6 24 538 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2c42f9b24df86ec46749d61f42b1c278.pdf f81ef12be8e7d199f5136a5ea2db8ebc PDF Text Text Day 336 by windoworks Impeachment managers walk from the House to the Senate to begin the second Impeachment Trial of Donald Trump. This morning Craig and I watched the 13 minute video compilation of the attempted coup on January 6. We had watched it live on TV on the day, but this compilation was much more upsetting. The hate and the fury of the crowd, whipped into an insane frenzy by Trump was terrifying to see. Here’s what the public is thinking from The New York Times: A change in the polling During the long debate over Donald Trump’s first impeachment, the share of Americans who favored removing him from office never rose above 50 percent. It hovered in a tight range around 47 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight’s polling average. Trump’s second impeachment is different: Most Americans believe the Senate should convict Trump and disqualify him from holding office again, according to multiple polls. In a CBS News poll released yesterday, 56 percent of respondents said they supported conviction. In an ABC/Ipsos poll, 56 percent said he should be convicted and barred from office. Gallup found people favoring conviction by a margin of 52 percent to 45 percent — which is close to the average of all recent polls. �In our deeply polarized country, even a narrow majority of public opinion is significant. It indicates that a meaningful number of people have crossed over to the other side of a debate. In the CBS poll, for example, 21 percent of Republican voters said they believed Trump had encouraged violence during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. This next excerpt from NYT says it all for me. Representative Jamie Raskin, the Maryland Democrat leading the prosecution, delivered an impassioned argument recalling his own experience that day. “All around me, people were calling their wives and their husbands, their loved ones to say goodbye,” Raskin said. “Senators, this cannot be our future. This cannot be the future of America. We cannot have presidents inciting and mobilizing mob violence against our government and our institutions because they refuse to accept the will of the people.” This is the dangerous path we are now walking down. When something false is presented as something true (despite all evidence to the contrary), a precedent is set. If you accept that the election was stolen by fraud from Trump, then every following election will probably be contested. Pouf! And just like that, democracy disappears and autocracy (a system of government by one person with absolute power) takes its place. If Trump is acquitted of this crime, then there is no barrier to his future actions and no consequences. Seven people died in that attempted coup. There is a brief piece of footage of a policeman, jammed in a doorway, crying and moaning as he is repeatedly beaten by an insurrectionist. These people didn’t just wake up one morning and think: lets go to Washington and see if we can overturn the government. No. They were aided, abetted and actively directed and encouraged by Trump - who couldn’t win the election fairly, and so he decided to take back the Presidency anyway. In this state, the Michigan GOP tried to vote to censure Representative Peter Meijer for supporting Impeachment. That vote failed, much the same as the vote to censure Liz Cheney failed. The only way that sitting Republicans can vote honestly now is by secret vote. I suspect many of the Senate Republicans are facing a difficult position. This will go to a vote and just over half of all Americans in a number of different polls have said they favor a conviction. What to do? If a member votes yes, will Trumps fans vote them out at the midterms and put a Trumper in their seat? If they vote no, will their constituents vote them out at the midterms because they’re lily livered and duplicitous? Uh, oh, its that rock and a hard place. And from Crooked Media; The nearly party-line vote on the constitutionality of the impeachment trial drove home the reality that Republicans will almost certainly protect Trump from a conviction, no matter how pathetic his defense. The question is whether Democrats can draw Americans’ attention to the full horror of that fact in the meantime. �I actually read that one Republican Senator said ‘Nancy Pelosi set up this insurrection’. What alternate universe is he living in? The insurrectionists wanted to shoot Nancy Pelosi. There is a Chinese saying: May you live in interesting times. Its actually a curse and I think we definitely are living in interesting times. Now of course, its time for the virus. CNN: About 1 in 10 Americans, or nearly 32.9 million people, have gotten their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. That sounds promising, but challenges remain, including supply shortages, inequitable access and the looming threat of new variants. And this may not be a one-off deal. The CEO of Johnson & Johnson says he thinks people will need an annual Covid-19 vaccination for years to come. In Wuhan, the World Health Organization experts who were looking into the origins of the novel coronavirus have wrapped up and concluded that an "intermediary host species" is probably how Covid-19 was introduced to humans, but other scenarios like transmission via frozen food products are also possible. China is claiming vindication, and the Biden administration is getting flak from at least one WHO investigator for saying it supports the findings but will rely on US intelligence to evaluate the WHO report. Every day we do what Craig calls “Driving Miss Pamela’. We go out for a drive and we usually finish with a quick stop at the grocery store. Yesterday we discovered (entirely by accident) that at the end of one road there is a very attractive and organized viewing area for the Gerald R Ford International airport - and there were a lot of cars parked with people watching the airport activity. So then, at our usual grocery store stop, where Craig goes into the store and I wait in the car and listen to the radio, I heard the end of a very interesting interview with a woman in the WHO team looking into the origins of the virus in Wuhan. She said they had found that the virus originated in a bat which was then transmitted to another animal, which was then transmitted at a wet market in Wuhan. She said definitively that it did not come from a laboratory in Wuhan. A long year ago now, I heard an American scientist interviewed and talk about his team’s work at the Wuhan bat laboratory. Trump stopped the funding and the team had to return to the States, but this scientist said there was a large number of different corona viruses carried by bats and in the right circumstances, any one of them could cross over to animal to human contagion. Well, damn! We better be better prepared next time. From the ‘is it ethical to jump the vaccine queue? Here’s some answers from NPR: 1.If I hear at a grocery store that has extras that are going to waste, is it fair for me to get one, even if it's not my turn? The panel was unanimous. 100% yes. If a dose is truly in danger of going to waste, and you're there and you want it, you should take it. Still the ethicists cited caveats. Doses from defrosted, opened vaccine vials must be used or tossed within six hours. So if your local pharmacy has a few extra doses due to cancellations, or if a freezer failure causes vaccines to unexpectedly thaw, it's ethical to accept a vaccine that would otherwise be going into the trash, even if you're a healthy young person who wouldn't �otherwise be eligible to get one. If you do take it, you are contributing to decreasing the risk of getting COVID yourself, and the risk others may face by interacting with you. 2. If I'm not eligible in my county, but I could be if I lived in the county next to mine, should I drive over to get it? In this case, the answer is 100% no. Here, you're not preventing a vaccine dose from going to waste; instead, you're taking a slot that was intended for your neighbor. The allocation is very limited right now. Any county that's getting these vaccines is having a hard time getting them, and they are getting them in part based on a consideration of their population, and what their population needs. 