadelphia last night and it didn’t go well. What he didn’t realize was that town halls are a very different animal to rallies. At a rally you are entirely surrounded by fans - people (in his case) blindly adore and follow you, no matter what rubbish pops out of your mouth. Town halls, �however, have people ready to question your every move and KNOW when you’re lying. Here’s a fact check on the lies he told: New York Times: President Trump on Tuesday night falsely claimed that “we were short on ventilators because the cupboards were bare when we took it over.” The Strategic National Stockpile, the government’s repository of medicines and medicinal products, contained more than $7 billion worth of supplies when Mr. Trump took office, including more than 16,000 ventilators. Speaking at an ABC News town hall in Philadelphia, he repeated his characterization of restrictions placed on travel from China and Europe as “bans” that saved “thousands of lives.” The restrictions only applied to foreign nationals and included exceptions, ultimately allowing 40,000 people to travel from China to the United States from the end of January to April. Similar restrictions were placed on travel from Europe, after the virus was already widespread in New York City. The president also misleadingly claimed that “I was so far ahead with my closing,” which he said occurred in January. In fact, states began in March to issue stay-at-home and social-distancing orders, and Mr. Trump resisted those efforts. One model showed that 36,000 fewer people would have died had those measures been in place one week earlier. Even after the federal government recommended social distancing on March 16, Mr. Trump continued to urge reopening. He claimed undue credit for calling in the National Guard to Minneapolis. It was the governor of Minnesota, not him, who activated the state’s National Guard. The president falsely claimed “we’re not going to hurt preexisting conditions” while Democrats “will get rid of preexisting conditions.” His administration has asked the Supreme Court to strike down the health care law that includes protections for patients with pre-existing conditions, and in 2017 unsuccessfully attempted to repeal it. Democrats and their nominee Joseph R. Biden Jr. have consistently aimed to uphold that law. Finally, he claimed that the coronavirus “goes away” even without a vaccine because “you’ll develop like a herd mentality.” Mr. Trump was likely referring to “herd immunity,” which occurs when the virus can no longer spread widely. Public health officials have warned that this could require 70 percent of the population to develop antibodies. Without a vaccine, this could mean an enormous death toll. Now I’m sure, dear readers, that you knew all of that, but did you notice this: you’ll develop like a herd mentality ? If that doesn’t ring any alarm bells........... �This leads me to a very long article headed: The Turbulent Twenties in a publication called NOEMA. I’ll try to cherry pick the main points. According to Demographic-Structural Theory, in the twenty-first century, America was likely to get a populist, America-first leader who would sow a whirlwind of conflict. The risk of political instability is due to the behavior of elites, who all too often react to long-term increases in population by committing three cardinal sins. First, faced with a surge of labor that dampens growth in wages and productivity, elites seek to take a larger portion of economic gains for themselves, driving up inequality. Second, facing greater competition for elite wealth and status, they tighten up the path to mobility to favor themselves and their progeny. Third, anxious to hold on to their rising fortunes, they do all they can to resist taxation of their wealth and profits, even if that means starving the government of needed revenues, leading to decaying infrastructure, declining public services and fast-rising government debts. Okay so here we are. Now: Top leadership matters. Leaders who aim to be inclusive and solve national problems can manage conflicts and defer a crisis. However, leaders who seek to benefit from and fan political divisions bring the final crisis closer. This year, the COVID-19 pandemic and the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police have delivered a double-barreled crisis to U.S. politics. �And it all leads to this: Is the U.S. likely headed for still greater protests and violence? In a word, yes. Inequality and polarization have not been this high since the nineteenth century. Democrats are certain that if Donald Trump is reelected, American democracy will not survive. Republicans are equally certain that if Trump loses, radical socialists will seize the wealth of elites and distribute it to underserving poor and minorities, forever destroying the economy of the United States. Both sides are also convinced that the other side intends to change the democratic “rules of the game” in ways that will make it impossible for them to compete effectively in future elections. In such conditions, elections are not merely contests over policy preferences; they become existential battles for the future of the nation. Whichever party loses is likely to view the results as rigged and the outcome as intolerable. I have not been doing well, mentally and emotionally, and yesterday my counselor sent me an article titled: Your ‘Surge Capacity’ Is Depleted — It’s Why You Feel Awful Here’s how to pull yourself out of despair and live your life Now its a long article and if you want to read it and keep it for daily reference (I’m not joking - its that good), here’s the link: https://elemental.medium.com/your-surge-capacity-is-depleted-it-s-why-you-feelawful-de285d542f4c Here are some points to follow: 1. Accept that life is different right now 2. Expect less from yourself 3. Recognize the different aspects of grief 4. Look for activities, new and old, that continue to fulfill you 5. Focus on maintaining and strengthening important relationships 6. Begin slowly building your resilience bank account And to conclude: I might have intellectually accepted back in March that the next two years (or more?) are going to be nothing like normal, and not even predictable in how they won’t be normal. But cognitively recognizing and accepting that fact and emotionally incorporating that reality into everyday life aren’t the same. Our new normal is always feeling a little off balance, like trying to stand in a dinghy on rough seas, and not �knowing when the storm will pass. But humans can get better at anything with practice, so at least I now have some ideas for working on my sea legs. So what else could possibly be happening right now? Well, Scotland is seriously considering leaving the United Kingdom and Northern and Southern Ireland are also grappling with that decision. PM Boris Johnson might be the last prime minister of the UK. There’s a challenging thought. Hurricane Sally has made landfall and is moving inland over Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, causing catastrophic and historic flooding. The storm rapidly intensified to a Category 2 as it came ashore. Carnival Cruise Line is seeking off 18 more ships, as are other cruise lines. British Airways may disappear completely by next year, and both Air New Zealand and Qantas are furloughing their long haul crews. Astronomers have found life on Venus (I’ll just leave that there) and Fox News says that Trump has done all he can to slow the spread of the virus - and remember, the Fox News watchers believe him. Here’s a photo from the West Coast (perhaps Portland, I forget) And here’s a photo from yesterday taken in East Grand Rapids: �Thats the smoke from the fires on the west coast. Leaf art �Its Oliver time! �Oliver does love a big bath. He only has a baby bath at home. �Flashback: Toulouse. Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus (formerly EADS), the SPOT satellite system, ATR and the Aerospace Valley. It also hosts the European headquarters of Intel and CNES's Toulouse Space Centre (CST), the largest space centre in Europe. Thales Alenia Space, ATR, SAFRAN, Liebherr-Aerospace and Airbus Defence and Space also have a significant presence in Toulouse. The University of Toulouse is one of the oldest in Europe (founded in 1229) and, with more than 103,000 students, it is the fourth-largest university campus in France, after the universities of Paris, Lyon and Lille. Founded by the Romans, the city was the capital of the Visigothic Kingdom in the 5th century and the capital of the province of Languedoc in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period (provinces were abolished during the French Revolution), making it the unofficial capital of the cultural region of Occitania (Southern France). It is now the capital of the Occitanie region, the second largest region in Metropolitan France. ����From the top: Archeological Museum - remains of the Roman bath house; one bust of a notable Roman in a room of many notable Roman busts; and there we are in that room; and in the Toulouse Christmas market. That’s Zoe and I on the left of the photo. We had a wonderful lunch, followed by the museum and then browsing the market. I liked Toulouse a lot. A thought to leave you with: �� 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_2020-09-16_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-189 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 2020-09-16 Title A name given to the resource Day 189 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/6ca0c53bf368be6fc1ba556b7f7c8a1f.pdf 8f8e70fdbc7dd9f35e49f834115bc485 PDF Text Text Day 188 by windoworks Every morning I read the mail in my Inbox. I subscribe to The Atlantic, NPR. The New York Times, Washington Post and Crooked Media. Some I pay for and some are free. I also read posts from The Hill and The Guardian. Some mornings are quiet and some are packed with unbelievable developments. This morning Crooked Media fell into the entirely unbelievable category. Here are some excerpts: With 50 days to go until the election, it’s important to be very clear about what Donald Trump and his allies are positing: The only valid election results are those that reinstall him, the only valid science is that which supports his political message, and the only valid laws are those that serve his purposes. Get involved in this election if for no other reason than to make sure there’s a next one. Remember: his pal Putin just got himself re-elected for 16 more years in Russia - and he gets rid of his outspoken opponents by poisoning them, anywhere in the world. ��And here’s a truly disturbing story from Crooked Media, which I find too scary to believe - but I think there must be a grain of truth in it: A nurse at an ICE detention center in Georgia has filed a whistleblower complaint about “jarring medical neglect” at the facility. The nurse, Dawn Wooten, alleged that the Irwin County Detention Center had underreported coronavirus cases, knowingly put staff and detainees at risk of exposure, and refused to test symptomatic detainees. Beyond the dangerous coronavirus practices, Wooten and multiple other women described an inordinate number of hysterectomies performed at the detention center. Wooten said of the facility’s consistently-used gynecologist, “Everybody he sees has a hysterectomy—just about everybody.” Many of the detained women told Wooten they didn’t understand why they were being forced to have the surgery. One detained immigrant told the advocacy group Project South, “When I met all these women who had had surgeries, I thought this was like an experimental concentration camp. It was like they’re experimenting with our bodies.” And now, to the fires in the west: Washington Post Tens of thousands of people remain displaced from their homes in what is shaping up to be perhaps the worst wildfire season in American history. In California, more than 3.2 million acres have burned over the last three weeks. Three of the four largest wildfires in the state’s history are burning right now. In Washington state, more than 665,000 acres of land have burned and the skies over Seattle are choked with smoke. At least 24 have died in California and 10 have died in Oregon, including children. Dozens more people remain missing. The air quality in the Pacific Northwest ranks among the worst anywhere in the world. In Nevada over the weekend, Trump blamed the fires on poor “forest management,” by which he means there has not being enough logging over the past few decades and that efforts to clear underbrush on federal land have been insufficient. During a previous wave of California fires, Trump spoke about the need for more “raking” in the forests. This is also the third year in a row that Trump threatened to withhold federal emergency funds for fighting California’s fires. Scientists have said for years that rising temperatures caused by climate change are making annual fire seasons longer and more damaging. They have said these trends will only accelerate in the future. But Trump has dismissed man-made climate change as a “hoax” and has stocked his administration with like-minded skeptics of the scientific community’s consensus. But here’s what Trump said yesterday: Crooked Media: At least 33 people have died in the west coast wildfires, and we’ve only just begun to learn their heartbreaking stories. On his visit to Sacramento, CA, today, President Trump had this assessment of climate change and the resulting devastation: “It'll start getting cooler. You just watch…I don't think science knows, actually.” �Its hard for me to deal with this, especially as I come from socialist leaning countries. The system in New Zealand and Australia is significantly different. Now I have lived too long away for me to remember New Zealand politics and it has changed dramatically since I left there at age almost 25. I am more familiar with Australian politics. I was talking about this the other day. For a start, the public doesn’t choose the Prime Minister, the members of the party’s Cabinet does, by vote. I don’t think a Trump like candidate would be chosen to lead his party, but even if he was, his actions would quickly cause concern within the Cabinet and they would secretly find another suitable candidate for Prime Minister and conduct a vote of no confidence (called a spill) and replace Trump overnight. The morning would dawn with he and his family moving out of The Lodge (Australia’s PM residence). And before you scoff, this has happened a number of times in my memory. Australians regard their politicians as just ordinary people and I think New Zealand is the same. During the first lockdown in New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave her first FaceBook video sitting in a comfy chair, dressed in sweats with no makeup as she had just managed to get her toddler safely asleep in bed. She looked directly at the camera, explained what was happening, what was going to happen, and then said “email or text me and ask me anything. I’ll answer as best I can”. Doesn’t that seem like an alternate universe to you? As the pandemic began to appear in Australia, the Prime Minister , Scott Morrison, began to take his lead from Jacinda. There doesn’t seem to be the onslaught of misinformation, lies and deception happening there. There are protests but I’m pretty sure that so far no one has shot anyone at a protest. And in Australia, voting is compulsory. When you go to the polls to vote, you name is crossed out and if you didn’t vote for no good reason, an election official will visit your house after the election and fine you up to $80AUS. Elections are always held on a Saturday and polling places are usually elementary and high schools - which gives the Parents Association the opportunity to hold a fundraising cake stall for the school. There’s often a barbecue too. More than 96% of eligible Australians are enrolled to vote, and of those approximately 90% turn out to vote. �And: �The new normal Over the centuries, Europe has suffered through plagues, pestilence and the Black Death. Many old palazzos that dot Italy's Tuscany region have a unique architectural quirk — pint-sized “wine windows” �that are used to keep vino merchants and buyers apart. They were indispensable for quarantining during the bubonic plague that devastated Florence, which killed thousands. When Italy's harsh coronavirus lockdown was imposed in March, Florentines used their charming wine windows again to practice COVID-era social distancing. Leaf art: Oliver had a simply wonderful time at Craig’s cousins daughter’s house (keep up). The two boys (8th grade and 6th grade) adored