3. Why should smokers get priority over nonsmokers? For some people, smoking cigarettes is a voluntary behavior. In others, it's an addiction they haven't been able to quit. Regardless, being a current or former smoker increases a person's risk of getting severely ill if they get COVID-19. The CDC's vaccine advisory committee, which laid out its prioritization advice in a preliminary way last fall, considers smoking to be a high-risk medical condition and recommends that smokers, as well as those with a number of other underlying conditions, get prioritized for vaccines ahead of the general population of healthy young people. And finally from Washington Post: The pandemic has been a yearlong test of endurance. Now, some are up against their limits. People have “hit the wall,” to borrow an expression marathon runners use when their bodies feel like depleted batteries. A sudden rush of spiritual and emotional exhaustion — that's hitting the wall, Style reporter Maura Judkis notes. If this is where you are, you are not alone. Anxiety and fear around catching the virus has a name: Coronaphobia. I definitely have coronaphobia and one of the only things that help this every day, is a FaceTime visit with Oliver and Zoe. �Uh oh! He’s figured out how to turn the baby cam on and off. But how can you be cross with �that face? After our visit to the Ceramics Museum, we drove further up into the hills for lunch. But first a correction to yesterdays post: The MIC, International Museum of Ceramics, is located in Faenza (in the district of Ravenna) and it is the largest collection in in the world of handcrafted ceramics. �������So some of these photos are from a walk around Faenza and then the last two are from Brisighella where we went for lunch. More of the day tomorrow. And just to show you what this winter is like so far, here is a photo of the Grand Haven lighthouse taken 2 days ago. Ahhh Michigan! �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-02-10_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-336 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-02-10 Title A name given to the resource Day 336 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/81261328f5a90aedb896af56ad818697.pdf e25bea658003c71e618c9d031d32a996 PDF Text Text Day 335 by windoworks First up: impeachment. The trial in the Senate begins today. Here’s the program from CNN: The second impeachment trial of former President Trump begins today. Here’s how it will go: Things will get going in the afternoon with up to four hours of debate, followed by a vote on the constitutionality of the trial (it needs just a simple majority to pass). Then, we’ll see up to a few days of arguments, followed by a period when senators can question the legal teams. Then, there will be more debate, closing arguments and deliberation. During the trial, senators and witnesses will revisit the events of the Capitol riot on January 6, so things may get emotional. Sen. Patrick Leahy, president pro tempore of the Senate, will preside over the trial. Security around the Capitol is being beefed up ahead of the proceedings, with razor wire-topped fences looming and National Guard members standing by. And from Crooked Media: Republicans have been very forthcoming about the fact that they’d much prefer to speed this trial along with no witnesses, as part of their larger project to stuff the events of January 6 down the national memory hole. GOP senators like Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) already feel comfortable enough to suggest on television that the insurrection was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s fault, actually. What’s to be gained by letting them move on without confronting sworn testimony from Brad Raffensperger, say, or folks who know what Trump was actually up to during the Capitol attack? Democrats understandably want to focus on Joe Biden’s agenda, but as they insisted during the first impeachment process, the Senate can walk and chew gum at the same time. Its hard to predict what will happen. For myself I would prefer Trump to be convicted, so that he is barred from holding any elected position for life. I don’t mind if he fades into memory, as long as the lessons of his dreadful tenure as President are not forgotten. It is human to make mistakes. We should always learn from our mistakes so we don’t make them again. As for all the deluded QAnon believers and the like - I have no idea how to help them. As Crooked Media points out: There’s no clear upside to calling the trial a lost cause and playing it at 1.5x speed: A new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds that a large majority of Americans support the Senate convicting Trump and barring him from holding future office. If Republicans are determined to vote against the popular notion of holding Trump accountable, Democrats can at least make them do so under an avalanche of damning evidence, in full public view. We’ll see. �Here’s the last 3 questions about the vaccine: If they say: "The vaccine could give my child autism or a birth defect." You can say: This is not true. Several studies have repeatedly shown that vaccines do not cause autism or development issues in young children. That belief is based on a bunk study from the 1990s that has since been retracted. As stated above, the Covid-19 vaccine does not interfere with DNA. If they're worried about the risk of getting vaccinated while pregnant, this may assuage their fears: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended the Covid-19 vaccine for people who are pregnant or breastfeeding. It's also wise to get vaccinated because pregnant women are thought to be at a higher risk of severe illness from Covid-19. Compared to symptomatic people who are not pregnant, pregnant people are at a higher risk of ICU admission, the need for a ventilator and death, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. If they say: "The vaccine's side effects could be severe." You can say: It's unlikely that you'll have a severe reaction to the Covid-19 vaccine. It's much more likely that you'll have a "local reaction," such as redness and soreness in your arm or a low fever. Side effects of the vaccine tend to be more severe after the second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, so it's smart to plan around that. You may want to take a day off work after you get the vaccine in case you're too fatigued. The symptoms tend to be more severe in young people than older folks who get vaccinated. It's a small price to pay to prevent Covid. If they say: "I could have an allergic reaction to the vaccine." You can say: This is possible, but very rare: About 11 cases per one million cases of Covid-19 vaccinations resulted in an allergic reaction. People with severe allergies or those who carry an EpiPen should consult with their doctor before they get vaccinated, but even those with allergies have gotten the vaccine without a reaction. Yesterday Craig and I drove to the Kent County Health Department office on Fuller. We had driven there the day before and followed the partially snow covered signs to the Vaccination building, so we knew where to go the next day. Yesterday, Monday, the traffic was pouring in and out. The empty parking lot we had found on Sunday was full to the brim, with cars constantly coming and going. We were early for my appointment, so we sat in the car for a few minutes. We decided to go inside and not wait, and not only were cars coming and going, but so were the people, pouring in and out of the door. �Inside, the floor was carefully marked with 6 feet apart spots. Our first stop was the first check in. The woman looked me up in her register and then ticked off my name and then fond Craig’s name at his 2pm slot and ticked off his name off also. There was a State policeman standing with her. I said: I’m smiling behind my mask and he said: I am too. Then down the long corridor we went to the next stop where we were asked: first dose or second dose? First dose, we said. We were given a yellow sheet to be filled in and we were directed to a freshly sanitized desk to fill it in. There were clean pens and after we had used them we put them in the dirty pens box. Next, we were directed into a room with people sitting behind plexiglass at computers. Using our yellow forms they typed our details in (we were at separate desks), and filled out our official vaccination cards. They took our health insurance details too. I believe that if you have health insurance they charge it, but if you don’t have insurance, its free. The date for our second dose was added to our cards: Monday March 8 at 10:42am. I asked why 4 weeks as we were receiving the Pfizer vaccine which gives the second dose 3 weeks later. The answer was that they were so overloaded they had to push everyone to 4 weeks apart to cope. Clutching our returned yellow forms and our new vaccination cards, we were directed into a room of cubicles, divided by fabric screens. Craig went to one cubicle and I went to another. My nurse filled out the dose information on my card and then said: my hands are cold, sorry. She squeezed my left upper arm and injected me in less than 2 seconds - and I was done! Lastly, we were directed to the adjacent sitting area where we sat carefully spaced out on freshly sanitized chairs, for 15 minutes to watch for any severe allergies. People chatted quietly while they waited. A young man came around and collected our yellow forms and gave us more reading material. After 15 minutes we walked out to our car and drove home. I have enrolled in a V-watch online program which will check on my symptoms daily. Both Craig and I had very sore arms yesterday but this morning, my arm is still sore but much less. The whole procedure took about 20 minutes - mostly the 15 minutes waiting time afterwards. They process 700 people 5 days a week (3,500), just at that one facility. I have tried to find out how many people are vaccinated each week in Grand Rapids but I can’t find any statistics. We are very pleased to have received the first dose and to have a firm date for our second dose. Later in the day, I thought about the fact that we will be fully vaccinated by March 8 - just under 1 year since the first 2 cases appeared in Michigan and the Governor and the Chief Medical Officer locked the state down. That is an astonishing scientific achievement. The nurse who vaccinated me said that she was thrilled that scientists were being hailed as heroes, as well as nurses and doctors. Some people have said they are too nervous to get the vaccine, but with the rapid spread of the UK variant, as well as the Brazilian and South African variants, I’d take being vaccinated any day over getting sick. Of course we still have to safely distance, mask up, wash our hands and keep to our tiny 2 person bubble. And this one’s just for Craig: �Just the two of us We can make it if we try Just the two of us (Just the two of us) Just the two of us Building castles in the sky Just the two of us You and I And because there is a whole world out there where other events happen and are sometimes worse than the pandemic: CNN: At least 180 people are missing and 19 have died in India’s northern Uttarakhand state after part of a Himalayan glacier fell into a river, triggering massive flash floods. The water rolled down a mountain gorge, picking up rocks and debris before crashing through a dam. Most of the missing are workers from two hydroelectric projects in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district that were hit by the avalanche. Glaciers in the Himalayan region have been melting rapidly due to the climate crisis, and it’s not uncommon for them to become unstable. Environmentalists have warned against widespread development in the region, which can compromise rivers and other natural structures. A similar tragedy occurred in the region in 2013, when nearly 6,000 people lost their lives after a massive amount of rainfall led to flash floods. Here at home 4 skiers have died in an avalanche in Utah. It must be Oliver time, right? �Because Oliver went to the Aquarium on the weekend, the activity was creatures of the sea �and shore. Flashback: our next stop was: Ravenna is a city in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It's known for the colorful mosaics adorning many of its central buildings, like the octagonal Basilica di San Vitale, the 6th-century Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo and the cross-shaped Mausoleo di Galla Placidia. North of the center, the Mausoleo di Teodorico built in the 6th century for King Theodoric the Great, is a Gothic, circular stone tomb with a monolithic dome. ― Google Our excursion was to Brisighella: one of the most beautiful medieval villages of Italy, on the hillside between Florence and Ravenna. Apart from the medieval town square, we visited a fabulous mosaic museum. �������This was an amazing place. I must admit I thought the museum would be boring but no. They had mosaics from really ancient times through to modern pieces at the end of the museum. This was just our first stop on a packed day. More Ravenna/Brisighella tomorrow. Oh and as I finish this post - its snowing again. and a correction to yesterday’s post: Ira Flatow was the journalist not Ira Glass. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-02-09_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-335 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-02-09 Title A name given to the resource Day 335 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/596f4a4533a5a4b22f66ca2dc37c38f2.pdf 7f83e5e2f138a1045affd6cdec15330b PDF Text Text Day 334 by windoworks This morning at 11:18am I am to receive the first shot of what I assume is the Pfizer vaccine. This is the one that has to be kept at extremely low temperatures which means that most pharmacies inside grocery stores, don’t have the capability of keeping the Pfizer vaccine cold enough. The other vaccine, Moderna, has to be kept cold but not as cold as the Pfizer one. It was a tedious business getting this appointment and there seems no rhyme or reason to who secures a vaccination spot and who doesn’t. Craig and I secured ours (although Craig’s spot is at 2pm today, the closest I could get to my spot), through a friend’s text, saying go online to this address NOW! I have friends who have completed their vaccinations and their spouse/partner is still trying to secure a spot for the first dose. It is very hit and miss. Here’s the next two vaccine questions: If they say: "The vaccine could give me Covid-19." You can say: The vaccine cannot give you Covid-19, because it doesn't contain the virus. It contains mRNA, or messenger ribonucleic acid, which tells your cells how to create the protein spike the virus uses to infect other cells. The live virus never enters your body in the vaccination process, your cells learn how to make a part of the virus, but coronavirus can't replicate that way. You may experience some "intense but brief" symptoms like fatigue, nausea and a low fever after you're vaccinated. Those are often synonymous with Covid-19, but these vaccine-induced side effects should subside within 24 to 48 hours. It's also possible you could suffer no side effects, or they could be as mild as a headache and a sore arm. In any case, you won't get Covid-19 from getting vaccinated. If they say: "The vaccine could alter my DNA." You can say: The Covid-19 vaccines do not alter or interact with your DNA. The mRNA never enters a cell's nucleus, which houses DNA. It does its work in the cytoplasm, the fluid within a cell. The mRNA doesn't stick