Oliver and he adored them back. Yesterday, as they were leaving for school, each boy came back for one last cuddle with Oliver, as he and Zoe and her friend Ange were driving back to Sydney later. I have many farm photos to share. �Zoe and Oliver gazing at a waterfall. Flashback: so after my facial and lunch, we visited inside Chateau de Foix. In 1034, the castle became capital of the County of Foix and played a decisive role in medieval military history. During the two following centuries, the castle was home to Counts with shining personalities who became the soul of the Occitan resistance during the crusade against the Albigensians. The county became a privileged refuge for persecuted Cathars. From the 14th century, the Counts of Foix spent less and less time in the uncomfortable castle, preferring the Governors' Palace (Palais des gouverneurs). From 1479, the Counts of Foix became Kings of Navarre and the last of them, made Henri IV of France, annexed his Pyrrenean lands to France. Wikipedia �Inside the castle, this was Henri IV’s bed. The hangings were to keep the cold out and damn, it was cold inside. �Zoe and I on the battlements overlooking Foix. ���This castle was built as a fortress in the 7th century and from its vantage point, the lords could oversee access to the Ariege. And just to make you smile: Tomorrow then. Who knows what lies in store for us? � 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_2020-09-15_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-188 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 2020-09-15 Title A name given to the resource Day 188 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/c85202052da59a5732c191f827c8a093.pdf 05a37186074f20f92818dc0a220ed86d PDF Text Text Day 187 by windoworks Does anyone else have long, detailed dreams which are full of anger and unfairness? Or is it just me? Last night the dreamscape felt like a battleground and I’m not sure I came out a winner. This morning I watched Carl Bernstein talk about Trump’s shocking admission on tape that he lied to us all about the virus. He said this was more egregious than Nixon and the Watergate tapes, and that the Republican leaders should demand that Trump resign. I think Trump will stay to the bitter end but Craig thinks he might resign and then get Pence to pardon him. Listen, I don’t think there’s a mat big enough to sweep all this bullshit under. I wonder if he considers leaving the US and living out his days somewhere else? And I’m waiting for his children and his wife to declare loudly ‘we didn’t know’. I have heard it said that Joe Biden doesn’t have any plans. Here’s these: A FB post: For those of you who want to vote FOR something as opposed to just voting against, here is information to consider. This stopped being Republican vs Democrat in January—we are ALL Americans and we are ALL vulnerable. Joe Biden has created a war cabinet-in-waiting on the coronavirus pandemic, drafting plans for distributing vaccines and personal protective gear, dramatically ramping up testing, safely reopening schools and addressing health-care disparities. And: ��Also: And lastly: �So there you are. Last week was the 19th anniversary of 9/11. The virus overpowered the remembrance ceremonies and I don’t believe Trump even mentioned it. However, Crooked Media ran this: There are many ways to mark the anniversary of 9/11: You might think back on where you were, read oral histories of the day, or, if you’re the Trump administration, admit to defunding a health program for 9/11 first responders. A Thursday New York Daily News report revealed that the Treasury Department has secretly withheld nearly $4 million from a program for FDNY firefighters and medics suffering from 9/11related illness. Treasury spokeswoman Rebecca Miller acknowledged today that the administration siphoned off money from the program to cover some of the city’s Medicare debt. Miller blamed “this really unfortunate situation” on “administrative hurdles,” but couldn’t explain why the program’s overseer, who had been asking the Treasury about the redirected funds for years, never received an answer. �Yesterday I wrote about Crooked Media and my daughter added some more information: Crooked Media is actually the overall company started by Obama’s ex-staffers. It houses many podcasts including Pod Save America, and Pod Save the World which is also fabulous. As is Lovett or Leave It. So check those out if you’re interested. Also, Crooked Media posts on weekdays only, so I have no new gems to share on Monday morning. As of today the US has 6,710,031 cases in total and 198,533 deaths. I have seen this prediction of deaths in the US by January 1: 415,090. That’s more than twice the deaths recorded now. Looking at the stats every day, it is easy to get innured to them. As numbers alone they are astounding and alarming - because they are happening to someone else. But lately the someone else is closer to me and mine than before. I mustn’t panic but my anxiety levels continue to fluctuate daily. Its exhausting. I have no new data for Michigan or Kent County. The numbers are at least 2 days out of date. There is no doubt though, that the virus is still out there and extremely active - so be careful. Leaf art. Here’s two to make us all feel better. ��And now, Oliver. ��Here is Oliver, sitting on the couch with a game controller in his hands - which luckily, he has no idea how to operate. His second cousins (or third cousins once removed - who knows) are having so much fun with Oliver and yesterday when the boys had to leave for school, Oliver crawled frantically after them as they went out the door and then lay on the floor and sobbed. And to cheer us up even more, here’s s photo of Portloe in Cornwall from my niece Elle. While I was having a facial in Foix, Craig and Zoe climbed to the Saint Sauveur Cross above Foix. It was a steep climb. ����Have you wondered what has happened to all those planes that are no longer crossing our skies? They have gone to various arid spots across the world. Here’s some somewhere in the US. �� 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_2020-09-14_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-187 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 2020-09-14 Title A name given to the resource Day 187 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/5cbd7b3dd4ee422fef9a72bd1d62c455.pdf 51f37960ee694f0b2fcf187f6870454e PDF Text Text Day 186 by windoworks There are 50 days until the election. I think its going to be 50 days of madness. Crooked Media: It’s a little heavy-handed as a metaphor, but here in the waning months of Donald Trump’s first (and, please god, final) term in office, the country is on fire and for millions of people, the sky is no longer blue. There is exactly one way this gets better. Friends, we have eight (8) weekends left between now and the election. It's the homestretch. The final hour. Don't fuck this up → But that’s a discussion for tomorrow. Today, its all about the fires consuming much of the West. • Crooked media • The president, who today found time to congratulate a bank on forcing its employees back into the office, has had nothing to say about the inferno consuming a large swath of the country. It’s no mystery why—this particular swath holds no electoral value to him, so to hell with it. We refer once again back to the time Trump tried to withhold federal aid to California during the devastating 2018 wildfires because voters in the state hadn’t supported him. (Never mind that many of the rural residents being forced from their homes did in fact vote for Trump; they’re irrelevant to his re-election, and thus irrelevant to him.) • Not only is Trump deeply uninterested in disasters affecting blue states, his nonstop fear-mongering has made the situation more dangerous. False rumors that left-wing activists have started fires in Oregon have proliferated on social media, fueled by a post from the anonymous account at the heart of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Oregon authorities, who have been inundated with calls about the rumors, have had to beg people to stop spreading misinformation that’s putting extra strain on first responders and encouraging some credulous conservatives to defy evacuation orders. • In reality, the mechanism is incredibly straightforward. As greenhouse-gas emissions raise temperatures (see: California’s recent triple-digit heat waves), forests and vegetation dry out, creating prime conditions for fast-moving fires. Six of the largest wildfires in California’s history have occurred this year. and if we re-elect the guy with a passion for environmental deregulation, the impacts will keep accelerating. As one climate scientist told Buzzfeed, “This is very much a way station on the path to a new future. We have not reached the peak. In fact, no one knows where the peak is.” I really like Crooked Media, they seem to cut to the core of the subject. My daughter put me on to them and I get a post from them each week day. The post is funny, ironic and always hard hitting. I believe they’re an offshoot of PodSaveAmerica. In some ways I think they speak to the younger generation and in language that they feel comfortable with. I also think that generation holds an enormous weight of responsibility on their shoulders - more and more my generation believes these young ones will fix it. Our �generation’s argument was - your grandchildren will say: you were there, why didn’t you do something? Truthfully, I think we are there, now. Why aren’t we doing something? NPR The wave of fires that erupted this week on the West Coast, like previous record-breaking blazes, are further validation of something forest ecologists and fire veterans have been saying for years: that no amount of firefighting resources will avert the next big wildfire. Instead of treating wildfires as a threat to be swiftly extinguished, communities need to learn to live with fire. And this explains so much about me: �Crooked Media: ICE flew immigrant detainees to Virginia this summer in order to more quickly transfer tactical border teams to inflame protests, and as a result, fueled a major coronavirus outbreak. According to a DHS official, the primary reason the detainees were transferred was to circumvent rules that bar ICE �employees from traveling on charter flights unless detainees are also aboard. Dozens of the people moved tested positive for the coronavirus after their arrival at an immigration jail in Virginia; the outbreak infected more than 300 inmates at the facility, one of whom died. A useful story to tell your grandchildren one day when you’re trying to explain the Trump administration’s cruelty towards immigrants, failure to contain a deadly virus, and descent into fascism in the span of one TikTok, or whatever the kids are watching on their Elon Musk brain implants by then. Yesterday was a tiring day and I think today might be also. It was challenging dealing with one adjusted eye, but now I have two. I know that about 8 weeks from now I will no longer think about this, but today it is still a wonder to see clearly - not only across the room but across the block to another street. It occurs to me that this must be what it is like for most children - never questioning the ability to see everything. On Friday night Craig received an email from one of his first year Honors students. Remember I told you that she had lost her sense of smell? Well by Friday, one of her two roommates had lost hers sense of smell too, so they both were tested and then, as a precaution, GVSU moved them to an isolation dormitory together, on campus. She told Craig that she and this roommate had followed all the rules carefully, but their third roommate had not. She had invited friends into their rooms and allowed those friends to use �their bathroom. Craig’s student had gone home last weekend because it was her birthday and she caught up with her grandmother. Now all her family has to be tested, and she is wracked with guilt. On so many levels, this isn’t fair. GVSU keeps assuring everyone that they have the situation under control, but they really haven’t. The office manager for Honors is quarantining at home with the rest of her family because her daughter at GVSU tested positive. We haven’t even seen the results of Labor Day yet. I see that the petition to overturn the Michigan State of Emergency has reached 400,000 signatures and they only need 100,000 more. I don’t understand people who think its all right to try to return to normal or favor herd immunity, or even make a decision that will adversely affect me. In the end it comes down to individual choice. Each of us must do what we think is the best thing for ourselves and our loved ones. New leaf art! My sister-in-law sent me a lot more leaf art photos. One each day. Its Oliver time! Oliver and his mother went to visit a second cousin in the New South Wales countryside near Dubbo. They visited a winery for wine tasting and Zoe took this photo. The best part of her Instagram posts with Oliver are the comments she puts on them. ��On Zoe’s very next day in La Bastide, we took her to the medieval part of Carcassonne, below the walled town, to the Saturday market. �����First we walked beside the canal; then we watched them setting up for the upcoming Christmas Market; the big cities often have closed in halls for meat and fish; winter vegetables for sale. As I write this post this morning, Craig tells me that France had a surge of 10,561 new virus cases yesterday with 772 clusters being investigated. In England the cases have risen by 3,000 for each of the last two days. The Czech Republic has such a surge of new cases that Germany has closed her borders to that country. We’re still in it. Hunker down together - we can do this. �Exactly. � 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_2020-09-13_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-186 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 2020-09-13 Title A name given to the resource Day 186 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/c124fc286a9cc75b1135ec6beeb37e8e.pdf c163623db7bb6ab8d4c75c21d3d781a2 PDF Text Text Day 185 by windoworks Although my right eye is almost back to normal, I have asked Craig to type my post for me this morning. I can see that my life going forward is going to be significantly different. After 40 years of automatically putting my glasses on my face when I woke up in the morning, I can now see everything perfectly and only need to put glasses on to read. I now own six pairs of reading glasses that are in every place in the house that I need them, and in the glovebox in the car. But it is a bit of a learning curve to remember to put them on to read, and take them off to walk around. So, as we all know not a single day goes by without some new disturbing development in the world. Let’s begin with the stats. US: new cases since yesterday 47,646; total: 6.47 M; new deaths: 1224; total deaths: 193K. Michigan: new cases 1423; total: 122K; new deaths: 6, total deaths: 6900. Kent County: new cases: 69, total: 8969; 0 new deaths; total deaths 171. So what this tells us is, as Dr Fauci and other scientists have said: this strain of the virus is far more contagious and easily spread, but seems to have a lower death rate. The lower death rate can also be attributed to the treatment that doctors are now using. It is interesting to note that in the beginning medical teams were completely overwhelmed by the myriad of unusual symptoms that patients presented with. As the months have gone by hospitals have modified their treatment regimes and are having a lot more success with keeping severe cases alive. At the same time many recovered patients have been left with debilitating symptoms and conditions. The new term for these people is ‘long haulers’. It is hard to remember now when the stories of long haulers first appeared, and at first they were not taken seriously by anyone. But over the months doctors have realized that this is real, even for some patients that just had a mild case. The Hill Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert, warned Thursday that the U.S. should prepare for a difficult few months in the fight against COVID-19 as flu season approaches. “We need to hunker down and get through this fall and winter because it’s not going to be easy,” Fauci said during a panel discussion with doctors from Harvard Medical School. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases went on to warn against underestimating the pandemic’s potential to cause continued destruction. I know this sounds dire, but this is realistic and we all need to follow his advice. Yesterday Dr Fauci said that he didn’t believe that life in the US would get back to anything like normal until late in 2021. I want to add here that ‘normal’ is a relative term, because I don’t think our lives will ever resemble the Before �Times again. In my mind it is better to think about the New Now, rather than yearn for what we once had. Who knows what new exciting things might lie ahead of us? So Oliver ��I am assuming this is cold spaghetti with orange food dye. In a later photo I’m pretty sure he ate some. And I also want to say that Oliver seems full of the joy of life most of the time. Flashback time. Zoe arrived! ��I think we took her walking on the Voie Verte her first day - and never mind jet lag! My eyes have almost returned to normal but not a long post today. It was a collaborative effort and I appreciate Craig struggling with my iPad keyboard and vagaries. Get a flu shot, wear your mask and I’ll leave you with this poem my friend Nancy posted. ��windoworks | September 12, 2020 at 2:04 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: https://wp.me/p5zWgP-1dV Comment See all comments Like Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Stuff. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://pameladarling.wordpress.com/2020/09/12/day-185/ Thanks for flying with WordPress.com � 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_2020-09-12_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-185 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 2020-09-12 Title A name given to the resource Day 185 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/9028eed98431b51ee62bae421521d100.pdf 2ccfe4f25ac0ed00d4c8c4eea2f6a6a6 PDF Text Text Day 184 by windoworks Today is my right eye surgery. Because it is not until 12:30pm, I was allowed to have a small cup of black tea, much earlier this morning. Very exciting. Later this morning the preparation will begin - dilating my eye, putting up an IV. Sedating me just enough that I lie perfectly still while the old lens is removed and a new manmade lens is put in its place. Thankfully its usually a very short procedure. This is the header from the Sydney Morning Herald and I have to say I’m rather offended by the subheading because this is blatantly stolen from one of my favorite children’s books: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Its about a nice little boy who has an awful day when a great many things go wrong. I think instead of describing Trump’s week, these words could be better used to describe Trump himself. �Washington Post The president has never really stopped minimizing the pandemic's severity, as The Fix demonstrated by documenting 109 separate comments — from late January ("we have it totally under control.”) to last Friday ("We’re rounding the corner on the virus.”) Yesterday Trump held a rally in Michigan where 5,500 people were crammed together on the edge of an airplane hanger with no masks, which was in complete violation of Governor Whitmer’s Executive Order. Once again he hammered his theme of chaos and destruction if Joe Biden were to win, while constantly belittling Governor Whitmer and all the procedures she has set in place to keep as many Michiganders as safe and virus free as possible. But of course his acolytes hung on his every duplicitous word. WARNING MICHIGANDERS SUPERSPREADER RALLY ALERT! Stay inside and avoid MAGAts for at least 14 days. Here’s an extract from a thoughtful piece in The Atlantic Trump was elected president on a promise to restore an idealized past in which America’s traditional aristocracy of race was unquestioned. But rather than restore that aristocracy, four years of catastrophe have—at least for the moment—discredited it. Instead of ushering in a golden age of prosperity and a return to the cultural conservatism of the 1950s, Trump’s presidency has radicalized millions of white �Americans who were previously inclined to dismiss systemic racism as a myth, the racial wealth gap as a product of Black cultural pathology, and discriminatory policing as a matter of a few bad apples. Those staples of the American racial discourse became hard to sustain this year, as the country was enveloped by overlapping national crises. The pandemic exposed the president. The nation needed an experienced policy maker; instead it saw a professional hustler, playing to the cameras and claiming that the virus would disappear. As statistics emerged showing that Americans of color disproportionately filled the ranks of essential workers, the unemployed, and the dead, the White House and its allies in the conservative media downplayed the danger of the virus, urging Americans to return to work and resurrect the Trump economy, no matter the cost. In the past, the dream of remaking society has faltered when white Americans have realized what they would have to sacrifice to deliver freedom. The question now is whether this time is different. And here’s how Trump really feels, that is, clinically unable to express empathy: New York Times When asked about the pain “Black people feel in this country,” Mr. Trump was unable to express empathy. Mr. Woodward pointed out that both he and Mr. Trump were “white, privileged” and asked if Mr. Trump was working to “understand the anger and the pain, particularly, Black people feel in this country.” Mr. Trump replied, “No,” and added: “You really drank the Kool-Aid, didn’t you? Just listen to you. Wow. No, I don’t feel that at all.” The other significant point to Bob Woodward’s book is that he waited to have it published. Some of the most important statements Trump made to Woodward should have been shared publicly in real time. Shame on you Bob Woodward. It is only 52 days to the election. Here’s some things to consider: Washington Post About six in 10 registered voters nationwide say they want to cast their ballots before Election Day, a significant departure from previous years that will force the candidates to reshape how they campaign in the election season’s final weeks, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll conducted by Ipsos. Fear of the coronavirus and doubts about the reliability of mail voting after months of attacks from President Trump are weighing heavily on Americans as they decide how to safely ensure their vote will be counted in this fall’s presidential election, according to the survey. In 2016, about 4 in 10 ballots were cast early. The likely surge in early voting and mail ballots will test election systems nationwide, many of which are �ill-prepared to contend with an unprecedented volume of early votes or help voters who are struggling to learn the rules around mail ballots. In Michigan there is comprehensive help on voting by mail and in person, all to be easily found online. But here’s another worrying issue: Crooked media • Meanwhile, social media companies are in talks with federal officials about another election threat: Trump’s possible intention to declare victory before all of the votes have been tallied, and/or refuse to accept the outcome if he loses. Should the last bulwark against a presidential election devolving into chaos and street violence be Mark “I made a website to compare the hotness of my classmates” Zuckerberg? Probably not! But here we are. Facebook is considering new policies for the time between when votes are cast and results are announced, and Twitter has announced new restrictions on content that attempts to undermine the integrity of the election. • Trump has not only happily accepted foreign help to steal the election, but sought to weaken the systems meant to guard against it. If that doesn’t work, he’s prepared to lie about the validity of the election itself, because he knows that in a fair election where every vote is counted, he will lose. That much is in our control. And remember how we keep dating the onset of the virus from March?Oh no, it appeared in the US MUCH earlier: Washington Post The team examined six years of electronic health records in Los Angeles, searching for reports with the word “cough,” a common covid-19 symptom. From this, they learned that respiratory failure hospitalizations spiked in late December last year and remained above historic levels for the next 10 weeks. “This is consistent with the growing body of data that suggests that there’s been community spread much earlier than we had anticipated,” one of the study's authors, an epidemiologist at the University of California at Los Angeles, told The Post. Speaking of the virus, Craig’s randomly selected virus test results came back last night - no coronavirus detected. Yay! Meanwhile in his classes one student has been told to quarantine after contact tracing and another student has suddenly lost her smell and was very scared and anxious yesterday. The numbers climbed to 451 positive cases at GVSU at 4pm yesterday. The risk assessment was at Moderate. We are all waiting to see what next week will bring after the Labor Day weekend, as the incubation seems to be anywhere from 3 to 14 days. Meanwhile, the first packet of Gina Bivins beautifully handmade masks arrived in Sydney for Zoe. This is very welcome as the blue medical masks are very expensive to buy in Australia. �And the wildfires continue to rage in the West: New York Times Wildfires rage in the West Fires continue to spread across the Western U.S. More than 500,000 Oregon residents — over 10 percent of the state’s population — have evacuated their homes. States usually send firefighters to help nearby states battle wildfires. But with so much of the West now on fire, there aren’t enough firefighters to go around. “California, Oregon, Washington — we are all in the same soup of cataclysmic fire,” Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington said. And this (which is disturbing): Crooked Media: Thanks to climate change, this is the kind of fire season we can now expect every year. (The end of the world comes with neat photos, at least?) The last leaf art day: This next meme is both funny and not funny: �I am now receiving daily updates from Oliver’s daycare which makes it hard to decide which photo to choose. ���His grandfather has such high hopes of Oliver being a musician. Miscellaneous photos from the Ariege: L’Hers near Moulin Neuf �Me on the trail near Moulin Neuf ��Eating a seafood lunch at Mazeres. Pont Neuf bridge near Mazeres. These were our last days of exploring before the children began to arrive to celebrate Christmas with us. Remember to ask your friends and family: R U OK? And this from Will Rogers: One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been. Wise 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_2020-09-11_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-184 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 2020-09-11 Title A name given to the resource Day 184 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/106b2ee1bcf26335e8ddbda2e6cb29c8.pdf b070907ac5ba44040af167f4f9e80147 PDF Text Text Day 183 by windoworks Apparently Lindsay Graham encouraged Trump to do the interviews (11 or 12 of them) with Bob Woodward who has now published a book about Trump titled Rage. How appropriate. Here is one of the big takeaways from the book: New York Times Mr. Trump minimized the risks of the coronavirus to the American public early in the year. Despite knowing that the virus was “deadly” and highly contagious, he often publicly said the opposite, �insisting that the virus would go away quickly. “I wanted to always play it down,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Woodward on March 19. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.” The funny thing is, he is the only one not panicking. The rest of America is panicking all by themselves. This is a jaw dropping admission. Imagine if he had publicly recognized that this was a deadly pandemic at the onset and then went on to set federal regulations to cope with it AND organized the national production of everything needed to address and contain the virus - just as many other countries have tried to do. His whole approach was and is to tell us it will go away quickly. Perhaps his idea of quickly is 3-5 years. And remember the vaccine he continues to promise will be available by November 1 - just in time to boost his reelection hopes? Here’s this from Buzzfeed News (thanks Mary Alice): AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford's major coronavirus vaccine trial, currently being tested at dozens of sites across the US, has been put on hold due to an "unexplained illness" in someone who received the vaccine. The pause, first reported by Stat on Tuesday, occurred due to a suspected serious adverse reaction in a single person participating in the trial in the UK. It's unknown what health problems the individual experienced. “This is a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity of the trials," the spokesperson said. "In large trials illnesses will happen by chance but must be independently reviewed," the spokesperson added. "We are working to expedite the review of the single event to minimize any potential impact on the trial timeline. We are committed to the safety of our participants and the highest standards of conduct in our trials.” Other scientists cautioned that the pause to investigate is exactly how clinical trials are supposed to work. Once again - no vaccine for me until its been properly trialed and tested. �Craig and I were talking about Joe Biden. I think he is the president we need at this moment. I have seen some signs which say things like: ‘oh okay, Joe Biden, whatever’, and this distresses me. I don’t think the other former presidential candidates could pull this country back together again, they were too invested in �their huge ideas. I’m not saying that they wouldn’t be good candidates, what I’m saying is that right now we need a mender. We need someone with a team that works to try and pull the country back to some form of cooperation and reasonable communication, and above all, a recognition of all the catastrophes facing the world and some willingness to address them. Whatever anyone thinks, the USA is not a separate entity in the world with only internal affairs to worry about. I have read people’s posts in which they say ‘how can this be happening?’ I think the time for wailing and moaning is past, as is the acceptance that this is the new normal. Its time for people running for all positions to be thinking about that overused phrase the greater good instead of what’s in it for me? One of the catastrophes facing us is the fires in the west. This photo is from a friends daughter who lives in San Francisco. New York Times In Oregon, wildfires have incinerated several communities this week, and thousands of people have evacuated their homes. In Washington State, a fire hit the town of Malden so quickly that deputies drove �through the streets screaming for residents to leave. In Colorado, a 100,000-acre blaze was slowed only by a rare September snowstorm. And in California, residents are coping with the worst wildfires on record. Smoke blotted out the sun yesterday in San Francisco, and ash fluttered down from the sky. “The sky had a faint orange glow that some said evoked a nuclear winter,” Thomas Fuller, The Times’s San Francisco bureau chief, told us. Jill Cowan, a Times reporter in Los Angeles, said, “The smoke and the poor air quality are just oppressive.” Life across much of the American West is pretty miserable right now — and global warming is at least partly to blame. Climate change has increased the frequency of very hot days, droughts and, by extension, wildfires. All that and the virus too! And from Crooked Media: A gender-reveal smoke bomb sparked a California wildfire that has burned through 10,000 acres and forced more than 20,000 people to evacuate. The woman who popularized gender reveal parties said it best: "For the love of God, stop burning things down to tell everyone about your kid's penis.” Because, as we all know, a gender reveal smoke bomb in the middle of an extreme fire risk season is exactly the right thing to do. And I have one other thing to say here that has been bothering me. Craig and I are at home being extremely careful about the virus and yet I see people on FaceBook attending big gatherings without masks and any social distancing. Is the virus no longer a threat for them? Will their noncompliance keep me inside my house for longer? I don’t know, but photos of large groups make me feel uneasy now. This next item definitely applies to Craig and I. NPR With many of us confined to our homes during the coronavirus pandemic, we're spending a lot more time with our stuff these days — the piles of clothes that no longer fit, the ever-stubborn junk drawer or maybe it's those sentimental boxes of family heirlooms. You might be thinking about getting rid of some of that clutter, but you aren't exactly sure where to start. "COVID has acted like a catalyst," Hall told NPR's Weekend All Things Considered. "We're seeing a huge increase in people wanting to purge their homes, downsize and start moving into a simpler environment. I think a lot of people are taking a step back, reflecting on their mental, physical, spiritual, even their financial lives." Yesterday we put an old chest of drawers out on the curb - it was gone within the hour. Second to last leaf art day: �And Oliver is walking! ��Here he is, walking across the room at daycare. Zoe never sends him in his good clothes, and here you can see why. St-Girons. Me sitting inside a restaurant for lunch. ��It was lunchtime after everyone had been shopping at the market. There wasn’t a lot of eating going on outside but there was certainly drinking, and you can’t see them in either photo, but a lot of people had their dogs with them. ��Me coming out of a disused train tunnel along the Voie Verte. Craig walking up the hill in Foix. He had had his haircut at the salon and while he waited for my cut and dye to finish, he walked up behind the Foix Castle. �Foix Castle on a clear, sunny winters day. This last offering is from Zoe. In Australia this week, they had the national R U OK? Day: �I think we could do with this here. Lets use it. � 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_2020-09-10_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-183 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 2020-09-10 Title A name given to the resource Day 183 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/e1194874b0b60ba630d24eb9e0d71f85.pdf 55b2f0f6ed2cf6ba86a556a461b3547e PDF Text Text Day 182 by windoworks �As I begin to write this morning, I am sitting in bed with my dressing gown on because the temperature is in the 50s and the leaves are turning. I realized that when I first began writing this Pandemic Diary, I was �also sitting in bed with my dressing gown on. Craig said I’ll probably be sitting in bed writing the diary next year when its warm enough to not be wearing my dressing gown. Now there’s a challenging thought. And to emphasize this, here’s 9 things that may have disappeared forever. Will we miss them? To these I would add choir singing, wind and brass instruments, hugs, cheek kisses, and handshakes. Every doctor I have seen recently has had to visibly restrain themselves from shaking my and Craig’s hands. Washington Post: Buffets Dancing with strangers Blowing out birthday candles One night stands Karaoke Free samples Cash Ball pits Asking a stranger to take our photo Today its all about the virus: Washington Post In an effort to restore faith in the scientific process, chief executives from nine drug companies vowed Tuesday not to seek approval for vaccines before they have proved to be safe and effective. Pharmaceutical companies' promise to adhere to safety would in any other time be unremarkable, but the pledge is coming amid intense pressure from President Trump and the White House to deliver a vaccine before the election. Trump’s own top vaccine adviser, Operation Warp Speed co-chief Moncef Slaoui, told NPR last week that it's “very unlikely” that a vaccine would be ready before Election Day. And even if it is, the vast majority of Americans wouldn't be able to get it immediately after it's approved. The FDA will most likely want the people who are at the most risk — front-line health workers, those older than 65 and those with underlying medical conditions — to be vaccinated first. After that, it could take another six months for a full approval to distribute the vaccine widely. In some ways I’m glad about that because......... New York Times: AstraZeneca halted global trials of its coronavirus vaccine, after a participant contracted an inflammatory syndrome that affects the spinal cord. For now, it is unclear whether the illness and vaccine are connected, but the news is a reminder that drug trials often encounter problems. �I think most Americans are nervous about using a vaccine that hasn’t been properly trialed. And below is the next development towards automation. All those science fiction stories I read are starting to come true at rather an alarming rate. Its probably my age. Young people seem to cope with this sort of thing easily. In the meantime, we'll have to continue with social distancing, face masks and rigorous cleaning. Robots are being deployed to help with the last one. In one California hospital, two robots disinfect the rooms of all covid-19 patients each day using UV light. It takes them 12 minutes to do a job that a worker would spend 90 on. The pandemic is pushing the U.S. economy toward automation, and posing long-term risks to low-wage workers in the process. Yesterday during his online class discussion, one of Craig’s students said he was rooming in a dorm with two other male students who suddenly became ill on Friday with temperatures of 102 F, coughing and struggling to breathe. He moved out and is staying somewhere else. Remember GVSU had 273 cases on Friday? Yesterday they posted 395 cases, including 1 faculty member. I’m not sure if this is the faculty member that another of Craig’s students said yesterday suddenly canceled his face to face class as he was experiencing Covid symptoms. They update the stats each afternoon at 4:30pm, so we’ll wait to see what today brings. Their alert level is Moderate. But in other universities, from the New York Times - The problem with college during the coronavirus pandemic is not just what’s happening on campuses and in college towns. It’s also that colleges may end up spreading the virus to dozens of other communities. Last week, after hundreds of students came down with the virus, the State University of New York at Oneonta ended in-person classes and sent students home. Colorado College, North Carolina State, James Madison (in Virginia)and Chico State (in California) have taken similar steps. At Illinois State, Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia, administrators have encouraged some students who have tested positive to leave campus, so they don’t infect other students, and return home. These decisions to scatter students — rather than quarantine them on campus — have led to widespread criticism. “It’s the worst thing you could do,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s leading infectious-disease expert, said on NBC. “When you send them home, particularly when you’re dealing with a university where people come from multiple different locations, you could be seeding the different places with infection.” Some of Craig’s students have decided not to use the meal plan they paid for, but instead to shop locally and cook for themselves. They are living in accommodation which is apartment style with bathrooms and kitchens included. All his 3 classes are worried and are trying hard to stay safe. This is GVSU’s open and wait and see option in action. �Creative gardening! And in other worrying news: �NPR Strong winds and major wildfires are making for dangerous conditions in several Western states. Electrical utilities have cut power to customers in Oregon and California to prevent new starts, and firefighters are scrambling to contain wildfires in both states. Leaf art day whatever: Oliver. Look at this new birthday gift from Zoe’s friend. Well I’m overcome. �And here’s a photo from Auckland, New Zealand where life is slowly returning to almost virus free �More Space City �Me and the planets. I’m standing on the sun. �A rocket. �The Soyuz satellite. �This morning Craig is going to have his Covid test, having been randomly chosen by GVSU’s computer. One student told Craig that she’s been tested 3 times in 1 week - randomly chosen. I think they could spin that wheel again, don’t you? And to finish on a recorder note: �� 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_2020-09-09_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-182 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 2020-09-09 Title A name given to the resource Day 182 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/8f0ec083b796c7acf9750632f7c9d069.pdf 0212109406b25caf24f4a3bd15b10ea1 PDF Text Text Day 181 by windoworks Have you ever sat before a computer screen and thought: I have run out of things to say? Tomorrow it will be 26 weeks exactly since we began this odyssey. 26 weeks of one day after another each exactly the same. There are small, incremental changes, of course. I no longer order groceries online and I am reasonably comfortable in grocery stores. I think about eating out but the closest I can get to it is seriously considering take out. We still sanitize things regularly, stand carefully back from neighbors to chat, and continue to always wash our hands well. Tomorrow Craig has to have a Covid test, as he was selected randomly by GVSU. Speaking of GVSU, as of Friday the positivity rate is 3.32% and the total of positive cases was 271. I am sure those numbers will be adjusted later today. We are gradually divesting ourselves of years of accumulation of ‘things’, hundreds of photos (most not well taken), furniture, kitchen gadgets - books are next. Speaking of kitchen gadgets, yesterday I ventured cautiously into Sur La Table, a kitchen equipment and cooking class store which is closing down - like many other well known brand stores. I wandered around the fairly empty shelves, but what caught my eye were all those specialized gadgets that no one wants now, like strawberry hullers and oyster openers. Life seems so much simpler. We eat vegetables from our own garden or from our favorite farm. At the beginning we used to order cakes and treats from our favorite gluten free bakery. We’d order lots and then freeze some for later. Now I’m much more likely to bake things myself, like cakes, rolls and bread. Days have fallen into a rhythm which is changing again after 6 months into a new pattern to accommodate Craig’s online schedule with extra zoom meetings to advise students. Most days we still try to go for a drive and sometimes walk in parks. Yesterday I made us lunch and we drove back to Muskegon State Park to sit and watch the wild waves on the lake. Driving home we were ensnared in the many RVs and trailers heading back home. �Trump continues to do and say ridiculous, irresponsible things - many of which he denies as fake news, but then someone finds a tweet he has written which confirms that he said it in the first place. Books are being published written by former members of his inner circle, presenting damning information. And through it all he continues to pretend that he cares about America. Polls say he’s winning, or he’s losing, or its tied, but the only thing we can do is vote to make America as Blue as possible. Are Democrats perfect? Of course not, but at this moment they seem much better than Republicans. �As I write this it seems someone has managed to dredge up something on Louis DeJoy - remember, he’s the man ‘overhauling’ the US Postal Service. Washington Post: House Democrats are launching an investigation of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and called for his immediate suspension following accusations that he reimbursed employees for campaign contributions they made to his preferred GOP politicians, an arrangement that would be unlawful. Maloney’s announcement came a day after The Washington Post reported allegations that DeJoy and his aides urged employees at his former North Carolina-based logistics company to write checks and attend fundraisers on behalf of Republican candidates. DeJoy then defrayed the cost of those political contributions by boosting employee bonuses, two employees told The Post. Although it can be permissible to encourage employees to make donations, reimbursing them for those contributions is a violation of North Carolina and federal election laws. Such federal violations carry a five-year statute of limitations. There is no statute of limitations in North Carolina for felonies, including campaign finance violations. The latest accusations have only added to the turbulence surrounding the Postal Service. �The mail in ballots will come out in Michigan after September 19. Unfortunately, as I mentioned the other day, at this time Michigan does not count ballots as received. We will have to wait until the polls close on the day, or even later. Now to the virus. Here’s what we need to consider. Washington Post: Infectious-disease experts are warning of a potential cold-weather surge of coronavirus cases — a longfeared “second wave” of infections and deaths, possibly at a catastrophic scale. It could begin well before Election Day, Nov. 3, although researchers assume the crest would come weeks later, closer to when fall gives way to winter. An autumn surge in covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, would not be an October surprise: It has been hypothesized since early in the pandemic because of the patterns of other respiratory viruses. “My feeling is that there is a wave coming, and it’s not so much whether it’s coming but how big is it going to be,” said Eili Klein, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Respiratory viruses typically begin spreading more easily a couple of weeks after schools resume classes. Although the pandemic has driven many school districts to remote learning, there is a broad push across the country to return to something like normal life. The Labor Day holiday weekend is a traditional time of travel and group activities, and, like Independence Day and Memorial Day, could seed transmission of the virus if people fail to take precautions. By year’s end, 410,000 people in the United States will have died under the model’s most-likely scenario. That’s more than double current fatalities. The model also produced best-case and worst-case scenarios — ranging from 288,000 to 620,000 deaths by Jan. 1 — depending on the degree to which people wear masks, adhere to social distancing and take other precautions. Leaf art day 5: �Leaf art has led to discussions of how this is done, between Craig and I. We wondered if the leaf was stiffened in some way. Oliver. Zoe has connected me to his daycare daily post. Here’s my favorite photo so far: ��‘Helping’ to make pasta. I don’t know about you but my children had a very boring life until they began preschool. I am amazed at what Oliver does each day at daycare. One of the most interesting places just outside Toulouse is the Cité de l'espace (French for City of Space) which is a scientific discovery centre focused on spaceflight. It was opened in June 1997 and is located on the eastern outskirts of Toulouse. It was an amazing experience. Here’s some photos: Craig ‘moon jumping’ in low gravity. �The Clean Room selfie. �An extreme weather satellite. �The MIR spec station and me - just before I walked inside. �And this is only part of it. We arrived at Space City at lunchtime and their excellent cafeteria was supposed to be closed for a staff Christmas Lunch, but we were allowed to sit down and have the same wonderful lunch that the staff were having. All the exhibits were cream on the top after that. More space photos 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_2020-09-08_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-181 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 2020-09-08 Title A name given to the resource Day 181 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/c246270e5141f9cb6d73e603435d69f5.pdf 14cac8cf158127f38787a1ee8228b18e PDF Text Text Day 180 by windoworks On a beach in Port Aransas, Texas, a sculpture of Abraham Lincoln shows him seated in anguish. With his head buried in his hand, he sits atop a crumbling monument. The scene is as poignant as it is aweinspiring because Lincoln and his throne are crafted completely out of sand. Damon Langlois is the artist behind this sand sculpture and its incredible details that include the likeness of the 16th President and deep “cracks” in the seat base. The piece, called Liberty Crumbling, recently won first place in the 23rd annual Texas SandFest, the largest native sand sculpture competition in the U.S. There’s no denying that the subject of Langlois' reimagining of the Lincoln Memorial doesn't comment on the current state of domestic and world affairs. He doesn't intend for it, however, to have a certain political leaning. “It’s not really a partisan