around in the body, either. It dissolves once it's sent a message to cells and exits your body. The last 3 questions tomorrow. Then yesterday this appeared in my Facebook feed: GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. (Feb. 7, 2021) The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) notified the Kent County Health Department (KCHD) that the COVID-19 variant known as SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 has been confirmed in a Kent County resident. �This variant is concerning because it is associated with increased transmissibility. Compared to the original virus, the B.1.1.7 variant is approximately 50 percent more transmissible, leading to faster spread of the virus and potentially increasing numbers of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. The presence of the quick spreading variant in Kent County illustrates the importance of staying vigilant in the prevention of spreading COVID-19. Proper mask usage, social distancing and practicing good hand hygiene continue to be the most effective measures in combating the spread of the disease. The KCHD is also encouraging residents to limit their interactions with people who live outside of their own households. The SARSCoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant is thought to have emerged in the United Kingdom and has since been detected in many countries and states. The MDHHS has identified 30 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant in Michigan. While most of these cases have been found in the southeast portion of the state, the recent confirmation of a case in Kalamazoo and now in Kent counties illustrates the fast-moving nature of the variant. Its never ending really. Yesterday we drove past an Applebees restaurant which appeared packed with diners. The restaurant owners beg to be allowed to have in house dining and then when it is granted, some places ignore the strict regulations - and then diners come down with covid and then in house dining is banned again. I can hear the nationwide cry: I just want life to be normal again! Well so do we all, but that’s not happening any time soon, if at all. I was listening to Ira Glass on the radio yesterday. He was interviewing a scientist (I never heard his name) about the virus and the vaccines and one question he answered was: how long is the vaccine effective for? The scientist answered: we just don’t know, but perhaps a booster shot will be necessary every 2 - 3 years. One point the scientist did make is that the 2 vaccines we have here in the States, prevent mild to serious illness. If you were to contract the virus, the vaccine would prevent it being more than a mild complaint. And the mRNA vaccines are spectacular much better than other vaccines and as a very exciting side note - at some point in the nearish future, scientists expect to be able to develop an mRNA vaccine against cancer! Cancer! Imagine teenagers or children being vaccinated against cancer just like measles! In the US, total cases stand at 27M and the total deaths are at 463,000. I tell you those numbers before I add this article from NPR: Ever since the coronavirus reached the U.S., officials and citizens alike have gauged the severity of the spread by tracking one measure in particular: How many new cases are confirmed through testing each day. However, it has been clear all along that this number is an understatement because of testing shortfalls. Now a research team at Columbia University has built a mathematical model that gives a much more complete — and scary — picture of how much virus is circulating in our communities. It estimates how many people are never counted because they never get tested. And it answers a second question that is arguably even more crucial — but that until now has not been reliably estimated: On any given day, what is the total number of people who are actively infectious? This includes those who may �have been infected on previous days but are still shedding virus and capable of spreading disease. The model's conclusion: On any given day, the actual number of active cases — people who are newly infected or still infectious — is likely 10 times that day's official number of reported cases. The sustained periods of high transmission in the U.S. also mean that by now, quite a large share of the U.S. population has been infected beyond what the tallies of reported cases would indicate. Nationwide, it is estimated that about 120 million people have now been infected, just over a third of the U.S. population. This made me laugh: �The big day is tomorrow. Trump’s impeachment trial begins in the Senate. What will happen? Here’s an interesting piece from the Atlantic: �Democracy depends on the consent of the losers. For most of the 20th century, parties and candidates in the United States have competed in elections with the understanding that electoral defeats are neither permanent nor intolerable. The losers could accept the result, adjust their ideas and coalitions, and move on to fight in the next election. Ideas and policies would be contested, sometimes viciously, but however heated the rhetoric got, defeat was not generally equated with political annihilation. In October, with the specter of impeachment looming, Trump fumed on Twitter, “What is taking place is not an impeachment, it is a COUP, intended to take away the Power of the People, their VOTE, their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and their God-given rights as a Citizen of The United States of America!” For good measure, he also quoted a supporter’s dark prediction that impeachment “will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.” Trump’s apocalyptic rhetoric matches the tenor of the times. The body politic is more fractious than at any time in recent memory. The stakes in this battle on the right are much higher than the next election. If Republican voters can’t be convinced that democratic elections will continue to offer them a viable path to victory, that they can thrive within a diversifying nation, and that even in defeat their basic rights will be protected, then Trumpism will extend long after Trump leaves office—and our democracy will suffer for it. Last night Craig went outside and took photos of our house. ��Friends keep asking if we will get this much snow in Australia. The answer is no. When we return to Sydney in July this year, it will be the middle of winter and the average daily temperature is 47F-63F. Sydneysiders complain bitterly and wrap up, but any of my winter coats are far too warm to wear. Still, I would like a house with some sort of heating, not because its so cold, but because its so damp. Everything feels damp and clammy - even the bedsheets. I have been spoiled by living in a heated house in winter. And speaking of heat, we now realize that the furnace was failing for the past 2 or 3 years. Our house is so toasty warm now. Lovely, especially this weekend as the temperatures dip down to 1F (-17C) overnight. Brrr! Oliver �I love daycare. �Places to go, people to see. �I have to stop writing now and get myself ready for my vaccination appointment. A friend found another Bernie meme: So remember: double mask up, stay out of non-compliant businesses (no mask, no business), keep washing your hands, keep physically distancing. The UK variant is here. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-02-08_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-334 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-02-08 Title A name given to the resource Day 334 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/4a485689f1779090ce40877ce67b5bb5.pdf a4678b213ef5c36d1cd942172617e430 PDF Text Text Day 333 by windoworks To be honest, the Super Bowl is usually only interesting for me for the halftime ads. There. I said it out loud. I remember the first time I went to an actual American football game. It was the first football season after we moved here. Some neighbors took Craig and I and we sat on a hill and watched. It was at Grand Valley State University and as Craig was a new tenure track hire, our friends thought we should support the home team. It seemed incomprehensible to me. In New Zealand Rugby Union was the game I grew up with. The national team, the All Blacks, were invincible. I watched them play the Roosters (the French national team), the Lions (the English national team) and the Spring Boks (the South African national team). There are two stories about how the name originated. One is that it was a typo in a sports report in �a British newspaper in the early 1900s where the reporter stated: they are all Backs (referring to their dominant game position) and the other story is that another reporter said they’re all white men but their jerseys, shorts and socks are all black. Take your pick. Rugby Union players are tough men. That games relies more on speed and scrums (where the two teams link arms and hunker down and clash together while someone throws the ball into the middle - and one side grabs it). Union also features line outs where both teams line up and someone throws the ball and one side catches it. (I can hear my nephews: Auntie Pamela! That’s not how the game works!) In Australia one of the most popular games is Rugby League. This is a slightly different, rougher game. The team members often tape their ears to their heads (no I didn’t make that up) so they aren’t ripped off during the game. With the advent of HIV, the Blood Bin was established. If a team member was injured enough to bleed, he would be sent off to the Blood Bin. If the bloody arm or leg was covered successfully, I think he was allowed back into the game. One feature of both games: there is a limit of players on the field - 15 for Rugby Union and 13 for Rugby League. Rugby League is a very stop, start game and Rugby Union flows more. Anyway, it was a big surprise to watch an American Football game. There were moments when the game stopped completely. After a while it seemed to me that the really big, beefy players held the other team at bay so the smaller, faster players could run through and score a touchdown. And the game went on for hours. I know marginally more about cricket, mostly because Craig adores it. A series test match (between say, Australia and New Zealand) lasts for 5 days. It features a wicket (the run area) and 2 helmeted batsmen, a hard red cricket ball, stumps thats where its similarity to baseball ends. I am not going to even try to explain the game and I have no idea where the rules came from. There is a consensus of expert opinion that cricket may have been invented during Saxon or Norman times by children living in the Weald, an area of dense woodlands and clearings in south-east England. Cricket.com CNN has published a list of people’s questions about the vaccines. There are 7 questions and answers, and I’ll print them in 3 lots. First 2 questions: If they say: "I don't know what's in the vaccine." You can say: That's fair. Vaccine ingredient lists include a lot of lengthy names only a chemist would recognize. Here are the some of the main ingredients in the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, the two vaccines currently authorized for use, and how they work: mRNA: Short for messenger ribonucleic acid, mRNA is a "genetic software" that tells cells how to make the coronavirus spike protein, the structure the virus uses to invade cells. The mRNA gets your immune system's attention, so it's prepared to attack the spike protein if infection occurs. The mRNA disintegrates �as soon as it relays its message, Schaffner said, and you excrete its remnants. Fatty lipids: The mRNA is very fragile, so it's coated in a fatty lipid to protect it. The lipids, a buttery substance, can melt at room temperature -- which is why both vaccines must be kept at extremely cold temperatures. Fatty lipids used in Covid-19 vaccines include polyethylene glycol-2000 and cholesterol, among others. Salts and sugars: Salts such as potassium chloride and sodium chloride are in the vaccine to balance the acidity in your body, according to the MIT Technology Review. Sugar, listed as sucrose, is there so the vaccine nanoparticles keep their shape. Other vaccines still in trials in the US, such as AstraZeneca's, rely on different technologies than mRNA and, therefore, have different ingredients. If they say: "The vaccine was created too quickly to be trustworthy." You can say: It's true that the Covid-19 vaccines currently authorized for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration were developed and tested more quickly than other vaccines we're familiar with. But extensive clinical trials have proven their effectiveness. Part of the reason why the vaccines were developed rapidly is because the circumstances called for speed: We're in a pandemic that's killed more than 2 million people worldwide and sickened over 103 million people. The need for a vaccine is urgent. So rather than wait for the results of trials to manufacture a vaccine, the companies creating these vaccines produced them simultaneously so they'd be ready to deploy when the trials were completed, Schaffner said. Typically, the companies that create vaccines would wait for a trial to end before giving the OK to manufacture the vaccines. "Of course, our 'bet,' if you will, came up a winner," Schaffner said. Both Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines are 94% to 95% effective at preventing severe sickness from Covid-19. The technology the vaccines use, mRNA, was developed long before the virus that causes Covid-19 began to circulate in humans, so the tech can be trusted, Schaffner and Karron said. The Covid-19 vaccine trials included tens of thousands of participants, Karron said, whose reactions to the vaccine were closely monitored for months before the vaccines were approved by the FDA. Vaccine developers also had the resources to speed up the process -- there were no questions of demand or funding, Karron said. Two more questions and answers tomorrow. Now for today’s quick roundup: President Biden decided there was no purpose in granting former President Trump access to intelligence briefings - and he worried that Trump might let something slip. The US Postal Service is in disarray and Democrats are struggling with how to address this, especially how to force Louis DeJoy out of his Postmaster General position. Here’s a newly revealed alarming fact from Washington Post: �Trump’s election fraud falsehoods have cost taxpayers $519 million — and counting. Donald Trump’s claims that the election was stolen have forced local, state and federal agencies to spend millions enhancing security, fending off lawsuits and repairing property damage, according to a Washington Post review. The numbers are mounting daily, but the full cost may never be known as officials struggle to account for the fiscal impact of a president injecting instability into the democratic system. And I know you’re agog to hear about plans for the impeachment trial. Here’s this from the New York Times: House impeachment managers are preparing to prosecute the former president on the charge of “incitement of an insurrection” for inflaming the mob that attacked the Capitol last month. Opening arguments begin Tuesday. Prosecutors plan to mount a fast-paced, cinematic case in which they’ll argue that Mr. Trump was “singularly responsible” for the Jan. 6 attack and a broader attack on democracy that showed he would do anything to “reassert his grip on power” if he were allowed to seek election again. Mr. Trump’s lawyers have denied that he incited the assault on the Capitol and will argue that the Senate has no power to try a former president. Mr. Trump’s words to supporters, they say, are protected by his First Amendment right to free speech. (More than 100 leading constitutional lawyers called that claim “legally frivolous.”) Mr. Trump has refused to testify. Members of both parties are hoping for a speedy trial, possibly completed within a week. A