statement since it affects everyone who believes in freedom,” Langlois explains to My Modern Met. “I think this is why the sculpture had such broad appeal. No matter who you vote for you probably feel this in some way.” Some mornings I feel just like this sand Abraham- and this is one of those mornings. I was reading a post on a website I joined about making phone calls for Biden. The responses these brave women were getting were uniformly awful. But one response struck me: I won’t vote for Biden because I believe in the Constitution. Hands up everyone who has read the Constitution, cover to cover. I suspect not all of us have read it. Craig and I have, because when you are applying for citizenship, you have to be able to �answer questions from the Constitution. That’s how I know the Speaker of the House is next in line for the Presidency, should a catastrophe occur. When you ask people, not many know that answer. The more common guess is Secretary of State. I was talking about this with a friend the other day. One of the problems we have is that being a politician has become a career. When the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution and set up the House and the Senate, being a representative was just a 6 month term. After your term, you were meant to go back to your actual occupation. Change was seen as a good thing. I’m not sure when that began to change. (Authors note: although I try to research as much as possible, there may be incorrect facts). I also read that while we are being shocked and amused by such events as the Trump Boat Parade disaster, we must not lose sight of the appalling lack of resources and guidance in the pandemic and the resurgence of attempted suppression for addressing racial discrimination and bias. We should also keep in mind the economy and the unemployment rate, businesses failing, evictions etc. and consider who has the best team around them and is prepared to address all these issues head on. Yesterday Joe Biden added Pete Buttigieg to his Transition team along with other educated, qualified people. Here’s an opinion piece from the Washington Post. The author is talking about her dog, Tank. The reason I am writing is not Tank’s death but its aftermath. In the strain of the pandemic, in the heat of police shootings, the social fabric is fraying. You can hear it rip. If there was a communitarian, we’ll-getthrough-this-together ethos at the start of the lockdowns, it has been replaced by a my-way mentality. Thanks to President Trump, mask-wearing has become political statement, not social responsibility. We spent the summer in Wyoming, and driving home across the country (Tank was never happier than when ensconced in the car for long stretches with his people), we encountered instance after instance — at the hotel in North Dakota, the restaurant in Minnesota where we stopped for takeout, the rest stop in Indiana — of behavior that was not only irresponsible but aggressively so. When I asked a man at the rest stop — a rest stop whose doors proclaimed “Masks Required” — to wear a mask, he said I was free to do so for my health, but he chose not to. And when I pointed out that, actually, his mask-wearing protected me, and vice versa, it didn’t take long for him to start yelling about Joe Biden. I know: stupid, foolhardy me, to try to engage. I took to Twitter again, in the hours after Tank’s death, to share my grief. The platform that can be so ugly and so hate-filled responded this time with overwhelming love. From people I knew, from strangers, offering condolences and sharing their own sad experiences. It was an enormous, unexpected comfort. We looked at the pet pictures they posted and read the stories they shared of their own dog’s passing, and wept. What does it say that an audience that can be so cruel and ugly can be so generous and compassionate? The more cynical interpretation is that we are a country that tends to care more about pets than people, and there is some unfortunate truth to that. We are Rest Stop Twitter, angry and vindictive, but we are �also Tank Twitter, full of boundless affection, even for strangers. Tank didn’t see either — he saw humans to love, even if part of their attraction was that they might have treats. If he could, Tank would lick all your faces. Every last one. Here’s one for the scientists among us: �Day 4 of leaf art: Here’s one for the office workers among us: The New Normal Some of us used to enjoy going into the office. By “enjoy” we mean being able to get our work done in peace (at least sometimes), have an in-person discussion with other adults and not have to cut up anyone’s food at lunchtime. Anyway, we digress. With many offices around the world still shut, working from home seems likely to be the new normal for millions of white-collar employees. And that may actually contribute to a vicious economic cycle that reshapes our cities Two days ago Craig walked over to Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids with Murphy Brown. �And now Oliver: ��Sometimes I accidentally take photos while we are FaceTiming. He’s looking at Craig and I on Zoe’s phone. I often wonder if he thinks we live in the phone. Flashback: in Narbonne there is a museum with many Roman artifacts as it was an important Roman fort. ������Amazing mosaics in reasonable condition and a close up of some carved figures in the church, I think. I often photograph details that appeal to me, and these faces did. �Remember - 56 days, 16 hours and 49 minutes to Election Day. And stay safe out there. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-09-07_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-180 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 2020-09-07 Title A name given to the resource Day 180 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/4f1f9a658f267bf8dd226ee4efa8bef5.pdf 10c89f70f0d0f385394896251ba9bd3f PDF Text Text Day 179 by windoworks I can certainly relate to this! Time for a stats roundup. Yesterday the US recorded 50,183 new cases, total: 6.26M and total deaths: 188K. Michigan recorded 838 new cases, total: 117K and total deaths: 6,809. Kent County recorded 38 new cases, total: 7,933 and total deaths: 161. The Kent County numbers are confusing as a state site records a much higher number of cases and more deaths. This morning I am using the Kent County Health Dept stats. There is an overall decrease in deaths while numbers of cases are holding steady at a higher rate or climbing slightly. The decrease in deaths may be because this is a different strain of the virus which is more contagious but less fatal and/or more knowledge of the virus structure which is leading to better treatment. And in Melbourne, Australia, the lockdown has been extended until October �26! While most states in Australia have had a very low virus count, Victoria seems to account for almost 90% of daily cases. They have pulled the daily case numbers down to the 70s but its still higher than the state government would like. On Friday I was talking to an acquaintance who had had the virus in March. I asked her if she had any long term effects from it and she described an occasional coughing spell in which she seems to be unable to stop or catch her breath. She has never had anything like this before. I think this is the real cost of those who have recovered from the virus itself - odd, lingering and disturbing health problems. I read an excellent article which described what the scientists are learning about the virus. I’m not reprinting it here but it seems to say that it enters the body through the nose and then transforms from a respiratory disease to a blood disease which breaks down the cell walls across the body. It can cross the blood/brain barrier (from my Psychology days at college - very few things can cross that barrier), which explains strokes etc. and it leaks out of the cells in the lungs, filling them with a jello consistency fluid. Now this is a description of the life threatening cases, which are really a small percentage of the overall cases. From the New Zealand Sunday Star Times, masks are now a fashion statement: ��Yesterday I was texting with my friend in Finland and she told me that cases are rising across Europe and Finland, but Finland is controlling it well. She and her family are mostly working at home but they have enjoyed the summer and are now heading into fall. �Here in Michigan Gov Whitmer has extended the state of emergency to October 1. The emergency declaration is what gives the Democratic governor the ability to make unilateral actions to combat the virus, such as closing businesses or penalizing those who don't wear masks. She also extended executive �orders already in place Saturday to protect frontline workers at groceries, pharmacies and long-term care facilities. The orders require stores to provide two hours a week of reserved shopping time for vulnerable people and require workers to continue regularly testing, cleaning and social distancing during the pandemic. Its been a difficult week for Trump. Washington Post President Trump is moving to revamp federal agencies’ racial sensitivity trainings, casting some of them as “divisive” and “un-American,” according to a memo by the White House Office of Management and Budget. �In the two-page memo, OMB Director Russell Vought says Trump has asked him to prevent federal agencies from spending millions in taxpayer dollars on these training sessions. Vought says OMB will instruct federal agencies to come up with a list of all contracts related to training sessions involving “white privilege” or “critical race theory,” and do everything possible within the law to cancel those contracts, the memo states. The memo, released on Friday, also tells all federal agencies to identify and if possible cancel contracts that involve teaching that America is an “inherently racist or evil country.” The President has directed me to ensure that federal agencies cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions,” the memo states. I’m not sure how well that’s going to play for him. Then he tried this: NPR News President Trump is acting to withhold federal money from cities where large protests have been held in recent months. In a memo, the president said he won’t let federal dollars be used to fund “lawless zones.” Affected cities include Portland, Ore., New York City, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Mayors of the four cities condemned Trump’s action in a joint statement. And then this happened: CBS Austin Multiple 911 calls were made Saturday afternoon regarding boats being in distress, some sinking at the ‘Trump Boat Parade’ that took place on Lake Travis, according to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. TCSO confirmed with CBS Austin that multiple boats were sinking, some in distress. The sheriff's office says calls were made about boats along the entire route of the parade, some of the locations include: Paradise Cove, Emerald Point and West Beach. At around 2:50 p.m. the TCSO confirmed through a tweet to have responded to calls made about boats being in distress at the parade, they also confirmed that several boats were sinking on the lake. Is this a sign? I wonder. And finally, an opinion piece from The Atlantic. It was a disturbing read which explained why Trump followers continue to believe in him, no matter what he does or says. The term ‘cognitive dissonance’ appeared in the article, which also reminded me of my Psych days. It means: the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as related to behavioral decisions and attitude change. Here’s the wrap up from the article: I know plenty of Trump supporters, and I know many of them to be people of integrity in important areas of their lives. Indeed, some are friends I cherish. But if there is a line Donald Trump could cross that would forfeit the loyalty of his core supporters—including, and in some respects especially, white evangelical Christians—I can’t imagine what it would be. And that is a rather depressing thing to admit. Polarization and political tribalism are not new to America; fear and hatred for our fellow citizens have �been increasing for decades. We’ve had plenty of presidents who have failed us, in ways large and small. But this moment is different because Donald Trump is different, and because Donald Trump is president. His relentless assault on truth and the institutions of democracy—his provocations and abuse of power, his psychological instability and his emotional volatility, his delusions and his incompetence—are unlike anything we’ve seen before. He needs to be stopped. And his supporters can’t say, as they did in 2016, that they just didn’t know. Leaf art Day 4. And once more, Oliver: ��In this photo you can clearly see the grazes on his nose and between his eyebrows from doing a face plant into the pine bark ground cover at the park. He seems to be recovering okay. Flashback: still in Narbonne �����From the top: I was really impressed with the way they wrapped the tower like a Christmas gift; they decorated the streets too; two photos inside the church. �Just to make you laugh. Tomorrow then. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-09-06_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-179 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 2020-09-06 Title A name given to the resource Day 179 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/5bd307b0128e5c377bd0b3176aa1da54.pdf 178edc60b0cbd01106ee41d33aecd957 PDF Text Text Day 178 by windoworks Last night Craig and I both tossed and turned. I couldn’t get to sleep for ages - thoughts kept circulating round and round in my head. Then Lo and behold! I read a story about this very thing: Washington Post: Today's newsletter was co-authored by a reporter running on three-and-a-half hours of sleep, and apparently, he has lots of company. The Post's health desk wrote about an epidemic of “coronasomnia” as the pandemic disrupts daily structures, keeps people awake with stress and transforms bedrooms from darkened sanctuaries into 24/7 home offices. Physicians and researchers worry that the phenomenon is “creating a massive new population of chronic insomniacs,” The Post wrote,“grappling with declines in productivity, shorter fuses and increased risks of hypertension, depression and other health problems.” Well isn’t that cheery? Yesterday I visited the eye doctor again for my 1 week checkup. Of course they dilated my left eye again and it took until later in the evening for it to return to normal. I go through the whole procedure again on Friday with my right eye. Then it gets very complicated for Craig as he is Chief Eye Drop Applicator. From next Saturday, he’ll be applying 2 steroid eye drops a day in my left eye and 4 steroid and 4 antibiotic eye drops a day in my right eye. They give us a chart after the surgery so we can keep track of where we are. The antibiotic drops are only for the first week, but the steroid eye drops decrease 1 application a day for a further 3 weeks. I talked to the nurse yesterday and told her that the tape holding the plastic eye patch over my eye at night (for the first week) had hurt my cheek and so she gave me a black pirate patch to use after the right eye surgery. Much better and I can say Arrrggh! So what else is big news? Oh that’s right, its the Labor Day weekend. The New Normal Yes, it’s another holiday weekend, but does that mean we’re looking at another scary coronavirus surge? Many are worried that Labor Day will be like the Fourth of July and Memorial Day, when travel and celebrations fanned the flames of viral spread, especially across the U.S. South and West. Dr. Anthony Fauci says, “You don't want to be someone who's propagating the outbreak. You want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem." All together now: Yes, Dr. Fauci. �And here are some handy hints for Labor Day events: The Atlantic A Pocket Guide to Staying Safe A holiday is approaching, and although we’re all ready to kick back, “COVID-19 is not taking a break for Labor Day weekend,” Elizabeth Carlton, an associate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, warns. Luckily, many traditional holiday activities take place in the great outdoors, which is thought to be less risky than congregating indoors. Below, we’ve compiled expert advice on a few common ways to spend the day. Keep in mind that our understanding of this virus continues to evolve, Carlton points out, and that guidance may change in the future. No matter what your plans are, experts recommend … 1. wearing a mask, 2. socially distancing from people outside your household, 3. washing your hands often, and 4. staying home if you’re sick or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. *If you’re planning on going to the beach … Though no activity is without risk, the beach may well be as good as it gets—if people stay socially distant. Even when you’re in the ocean, the CDC recommends staying six feet apart, but you can leave your mask off in the water. *If you’re planning on going to the pool … It’s a similar deal to the beach, except staying apart may be a bit trickier. *If you’re planning on camping … If you’re camping with someone outside your household, bring your own tent, hand sanitizer, and marshmallows: The CDC guidelines recommend, among other measures, sleeping separately and avoiding sharing supplies, including food. Carlton also suggests keeping an eye out for crowded places, such as campground bathrooms or stores you may stop at on the way in, and taking precautions in those spaces. *If you’re planning on attending a barbecue … The good news: There’s no evidence of foodborne transmission so far. But the CDC guidelines still recommend limiting the number of people handling the food. Ideally, Carlton says, the cookout is outside, with a “not huge” number of attendees and space for them to distance. And before you bite into that rib, make sure you’ve washed your hands. If you’re a host, Carlton recommends you “be really forward,” reminding those who may have been exposed or who have symptoms of COVID-19 not to attend. �So there you have it. Just remind yourself - it isn’t over yet. In Sydney, Australia the virus continues to pop up in stores, pubs etc. With their efficient contact tracing, the Health Department publishes venues with specific times (e.g. 10:00am to 11:15am) so that the reader can know if they were in that venue at that time and may have had contact with a virus positive person. That’s organization for you! There have been posts about 3 venues in Balmain where Zoe and Oliver live but luckily Zoe wasn’t in those places at those times. And, is the following a good excuse? You decide. In other political news, Trump advised fans in North Carolina to vote twice, once by mail in ballot and the second time in person. This is completely illegal. From Capital Public Radio: “Intentionally voting twice in the same election is, indeed, illegal. Clearly so. And straightforward to prosecute, because there’s always a paper trail,” Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor and elections expert wrote in an email. �Voting twice is also a crime under federal law, specifically under U.S Code Title 52, which reads: “Whoever votes more than once in an election … shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.” So I would play it safe and just vote once. If you vote by mail you can check to see that you ballot has been received. In Michigan, under michigan.gov, you type in: check my ballot status. I imagine it is the same for all states, its housed under your Secretary of State page. In some states, your vote is processed prior to Election Day. Look up NCSL.org to see when you state counts votes. In Michigan it is after the polls close on Election Day. I know that our Secretary of State would like to change that to some days prior to Election Day but not in time for this year, and she is battling a current Republican majority in the State Senate. As well, our districts are sill gerrymandered although the Public Commission to redraw district lines has just been formed. The new, fairer distribution should be in place by 2022. In case you didn’t know, gerrymandering means that after an election, the dominant party redefines the districts to favor them in any upcoming elections. Presently, Michigan;s districts favor the Republican Party. Well, here’s something that made me feel better because I was fairly sure any vaccine Trump offered wouldn’t be properly tested: The New Normal: The Trump administration's virus chief told NPR on Thursday that it's “very unlikely” that a vaccine will be ready before Election Day, despite the government's instructions that state and local health departments be ready to distribute one as soon as Nov. 1. Some health experts suspect that the advisory was a political gimmick and worried that the experimental vaccines under development couldn't be properly tested in such a short time. ��You know how you say something out loud or in writing, and then you forget about it but at a very inopportune moment it comes back to bite you in the bum? No? Me neither. But here’s something that did for Trump: The Atlantic When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true. Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” Now this is not sitting well with the US Military, Vets or even voters. The military has a special place in Americans hearts. It has been confirmed and just to double check, I looked it up in Snopes. And this isn’t the only time he has disparaged the military, both publicly and on Twitter. The thing about the internet that people forget is - once its out there, its out there forever. If he is voted out of office (as well as voting and encouraging everyone to vote Biden/Harris, I’m crossing all my fingers and toes), the military will take great delight in escorting him out of the White House. Day No. 3 leaf art: �Oliver. Yesterday evening we sat and watched as Oliver played with his toys, 9,364 miles away in Sydney, Australia. He now has a range of words: car, duck, baa, mumma, baboon (balloon) and Asssha (Asher). He waves goodbye to us, and he laughs at Grandad (Craig) when he makes funny noises. When he sees us on Zoe’s phone, he points at us. He is immensely proud of his achievements. He’s also screamingly funny to watch as he explores his world. My favorite this week involved antics with a tea towel on the kitchen floor. ��This was our birthday present to Oliver. He does actually play them, just enough to make Craig and I very happy. Our Christmas gifts last year were not a success. Flashback: after visiting Fontfroide Abbey we drove on to Narbonne on the Mediterranean Coast. �����Narbonne is a town in southern France on the Canal de la Robine. The Gothic Cathédrale Saint-Just et Saint-Pasteur was begun in the 13th century but never completed. The grand Palais des Archevêques (Archbishop's Palace) houses archaeology and art museums. The Horreum is an underground labyrinth of ancient warehouses left over from the town’s days as a Roman port. The nearby beach and harbor is at Narbonne Plage. From the top: first glimpse of the Mediterranean; Narbonne Plage; our first Christmas Market along the canal. We were to find out that in our area, Christmas Markets were huge events leading up to Christmas Day. I will leave you with these two photos of social areas in Uptown, one for nearby cafes and one for neighbors - they are popping up everywhere across the city: ��� 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_2020-09-05_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-178 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 2020-09-05 Title A name given to the resource Day 178 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/51d549990e58ffa32c62f161732321f2.pdf 69b16f7a9d44ac9c1d2881856dcaccc6 PDF Text Text Day 177 by windoworks Yesterday Governor Whitmer took Betsy DeVos to task. You remember Betsy. She’s the Secretary of Education who knows absolutely nothing about education. Here’s what the Governor said: �Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos notified State Superintendent Dr. Michael Rice that states will not receive any waivers to the federal requirement to administer statewide summative assessments for the 2020-2021 school year. From forcing high-stakes testing on our young children during a global pandemic to trying to strip dollars away from schools in need of critical funding, Betsy DeVos has proven time and again that she doesn’t share our priorities for protecting and improving public education. This virus has had an unprecedented impact on our kids, and forcing them to take these assessments during a time when families everywhere are working around the clock to stay safe is cruel. Betsy DeVos should do the right thing and waive these requirements for our kids. Students, educators, and families everywhere deserve leaders in Washington who will help them succeed. I will continue to work closely with districts and educators across the state to ensure our kids can get a great education as we fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Craig has successfully completed his first week of online teaching and is as exhausted as this polar bear. At first he used the Blackboard system the college had set up but it was frustrating as he could only see 4 students faces at a time. He had to scroll across to see the other 6. I suggested he try Zoom and Thursday was much, much better. But working online is exhausting because its so intense looking at the screen for �75 minutes at a time. However, I think both Craig and the students will get more comfortable with it as time goes by. Like every day, its a big news day. Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House and 3rd in line to the Presidency) was set up by her hairdresser in San Francisco. Trump is dancing around treating this event as the most important news of the day. Even before I read that Nancy was set up, I couldn’t care less. There are far more important things to worry about. Here’s one: Crooked Media: The Department of Homeland Security withheld an intelligence bulletin warning law enforcement agencies that Russia would try to sow disinformation about Joe Biden’s mental health. According to the bulletin, analysts had determined with “high confidence” that Russian actors were likely to continue denigrating Biden’s mental fitness in order to influence the election. An hour after a draft of the document was submitted on July 7, a senior DHS official intervened to pause its distribution to federal, state and local law enforcement: “Please hold on sending this one out until you have a chance to speak to [acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf].” The bulletin was never circulated, and the Trump campaign has continued to echo the same false claims. This is what collusion looks like when the colluders control the government. And also from Crooked Media: Trump’s efforts to subvert the election have grown more and more unhinged because he’s terrified of losing, and he’s losing because he’s done a terrible job as president, both before the coronavirus (when his approval rating was stuck around 40 percent) and now (when his approval rating is stuck around 40 percent). The country has seen enough, and he knows it. �Remember Thugs on Planes? �Did you notice the alien looking in the plane window in astonishment? I’ve read a post from the woman who accidentally caused this whole furore, and it demonstrates Trump’s mental state. He lies compulsively and he believes his lies. He may also have gaps in his memory. Now while all this is interesting, its also disturbing. If he was someone’s grandfather at home it would be difficult, but he’s the current President of the United States! Think about that as he lies about everything. �And now, a little virus news: Crooked Media: Iowa State has canceled its plan to cram 25,000 fans into a football stadium, perhaps in response to this question from Story County Health Board chairman John Paschen: “We’re talking about are you on the side of Mr. Death or are you against Mr. Death?” Keep it moving, Mr. Death. �And this, because somehow even the most stringent denier will believe the truth when a famous person tell us: Washington Post Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson said his entire family caught covid-19 after he invited family friends to his house who later tested positive. “This one was a real kick in the gut,” the actor and former wrester said. Just in case you are like me and not at all confident; Washington Post The U.S. government has told state and local health officials to prepare for a vaccine to be available as early as Nov. 1 — raising hopes for an early end to the pandemic while simultaneously generating suspicion that the Trump administration intends to rush out an underbaked vaccine just in time for Election Day. “It’s extremely critical that we have rigorous evidence of safety and effectiveness supporting a vaccine before the FDA gives its okay,” said Patricia Zettler, a law professor who used to work at the Food and Drug Administration. Three experimental vaccine candidates are in their final stage of clinical trials, but it can take several months for the FDA to fully vet them — assuming they work And for me “assuming they work” is the heart of the matter. But we do know that flu vaccines do usually work, so make sure to get vaccinated this year. I say usually because remember that one year when the flu strain mutated after the vaccine went out? And its not just one strain of flu you’re being vaccinated for, its several. So far there are 2 strains of COVID-19. It seems to mutate at a slower rate (but don’t take my word - look it up for yourself). While I’m on the subject, remember to fact check everything you read online. Snopes is a great site for fact checking anything but keep the search parameters simple. Day 2 of leaf art: �On Wednesday we walked around the Community Gardens nearby. Its is coming into fall and most of the summer growing season is over. The flower patches were especially lovely. ��Me with my super strength sunglasses on - its very bright with one new lens. I can only imagine how bright it will be with two! And now for the daily dose of Oliver, who was cleared to return to daycare yesterday. ��Flashback: there are a large number of Paleolithic caves in France. The famous ones have all been closed to visitors as the expelled breath of humans degrade the wall paintings. However, some caves are still open in the south and we visited this one: �����Le Mas-d'Azil is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France, containing a cave that is the typesite for the prehistoric Azilian culture. The Grotte du Mas d'Azil (sometimes hyphenated, sometimes not) is a "supersite" with rich remains of human usage from about 30,000 years ago, and is also a key site for the subsequent Magdalenian culture. The D119 road runs right through the large cave, which is a natural tunnel 420 metres long and 50 metres high. Wikipedia. A guided tour through the chambers and galleries on the right bank describes the geology, palaeontology, prehistory and history of the caves. This is complemented by a sound and light slide show and the reconstruction of a Magdalenian household. And in case you wondered: The Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian; French: Magdalénien) are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is named after the type site of La Madeleine, a rock shelter located in the Vézère valley. Wikipedia First photos: the cave entrance with the river and then the last photo is Stations of the Cross on a nearby hillside. There was just us and a Spanish family in the tour group and our guide (who also sold us our tickets) locked the gate behind us as we entered the cave. Although the river runs beside the road through the cave, inside it is a dry cave, therefore no stalactites or stalagmites. Our guide spoke French only, but �the Spanish mother spoke English and she translated the harder bits. It was a great tour, lots of walking of course, but worth visiting. 