guilty verdict would require at least 17 Republicans to join all 50 Democrats in voting to convict. And this last miscellaneous, really disturbing finding: CNN: Top baby food manufacturers knowingly sold products with high levels of toxic metals, report shows. Yesterday, Oliver and Zoe and our friend Chardi went to the Sydney Aquarium. He loved it! ���Flashback: Our next stop was at Šibenik. Šibenik is a city on the Adriatic coast of Croatia. It’s known as a gateway to the Kornati Islands. The 15th-century stone Cathedral of St. James is decorated with 71 sculpted faces. Nearby, the Šibenik City Museum, in the 14th-century Prince’s Palace, has exhibits ranging from prehistory to the present. The white stone St. Michael’s Fortress has an open-air theater, with views of Šibenik Bay and neighboring islands. ― Google Through the narrow passage �Krka National Park (Croatian: Nacionalni park Krka) is one of the Croatian national parks, �named after the river Krka (ancient Greek: Kyrikos) that it encloses. It is located along the middle-lower course of the Krka River in central Dalmatia, in Šibenik-Knin county, downstream Miljevci area, and just a few kilometers northeast of the city of Šibenik. It was formed to protect the Krka River and is intended primarily for scientific, cultural, educational, recreational, and tourism activities. It is the seventh national park in Croatia and was proclaimed a national park in 1985. I’ve never seen so many rills, creeks, ponds, streams, rivers, waterfalls, and rapids. Krka was beautiful but the day was hot! �Families bathing. It was too hard to get down into the water. Very slippery. ��But I managed this little �stream. �More Šibenik tomorrow. Its Super Bowl Day. No Superspreader events please! � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-02-07_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-333 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-02-07 Title A name given to the resource Day 333 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/97e758591c61665bd443db7edafab2cf.pdf fdbe1df4561ce0c511bc1429b1d17151 PDF Text Text Day 332. Saturday February 6. 148 sleeps to go. by windoworks I don’t feel like the weeks are passing faster, and yet they are. This was a big week. The furnace installation ended up taking 2.5 days. On Thursday evening, every radiator in the house was lovely and warm except the one in the back bathroom. At first, everyone thought that a pipe leading to the radiator had ice blocking it. Everyone, except me, crawled underneath the back porch and shimmied their way to underneath the bathroom. They used heating guns and a portable radiator. There was another heater aimed at the radiator itself in the bathroom. Nothing helped. Yesterday morning Craig called the furnace manager and he said he had been thinking about this problem during the night. Paul thought it might be an air blockage and he would send someone around later in the day to try and fix it. But we had something else happening yesterday. To backtrack: we have a realtor who is a friend of mine. We employed her a few weeks ago when neighbors who had moved away from our block some years ago, said they had heard we were selling and could they look at our house? So I contacted Linda our realtor and armed with the comps for our area, we let the couple wander through our house while we drove around the block several times. Two days later, they let us know that while they loved our house, it wouldn’t fit their needs. Later that same week I received a text from Abby, a realtor, who said she had a buyer on the east side of the state interested in our house. You know, you automatically wonder if this is a scam, so we copied the text and sent it to Linda. Well, it was real and yesterday, in among the final fixing of the radiator, Abby came to our house and filmed it and photographed everything while Craig and I sat outside in our car with the heater blasting and the snow falling. There was a lot of work getting ready to have Abby walk through the house. Linda asked us to depersonalize the house and thats when we realized that we had 20, 20, photos of us and family members on shelves and walls. Most of these were on the upper landing and staircase walls. Craig took them all down and then he pulled out the nails, spackfilled the holes, sanded them back when dry - and then found the paint tin containing the landing and staircase color had dried out. No problem. Just a quick trip to the nearby hardware store where they no longer stocked that brand of paint . Oh but no problem, we’ll color match it with another brand. So home he came and he carefully painted over the filler and when it dried and we looked at his handiwork admiringly - it was at least one shade darker, and now the landing and staircase wall had blobs on them. And you couldn’t pretend you couldn’t see them. So, he carefully painted whole sections of the walls, grinding his teeth at the same time. But it looked wonderful and it was so worth the extra effort. Then we went through the house and put every other personal belonging away - and some things I may never find again - and at last, when Abby walked through the house, we felt we had done everything we �could to make our house look attractive and welcoming. Of course Abby loved our house and assured us that her clients would love the house too. Yes they did, and now they would like to come over and look at the house for themselves, some time in the next couple of weekends. When Craig asked why they wanted to move, Abby replied they just wanted a historic house in Eastown. Now the only other problem is the weekly numbers allowed into New South Wales, Australia. We knew that there was a weekly limit and it was 3,010 a week. Each state in Australia has a weekly limit on returning Australians entering their state. Those limits were halved in January due to a person returning who tested positive for one of the variants. However, having got this under control, the limit for NSW will return to 3,010 from 1,505 in the middle of this month. Other problems are, each flight in is only allowed so many passengers and people have been bumped off flights and stuck overseas waiting for another flight. You can sometimes keep your seat on a flight if you are prepared to pay between $15,000US - $23,000US. So what should we do? After a fraught discussion, we realized that the obvious and best option was to carry on with our plans and cross that bridge when we came to it. I have to say, its another situation where I think someone must know what’s happening. Our flight is booked on Japan Airlines on July 5th and I assumed that they would have already submitted our names to the Australian government so we would be included in the week’s quota. However, one phone call to the Australian Consulate in Chicago later, where the gentleman had no idea about anything, followed by another call to the Australian Embassy in D.C. which produced similar results. Apparently the airline would know these answers. After a long wait on hold with Japan Airlines, the answer was either (and Craig still can’t say for sure) no they don’t do that or no they don’t do that until nearer the actual flight. Did I mention I could do all of these jobs for half the price and twice as fast? There were 2 suggestions, one from the Consulate: the Australian news channels are more up to date than us (!) and one from the Embassy: contact the New South Wales Health Department, they should know. Ah, bureaucracy, what a thing of beauty! Meanwhile, the winter storm advisory has been extended again until 8am tomorrow morning. Craig went out walking earlier this morning and took these photos. �����The temperature outside at 9:15 am is 13F (-10.5C), but feels like 6F (-14.4C). Thats reasonably cold. These photos were taken mostly in Aquinas College, a small university close by. Quick roundup: the Biden administration has deployed more than 1000 active duty troops to help with vaccination efforts. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has started a $500000 effort on television and online portraying House Republicans as aligned with Marjorie Taylor Greene and QAnon. (Ouch! That’s gotta hurt). Israel’s virus numbers are dropping due to their aggressive vaccination program. Once again, seed suppliers and gardening stores are running out of supplies due to almost everyone in the US turning to home gardening. And from Washington Post, this nugget: Fox Business has canceled “Lou Dobbs Tonight” one day after the host was named in a multibillion dollar defamation lawsuit against the network and its parent company. Dobbs, 75, was among the most ardent pro-Trump voices on air. He held influence over Trump administration policy — particularly on trade and immigration — and relentlessly promoted the former president’s false claims of election fraud late last year. His nightly program, which a person close to Dobbs said aired its final episode Friday, was by far the highest-rated on Fox Business. �Could sanity and cold reason be rearing their ugly heads? Last night I watched an interview with a South Carolina woman who had swallowed QAnon whole. At some point after the Inauguration when Trump didn’t overthrow the government and arrest all Democrat members, she painfully realized she had been duped. Now she goes online to try and help other people be deprogrammed. Oliver. ��In the morning in Dubrovnik, Craig walked around the walls. You can only enter and leave at the same point, that is, once up on the walls you have to keep walking right around to the exit. The path was very rough and the paving stones uneven, there were steep stairs to climb and there were first aid stations around the walls because while he walked, people kept tripping and falling all the time. I saw an elderly man sitting at the base of the wall with a nurse attending to his bloody knees. No wall walking for me! An ancient city well �Looking down on one of the main �streets The wall winding away �Along the shore �Down steep stairs �Across the rooftops �The ancient harbor �Croatia playing England. We watched it on the deck outside. We could hear the cheers from the city square in the Old Town. Stay warm and stay safe. Colder weather is coming. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-02-06_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-332 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-02-06 Title A name given to the resource Day 332 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/cb87ffa3e6edd773df71a03873a76658.pdf cdda9eb928976f2dd357cebf69d7ebe6 PDF Text Text Day 331 by windoworks CNN Scientists have figured out how to give a zebrafish limb-like appendages. Hmm, the idea of a fish with arms is more upsetting than expected. Progress report: I now realize how poorly our furnace was working. I had gotten used to wearing a dressing gown in bed in the mornings, and a warm main bathroom had become a thing of the past. All that has changed! Our house is toasty warm from top to bottom. There is one tiny fly in the ointment - the downstairs toilet area radiator refuses to warm up. Various things have been tried and I suspect we will try even more things - but as we happen to have a small fan heater of our own, we will continue to use that until the problem is fixed. I never want to be as cold as I was yesterday morning, ever again. Yesterday afternoon, the space age furnace fired up (after careful programming) and heat began seeping back into the house - just as the snow began to fall. Here it is - a thing of beauty indeed. I thought it would be encrusted with diamonds, it cost so much. �So yesterday the House voted to strip Majorie Taylor Greene of her committee appointments. Here’s a roundup from NPR: The House of Representatives has voted to strip Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments, following uproar over her past incendiary comments and apparent support of violence against Democrats. Thursday's vote was 230-199, with 11 Republicans joining with all Democrats to back the resolution. The vote comes a day after the House Rules Committee advanced a resolution, put forth by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., to remove Greene from her assignments on the Budget panel and the Education and Labor Committee. The Georgia freshman has come under fire in recent weeks for her history of trafficking in racism, antiSemitism and baseless conspiracy theories, along with her support for online comments encouraging violence against Democratic officials prior to taking office. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., responded to Greene's remarks on the floor, noting her defense sidestepped her "liking" social media posts prior to her election that advocated for violence against Democratic leaders. "I just have to say that I did not hear a disavowment or an apology for those things. I did not hear an apology or denouncement for the claim, the insinuation that political opponents should be violently dealt with. I didn't hear anybody apologize or retract the anti-Semitic and Islamophobic remarks that had been made that have been posted over and over and over again. Because if this isn't the bottom, then I don't know what the hell is," he said. "I hope we are setting a clear standard for what we will not tolerate. Anyone who suggests putting a bullet in the head of a member shouldn't serve on any committee period." "If anyone has any question about the things that she has said or done, anybody who's watching, just spend a moment and look at her social media posts, don't take my word for it. Go research it for yourself. Google it. It's all there," McGovern said. In a powerful moment, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., walked around the floor showing his colleagues a poster featuring a screenshot of a Facebook ad on Greene's campaign page. The image featured a photo of Greene holding a gun alongside isolated images of Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Underneath was the caption: "Squad's worst nightmare." "I urge my colleagues to look at that image and tell me what message you think it sends," Hoyer said. "Here she is armed with a deadly assault rifle pointed toward three Democratic members." Hoyer added: "In 2019, during the same election cycle in which she ran, [Greene] showed support for comments online that the quickest way to remove [House] Speaker Pelosi from power would be, and I quote, a bullet to the head. �And from the Atlantic: • Greene is just a symptom of what ails the party. David A. Graham sums up the GOP’s dilemma: “How do you hold one individual accountable for repugnant things you’d previously decided to indulge as a route to victory?” It seems as though the Republican Party is floundering. It is hard to say what will happen next, as they seem to have left sanity and reason behind some time ago. From Crooked Media who always tell it like it is: For better or for worse (spoiler: it’s for worse), Republicans have now officially tethered themselves to what were once unspeakable right-wing fringe elements. It’s a terrifying national step backwards into the abyss, but it might be useful in the midterms? The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has already launched a $50,000 ad campaign that highlights Greene as the face of the GOP, in an effort to tie vulnerable House Republicans to Greene and her horrific beliefs. Republican leaders have made that task much easier by refusing to take any disciplinary action on their own, and subsequently going on the record in her defense. And also this: The Government Accountability Office eviscerated the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, in a 346-page report that deviated from the watchdog’s usually neutral tone. The GAO made 31 recommendations for the pandemic response in 2020, and 27 of them—almost 90 percent— had not been implemented as of January 15. Those ignored recommendations included addressing gaps in the medical-supply chain, issuing a comprehensive