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_2020-09-04_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-177 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 2020-09-04 Title A name given to the resource Day 177 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/c894675e8fe51153c1af44561791929e.pdf 23636edd49efc1cc9d1dd73d3d2d082c PDF Text Text Day 176 by windoworks This is on a farmers field in Texas. As a one time artist I find grass to be a very interesting medium. It is day 6 since my left eye surgery. My old trifocal glasses with thee one lens left are too irritating to wear. My 2.0 magnification reading glasses are great, but I am forever taking them off and on. I realize that now I have become Craig who is always saying ‘wait, I’ll get my glasses. I have worn glasses of one sort or another for about 40 years, so to see clearly without glasses is a very curious thing. In another week I will have my right eye cataract removed and a new lens put in. As Craig says: I am slowly becoming �bionic. And did you read that they have made some sort of human/computer interface? I’m not sure on the details but here comes the future, racing towards us. Yesterday we were watching Oliver play with his toys and he has a toy cell phone that he looks at with interest. Craig said he would buy him his first cell phone, should he buy it for him when he turns two? Zoe said, thanks but no thanks. To Oliver, technology is interesting, but real books and his enormous hand me down box of baby LEGO are his all time favorite. Especially when he tries to climb in the box with bare feet and then remembers the blocks hurt when you stand on them. So, what’s new? In this time of ever changing news, this is not exactly new but its worth printing as a constant reminder: Washington Post: This feeds a long-running narrative of a White House repeatedly undermining its health and science experts, not just at the FDA but also at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last week, the CDC came under fire from a host of medical and public health groups and infectious-disease experts for an abrupt change to its guidelines, which no longer recommend testing for asymptomatic people even if they had contact with an infected individual — a shift that coincides with the president’s stated desire to reduce testing. “I’ve been following health regulatory decisions for decades and have never seen this amount of White House arm-twisting to force agencies like FDA and CDC to make decisions based on political pressure, rather than the best science,” said Jerome Avorn, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, who decried the “routine policy distortions we now see nearly every week.” �Yesterday Craig began his regular online teaching mode. By yesterday GVSU had found 123 students who tested positive for COVID-19. They actually found them on Monday - the first day of class. The report from GVSU said the students were seniors who lived in off campus (across the road and downtown) accommodation. Day One! But here’s the next hurdle - GVSU says all students may return home for the Labor Day weekend. Because, as we know, they’ll all be traveling to Detroit, Ohio, Illinois etc in a bubble. This is all part of GVSU’s plan to open in hybrid form and ‘see how it goes’. Years ago, Craig, Asher and I took a road trip out west and one of the stops we made was in Sturgis. This was the first we had ever heard of Sturgis and the annual motorcycle rally. It must have been over when we got there because we did see motor cyclists but they were sightseeing on their way home. I heard of some bikers who flew in from overseas with their bikes in the plane’s hold. This year, the virus �notwithstanding, the organizers and the attendees decided to go ahead anyway. I saw a man interviewed who said he didn’t believe the virus existed - it was just a Democratic beat up. So, weeks later, here’s this: Washington Post A Minnesota biker who attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has died of covid-19 — the first fatality from the virus traced to the 10-day event that drew more than 400,000 to South Dakota. The man was in his 60s, had underlying conditions and was hospitalized in intensive care after returning from the rally, said Kris Ehresmann, infectious-disease director at the Minnesota Department of Health. The case is among at least 260 cases in 11 states tied directly to the event, according to a survey of health departments by The Washington Post. Epidemiologists believe that figure is a significant undercount, due to the resistance of some rallygoers to testing and the limited contact tracing in some states. As a result, the true scope of infections stemming from the event that ran from Aug. 7 to Aug. 16 is unlikely to ever be known. Public health officials had long expressed concern over the decision to move forward with the annual event, believed to be the largest held anywhere in the U.S. since the pandemic shelved most large-scale gatherings. Now, just over two weeks after the conclusion of the rally, the Midwest and the Dakotas in particular are seeing a spike in coronavirus cases even as infections decline or plateau in the rest of the country. And from Crooked Media: Coronavirus outbreaks have been surging across the midwest over the past week, with case numbers rising dramatically in Iowa and the Dakotas. (A special shout-out to Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) for welcoming the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, which has just been linked to its first death, and for continuing to reject a mask mandate or lockdown orders.) As we head into fall, the U.S. is averaging 40,000 new cases per day—a level that Dr. Anthony Fauci today called “an unacceptably high baseline.” This next thing is something we don’t think about when we hope for a vaccine: The Atlantic In the past seven months, more than 100 COVID-19 vaccines, therapies, and drugs have been pushed into development. But for any of these treatments to make it to humans, they usually have to face another animal first: a monkey. And here, scientists in the United States say they are facing a bottleneck. There just aren’t enough monkeys to go around. Nationally, there is basically a big shortage,” says Koen Van Rompay, an infectious-disease scientist at the California National Primate Research Center. Primate research in the U.S. is expensive and often controversial, making it challenging even in normal circumstances. The pandemic has made acquiring monkeys even harder. “We can’t find any rhesus any longer. They’ve completely disappeared,” says Mark Lewis, the CEO of Bioqual, a contract research organization that specializes in animal testing. Scientists in academia and industry alike are all competing for a limited pool of monkeys. �So because the news is always dire, here’s something to make you smile. My sister-in-law posted the photos, I have 9 of them. I’ll post one a day for the next 9 days. This is leaf art. This next piece I will post and let you think about for while. This is a theme Craig (as an historian) has expounded for a while now: Within the living memory of most Americans, a majority of the country’s residents were white Christians. That is no longer the case, and voters are not insensate to the change—nearly a third of conservatives say they face “a lot” of discrimination for their beliefs, as do more than half of white evangelicals. But more epochal than the change that has already happened is the change that is yet to come: Sometime in the next quarter century or so, depending on immigration rates and the vagaries of ethnic and racial identification, nonwhites will become a majority in the U.S. For some Americans, that change will be cause for celebration; for others, it may pass unnoticed. But the transition is already producing a sharp political backlash, exploited and exacerbated by the president. In 2016, white working-class voters who said that discrimination against whites is a serious problem, or who said they felt like strangers in their own country, were almost twice as likely to vote for Trump as those who did not. Two-thirds of Trump voters agreed that “the 2016 election represented the last chance to stop America’s decline.” In Trump, they’d found a defender. The Atlantic. �Oliver is not at daycare this week as he has Hand, Foot and Mouth. Yes, you guessed it, the ‘friend of a friend’ post a few days ago was in fact Zoe and her son Oliver. Zoe wanted me to say that not all Australian doctors and nurses act like that - her own practice is full of caring people: staff, doctors and nurses. Anyway, Oliver is experiencing a very mild case of HFM and Zoe is struggling to work from home with a demanding child who is full of beans and needs his mum to watch his every clever move. Luckily, his Great Aunt Bernie came to help after work on Tuesday, and his Great Uncle Drew took him out to the park on Thursday afternoon. They went to the swings. Oliver loves swinging and he has the best laugh. ��Flashback: Laroque. This was another very pretty town we found on one of our ‘just exploring’ days. We had driven past it many times on our way to other places. ����From the top: every town and village has an old church. I don’t think I saw a modern church in this part of France. This is the entrance; inside the church; as it was early December, each church we visited had their Nativity scene on display; and lastly, this view from the churchyard, of the town and the smoke from a burn off fire in the Pyrenees. This smoke gave us spectacular sunsets for days. Remember: history is watching us. Oh and get a flu shot. � 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_2020-09-03_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-176 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 2020-09-03 Title A name given to the resource Day 176 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/e5ccca186808df228a236b22126dbbfe.pdf 8eec80b711d7704b037f9e5c2316d330 PDF Text Text Day 175 by windoworks Crooked media We’re in the homestretch of the election and things are predictably getting uglier, but Donald Trump has now saddled himself with the notoriously unpopular position that people shooting each other in the street is good, actually. This can be over in two months. This must be over in two months �I was talking to a friend on the phone yesterday and she said that every day she thought to herself: things cannot get worse - and yet every next day, they do. I used to think I was basically a cheerful, hopeful person but this year so far has been dreadful. Craig has begun teaching online - well actually his lectures are all on blackboard and during the week he holds discussion groups with all 3 classes divided into much smaller groups. His students are mostly first year honors students and they are living uneasily on campus at GVSU. I think he spends some of his time reassuring them. I think Trump has dived off the deep end. Here’s a piece from the New York Times: Trump, unbound President Trump breaks so many of the normal rules of politics that it can sometimes be hard to know when his tweets and comments are truly newsworthy. Even by his standards, though, the past several days have stood out. Consider: • Trump said on Monday that a plane “almost completely loaded with thugs” wearing “dark uniforms” had been headed to the Republican National Convention to do “big damage.” The claim is similar to a baseless conspiracy theory that spread online over the summer, well before the convention. • He has declined to condemn the killings of two protesters in Kenosha, Wis. He instead defended the 17year-old charged in the shootings — a Trump supporter named Kyle Rittenhouse — saying he was acting in self-defense. Trump also promoted a Twitter post that called Rittenhouse “a good example of why I decided to vote for Trump.” • He defended violence committed by his supporters in Portland, Ore., who fired paintballs and pepper spray at Black Lives Matter protesters. • He compared the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha to missing “a three-foot putt” in a golf tournament. • He claimed that “people that you’ve never heard of” and “people that are in the dark shadows” are controlling Joe Biden. • He claimed Democrats were trying to “destroy” suburbs with “low-income housing, and with that comes a lot of other problems, including crime.” He added that Cory Booker — one of the highest-profile Black Democrats — would be “in charge of it.” • He predicted that the stock market would crash if Biden won. • He said that Biden, at the Democratic National Convention, “didn’t even discuss law enforcement, the police. Those words weren’t mentioned.” In fact, Biden held a discussion at the convention on policing, with a police chief. • Trump claimed that he “took control of” the situation in Kenosha by sending in the National Guard. In fact, Wisconsin’s governor, not the president, sent the National Guard. • He retweeted messages asserting that the pandemic’s death toll was overstated. Evidence indicates the opposite is true. �• He said that protests against police brutality were actually a secret “coup attempt” by anarchists “trying to take down the President.” What amazes me is that the Times reached various congressional Republicans to ask for their comment and NO ONE SAID ANYTHING. In fact, no one is stopping, vetting, influencing or mollifying Trumps remarks. No wait - Mitt Romney did say they were jaw dropping, but no one in the Republican Party cares about Mitt Romney any more. I keep wondering if anyone close to Trump ever steps outside their comfort zone and looks back at the situation. And what do they all think will happen once Trump is out of office? I saw this morning that someone on FB thinks he will move to Saudi Arabia and take sanctuary there. It is scary to think that this is the example being set before all our impressionable youth. The whole story of baby faced 17 year old Kyle Rittenhouse killing two protesters and injuring a third, and Trump saying he acted in self defence, is ludicrous. I am concerned that as a country we are so divided with the Trump supporters so very angry that we may never be able to put the United States back together again. And I don’t understand the all consuming anger that Trump supporters display. They got their president, didn’t they? He’s doing his best to return this country to its deep racist roots where the rich white people rule over all. Isn’t that what they voted for? To keep women in their proper place - barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. Isn’t that the Trump followers goal - or have I misread this? ��Hmmm. Stats: World confirmed cases: 25.3M. Deaths: 848K. US confirmed cases: 6.17M. Deaths: 187K. Michigan confirmed cases: 114K. Deaths: 6,770. Kent county confirmed cases: 8,537. Deaths: 168. In other news, New Zealand opened up the country (but not to tourists) with the instruction that everyone wear a mask when they leave the house. And here’s a little reminder about those surgical disposable masks: ��If these masks get into the waterways, the straps get tangled in water birds feet - so remember to cut them. Remember how Russia meddled in the 2016 election to promote Trump’s success? They’re at it again (also with China who are trying to promote Biden’s success). Here’s s piece from the Washington Post: Facebook took down a small network of fake accounts and pages associated with Russian operatives that had recruited U.S. journalists to write articles targeting left-leaning readers on topics such as racial justice, the Biden-Harris campaign and President Trump’s policies, the company said Tuesday. The network of 13 fake accounts and two pages was in its early stages of attempting to build an audience, Facebook said, which the company argued was evidence of its growing effectiveness at targeting foreign disinformation operations ahead of the 2020 election. The actions emerged as a result of a tip from the FBI and was one of a dozen operations tied to the Russian Internet Research Agency or individuals affiliated �with it. The company has taken on roughly a dozen IRA-affiliated operations since the last presidential election, when IRA-backed pages amassed millions of views on the platform. The pages had about 14,000 followers. Just to let you know, you should always fact check items you read anywhere. If you want to know which way your favorite news source leans, check out the chart at Allsides. If you want to check a story you’ve just read or seen on TV, look up Snopes online, and ask them. And try not to share anything on FaceBook without verifying it first. Another tip is, if someone comments nastily on a thread you’re reading, look them up - they could be a bot or troll. Always, always check everything. And to elaborate on this topic, HuffPost's S.V. Dáte explains the thinking behind his question, which sparked a viral moment. At a press conference he asked the president: “Mr. President, after three and a half years, do you regret, at all, all the lying you’ve done to the American people?” Trump pretended not to hear (his normal fallback position for trick questions) but here’s a short piece from Date’s interview for the Washingtonian: You wrote about the effects of Trump’s mendacity in January. I just reread the piece and noticed you asked what problems his lying might cause during a disease outbreak. Date: I mean, I didn’t know at the time that we’d get to find out exactly and very soon how he would deal with such a thing. But yeah, I guess something that a lot of people don’t think about when they’re electing a President is: You ought to be thinking about the stuff that you haven’t thought of. What are the bad things that can happen that you need someone to be able to deal with, that you can’t even imagine right now? And too often people say, Well, I’d like to have a beer with this person or whatever. You don’t pick an airline pilot like that. You don’t pick doctors like that. So maybe this is a wake-up call that this is an important job, and maybe someone who just makes stuff up all the time to make themselves feel better is not ideal for that position. So, at last its Oliver time. Fresh off the press, here he is yesterday on his 3rd visit to Taronga Park Zoo. ��Fontfroide Abbey: It was founded in 1093 by Aimery I, Viscount of Narbonne, but remained poor and obscure, and needed to be refounded by Ermengarde, Viscountess of Narbonne.In 1144 it affiliated itself to the Cistercian reform movement. Shortly afterwards the Count of Barcelona gave it the land in Spain that was to form the great Catalan monastery of Poblet, of which Fontfroide counts as the mother house, and in 1157 the Viscountess Ermengard of Narbonne granted it a great quantity of land locally, thus securing its wealth and status. The abbey fought together with Pope Innocent III against the heretical doctrine of the Cathars who lived in the region. It was dissolved in 1791 in the course of the French Revolution. The premises, which are of very great architectural interest, passed into private hands in 1908, when the artists Gustave and Madeleine Fayet d'Andoque bought it to protect the fabric of the buildings from an American collector of sculpture. They restored it over a number of years and used it as a centre for artistic projects. It still remains in private hands. Today wine is produced here of the AOC Corbières quality under the French appellations system. It also has a small working farm, bookstore and restaurant and takes paying guests. Wikipedia �������I absolutely loved this abbey. It has been beautifully restored and the gardens are huge and spectacular. It was one of those places you stumble upon accidentally on your way somewhere else. From the top: the famous rose garden; me looking up into one of the wilder areas of the gardens; the main chapel - although there are seats along the sides, in medieval times you didn’t sit during mass, you stood or knelt; the cloister garden; me walking along the cloister; and last, a medieval knight’s tomb, perhaps the founder, Aimery I. For some reason his feet are missing. As my friend Rich says: carry on. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-09-02_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-175 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 2020-09-02 Title A name given to the resource Day 175 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/6082bd0226250a990955e82fa9900a74.pdf 6925a64d560882c6b39766bcfccc2eee PDF Text Text Day 174 by windoworks Wait a minute while I think........ I keep looking for better news and it seems the bad news keeps escalating. I’m reminded of that popular saying: if you think thats bad, wait till you hear this! In order to be reelected, Trump has begun tweeting and shouting about how bad America will be under Biden. Now I understand he is a man who probably has a diagnosable clinical condition but I don’t imagine everyone around him suffers from the same condition. I am constantly amazed by his followers who believe every word he says. Other people say this is a war between two cultures - and I can see that. On the one side we have a movement of equality and fairness (not easy in any society) and on the other side we have the old guard clinging on to what was. We experienced this on a much lesser scale in Australia when the then Prime Minister, John Howard, tried to return the country to the 1950s. It didn’t go well. We all tend to look back in nostalgia - ah, those were the days!. Even in this blog, when I post the flashbacks, the children and I all say: oh I remember that. I wish we could be there again. But as L.P. Hartley said: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” It seems as though America is stuck - we can’t go back and we can’t seem to move forward. And to all this, add a pandemic that we were arguably the best prepared country in the world to deal with - and yet we didn’t; and the hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and forest fires. Our infrastructure is crumbling and our president does his best to incite violence and discord everywhere he goes. I think citizens want to be proud of their leaders. In truth all prime ministers, presidents and other leaders are just people - men and women who decided that governing was what they wanted to do with their lives. There’s nothing which sets them apart from others except perhaps their goals and ideals. New York Times In a speech on Monday, Joe Biden argued that Trump had made the country unsafe through his erratic and incendiary governing style. “Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is re-elected?” he said. “We’re facing multiple crises — crises that, under Donald Trump, have kept multiplying.” ��And to those who say ‘I never vote’ for reasons ranging from ‘its rigged’ to ‘it doesn’t make a difference anyway’, I offer this: �So there you have it. As the app time and date says: 62 days, 17 hours and 14 minutes to Election Day. Take a side. And if that isn’t enough to convince you: The Atlantic The American democratic system depends on the ability to disagree peacefully. Today, that premise is under threat, our staff writer Franklin Foer warns—and the threat is coming from the White House. “When a society discards politics, violence assumes its place,” Frank writes, citing the deaths of two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and that of the man in Portland. Donald Trump is not alone in his turn away from politics, Frank argues: He merely accelerated what the Republican Party has been flirting with since the Newt Gingrich era. Last year, our Ideas editor Yoni Applebaum argued that a party in dire electoral straits might turn to undemocratic tactics to maintain its power. And that could be how America ends, he warned. Meanwhile in Portland, Oregon: Axios.com Portland, Oregon Mayor: Ted Wheeler What he's saying: "Do you seriously wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence? It's you who have created the hate and division," Wheeler told reporters. • "My response is as the president of the United States and somebody who has been perpetrating divisive and hateful language for four years — for him to now stand here and say that it's unexpected and act as though he is shocked, is appalling to me." • "The tweets that he has been putting out in the last 48 hours attacking Democratic mayors, attacking those who are trying to bring resolution to the violence in their local communities. He has an opportunity to uplift us and bring us together and help us move through this difficult situation in our nation's history." • "And instead, he chooses to play petty politics and divide us. … I'm gonna do the work I need to do here in my local community with my local officials to take accountability for what's happening in our streets, and I'd appreciate that either the president support us or stay the hell out of the way." And on the pandemic front: Washington Post: Fueling the concern that herd immunity is simply not possible are the cases of reinfection, including one in Nevada: A 25-year-old Reno man is the first reported reinfected coronavirus patient in the United States, scientists say. In a yet-to-be-peer-reviewed study, researchers tested the genetic strains and found that they were distinct between the two infections, confirming that it was not a relapse of the man's original illness. �So, two different virus strains. We’re not coping with the first one, never mind a second strain. And here’s what’s going on at the White House: Crooked Media: The Task Force reports released today show the White House has known since June that coronavirus cases were surging across the country and many states were becoming dangerous ‘red zones’ where the virus was spreading fast,” said Chairman Clyburn. “Rather than being straight with the American people and creating a national plan to fix the problem, the President and his enablers kept these alarming reports private while publicly downplaying the threat to millions of Americans. As a result of the President’s failures, more than 58,000 additional Americans have died since the Task Force first started issuing private warnings, and many of the Task Force’s recommendations still have not been implemented. It is long past time that the Administration finally implement a national plan to contain this crisis, which is still killing hundreds of Americans each day.” Anyone remember the poetess Pam Ayres? Well, she's 73 and still going strong. This is her latest ode to coronavirus… I'm normally a social girl I love to meet my mates But lately with the virus here We can't go out the gates. You see, we are the 'oldies' now We need to stay inside If they haven't seen us for a while They'll think we've upped and died. They'll never know the things we did Before we got this old There wasn't any Facebook So not everything was told. We may seem sweet old ladies Who would never be uncouth But we grew up in the 60s If you only knew the truth! There was sex and drugs and rock 'n roll The pill and miniskirts �We smoked, we drank, we partied And were quite outrageous flirts. Then we settled down, got married And turned into someone's mum, Somebody's wife, then nana, Who on earth did we become? We didn't mind the change of pace Because our lives were full But to bury us before we're dead Is like a red rag to a bull! So here you find me stuck inside For four weeks, maybe more I finally found myself again Then I had to close the door! It didn’t really bother me I'd while away the hour I'd bake for all the family But I've got no flaming flour! Now Netflix is just wonderful I like a gutsy thriller I'm swooning over Idris Or some random sexy killer. At least I've got a stash of booze For when I'm being idle There's wine and whiskey, even gin If I'm feeling suicidal! So let's all drink to lockdown To recovery and health And hope this awful virus Doesn't decimate our wealth. We'll all get through the crisis And be back to join our mates �Just hoping I'm not far too wide To fit through the flaming gates! Pamela Ayres MBE is an English poet, comedian, songwriter and presenter of radio and television programmes. Her 1975 appearance on the television talent show Opportunity Knocks led to appearances on other TV and radio shows, a one-woman touring stage show and performing before The Queen. Wikipedia Oliver. ��You’ve heard of little libraries? Here’s a different sort of library. ��Flashback: ������From the top: shopping for jewelry in Mirepoix; cassoulet with sausage and duck confit; at Le Paradis du Pape (Pope’s paradise) about to eat Le Petit Frere au Chocolat (the little chocolate priest - OMG it was delicious!); a royal chateau (well out of sight); outside seating at our favorite cafe in Mirepoix; and espaliered fruit trees - they tie the nets back in winter as there’s no fruit left on the trees for the birds to eat. A last thought to leave you with. �� 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_2020-09-01_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-174 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 2020-09-01 Title A name given to the resource Day 174 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/8df35ebcafebba361504bc9888a3791b.pdf 0f89e63569279ba5980bb3f2d47291ca PDF Text Text Day 173 by windoworks I don’t know about you but I’m tired. Of course having eye surgery made me tired - but that’s a physical tiredness. Over the weekend an Australian friend of a friend took her son to the doctor nearby to check if he had caught Hand Foot and Mouth virus. She went into the practice and the nurse said: your child has a runny nose. I’ll have to ask the doctor if he’ll see him. In the meantime, please wait outside. She stood outside and waited with her cranky child. The woman came out and said: you’ll have to wait until the end of the day and perhaps he’ll see you then. So she took him to a local hospital and waited through 2 emergencies only to have the doctor there say: it might be HFM. I can’t tell - and lets just test for COVID anyway. Of course the test came back negative, because he had had a runny nose for weeks from teething. But I think it was the hostile attitude of the doctor’s receptionist and the failure to diagnose at the hospital, and then the indignity of the COVID test, and the feeling of shunning that made it all worse. I know that doctors and nurses are scared by the virus and resentful of being expected to work in potentially dangerous conditions, but we’re talking about treating patients with respect. My experience of doctors and hospitals here in Grand Rapids has been vastly different. Of course there are strict precautions. I had to have my 3rd COVID test before my first eye operation - and I was instructed to isolate at home between the test and my first operation. It was not a problem for me - I have been pretty much isolating at home for 25 weeks in 2 days time. That was a bit confronting when I looked that up. One more week and it’ll be half a year. Meanwhile, the Trump reelection campaign has shifted gears. There will be no more discussion of the virus, instead he’ll be hammering a law and order campaign, citing the anarchy that will ensue if the Biden/Harris ticket wins. And honestly, after 2016, I take NOTHING for granted. �You may laugh, but there’s some truth in this. Now I know this happened last week, but I want to emphasize the quote at the bottom - “it cements the fact that they have never taken this outbreak seriously from the beginning”. �Washington Post: President Trump celebrated his renomination Thursday with a crowded party on the White House's South Lawn — a spectacle that broke with decades of presidential tradition, not to mention health and safety recommendations. More than 1,500 guests gathered at the venue, which previous presidents have avoided using for partisan rallies. Most of the crowd were allowed in without masks and without being tested for covid-19. They squeezed into closely spaced folding chairs, just yards away from Trump and his top aides, horrifying some health experts. “When you see this type of event and the way he is acting and the way he is allowing his supporters to act, it cements the fact that they have never taken this outbreak seriously from the beginning,” Amesh Adalja, an ¬infectious-disease expert at Johns Hopkins University Center, told The Post. And just to show Trump’s comprehension level; �And in Europe, things are not going well. Washington Post: Meanwhile, in Europe, infection rates are surging again after months of calm. France, Germany, Spain and other countries have recently posted caseloads not seen since the virus first washed over the continent in April and early May. Spain's per-capita case rate is now worse than even that of the United States. And from our Canadian cousins, another way of measuring the 6 foot social distancing rule: �And here’s another little tidbit: Washington Post: Nearly the entire California Senate Republican caucus was placed under mandatory quarantine this week after a coronavirus-skeptical member tested positive for the virus. Oliver! �Flashback: a few more photos of Castelnaudry. Just a note here for your consideration. Castelnaudry is where our English landlady took us to see her gynecologist for a check up for me. We had been warned that she took cash only. Our appointment was ay 6:30pm and we were the only ones in the practice. After �a 3 way discussion (with Julie translating) the doctor examined me and then as we were sitting back at her desk, Craig asked her how much? Very apologetically she answered ‘33 Euros please’ Craig had brought 200 Euros with him, just in case. Driving home we wondered what else we could get done while in France. Medical procedures and medicine is cheap in France partly because they pay higher taxes. So you pay more, but you get more in return. ����From the top: one of the cheese booths; a mirror cartoon in a cafe; the macaron booth (he even had a foie gras flavored one - not for me); a nearby farmers field sown with winter wheat. So remember - 63 days left - register to vote; vote; deliver your vote; and vote for Blue and sanity. And I’ll leave you with this: �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-08-31_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-173 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 2020-08-31 Title A name given to the resource Day 173 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