national testing strategy, speeding up the disbursement of coronavirus funding, and establishing a national plan for vaccine distribution. Rep. Gerry Connolly (DVA), who received the report as a member of the House oversight committee, summed it up thusly: “This independent report is a stunning indictment of the Trump administration’s total failure to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Their inaction resulted in lives lost.” The Impeachment Managers invited Trump to testify (explain? confess?) at the trial which begins on Tuesday February 9. Of course, he refused. No surprise there. He is continuing to claim that he won the election, yadda, yadda, yadda. I think there is enough evidence against him to convict him three times over. From Washington Post: “If you decline this invitation, we reserve any and all rights, including the right to establish at trial that your refusal to testify supports a strong adverse inference regarding your actions (and inaction) on January 6, 2021,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) wrote. But as the days go by and Biden, Harris and their administration keep working and repairing actions taken by Trump, and the Democratic led House and Senate find their feet, Trump is receding slowly into the background. The local government overseeing Mar-A-Lago said yesterday that Trump may live out his life there. Wow! That’s a dismissive statement! Is he terminally ill? Is it dementia? �And I just had to include this from CNN: Politics isn't about the weird worship of one dude. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, responding to leaders of his state's Republican Party after they advanced a censure resolution against him for criticizing efforts to overturn the presidential election results and then-President Trump's involvement in the US Capitol riot. And this is HUGE: Washington Post Smartmatic, an election technology company, has followed through on a threat to sue the parent company of Fox News over comments made on the network suggesting that the company participated in fraudulent activities during the Nov. 3 presidential election. The company filed suit Thursday in New York State Court in Manhattan, seeking $2.7 billion for defamation and disparagement and accusing Fox News of fomenting a “disinformation campaign against Smartmatic.” Smartmatic said it has identified “100 false statements and implications” made on Fox’s airwaves about the company and its services, which it said has damaged its business and future prospects. “One of the biggest challenges in the Information Age is disinformation,” Smartmatic chief executive Antonio Mugica said in announcing the suit. “Fox is responsible for this disinformation campaign, which has damaged democracy worldwide and irreparably harmed Smartmatic and other stakeholders who contribute to modern elections.” That joins Dominion Voting who are suing Rudy Giuliani and I think, Sidney Powell, for 1.3 billion. I wonder if Rudy has a spare 1.3billion lying around? On the pandemic front, there’s a new vaccine in the offing. Washington Post Johnson & Johnson seeks emergency use authorization from the FDA for its single-shot coronavirus vaccine. The pharmaceutical giant Thursday requested emergency use authorization for a vaccine shown in studies to be robustly effective against illness and especially at preventing severe cases and death. If the Food and Drug Administration grants the request, the vaccine would become the third available in the United States. Vaccinations remain patchwork. More vaccination opportunities are arising but you have to be on the ball to snap them up. I’ve heard that they schedule your second shot when you get your first shot and I’ve heard that scheduling the second shot is up to you. In totally unrelated news: �A runner running across frozen Reeds Lake �Ice fishermen on Lake Muskegon �Walking (carefully avoiding the ice) through Oak Hill Cemetery. Oliver �All right, yes, I got the yoghurt everywhere, but a lot more of it went into my �mouth. �In half an hour we have to leave our house to let a realtor walk through and videotape it. Apparently someone on the east side of the state is interested in possibly buying our house. I may never find some things I have hidden away, again. Its surprising the amount of personal stuff you have lying around. Its absolutely amazing how much work there is in getting your house ready to sell. Tomorrow then. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-02-05_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-331 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-02-05 Title A name given to the resource Day 331 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/ee6b1b32dd1d7af3d792d123223f2ed1.pdf 60f265e757f0b2754502666a2bf5d70c PDF Text Text Day 330 by windoworks That might be my mantra. Good morning. This morning we woke to a freezing cold house. Craig (who is always the breakfast person) wore a quilted coat when he brought me my breakfast. Being nervous about leaving space heaters running all night - wooden houses burn so easily - we had switched everything off. Because in 18 years we have never had to think about warming the house in winter. The furnace guys, who made an astonishing amount of noise in the basement all day yesterday, are coming back today to fill the space age looking new furnace with water. Apparently that takes hours. Then someone has to go around and bleed the air out of all the radiators before the water is heated. We have a new double exhaust �pipe out of a basement window. I have to say the new hot water heater and the new furnace in the basement look most impressive. As they should - they cost a fortune. We had very generous neighbors and an ex neighbor who delivered space heaters to our door on Tuesday. And during the lockdown last year (I actually forget when), a man came around and repaired the pilot light on the gas fireplace in the living room. What a blessing that turned out to be yesterday. Of course the sunshine helped too. They have promised us heat by late afternoon or evening and there’d want to be. A blizzard begins about 3pm this afternoon. Talk about the nick of time! In a quick roundup: the Republicans held a secret vote and kept Liz Cheney as the 3rd highest ranking Republican in the House. Because that worked so well, they are now considering a secret vote on Impeachment. Interesting. Biden and the Democratic House are pushing forward with the Biden stimulus bill but the President is considering the $1400 checks for households under a certain income limit. Randy Rainbow has recorded a wonderful parody of “Evergreen” (the theme song to “A Star is Born” and sung by Barbra Streisand). His version is “Majorie Taylor Greene” and at the end he apologizes to Barbra. Like all his parodies, it brought a smile to my face - and he can certainly sing. The FBI has now arrested 180 insurrectionists from January 6. Oh and Canada has labeled the Proud Boys a terrorist entity. But what about the pandemic, Pamela? Well, I do have a couple of things: The Atlantic Even in a year of horrendous suffering, what is unfolding in Brazil stands out. In the rainforest city of Manaus, home to 2 million people, bodies are reportedly being dropped into mass graves as quickly as they can be dug. Hospitals have run out of oxygen, and people with potentially treatable cases of COVID-19 are dying of asphyxia. This nature and scale of mortality have not been seen since the first months of the pandemic. On the whole, Brazil has already reported the second-highest death toll in the world (though half that of the United States). As the country headed into summer, the worst was thought to be behind it. Data seemed to support the idea that herd immunity in Manaus was near. The city was able to largely reopen and remain open throughout its winter with low levels of COVID-19 cases. Yet now, the nightmare scenario is happening a second time. The variant in Brazil, known as the P.1 (or B.1.1.248) lineage, has a potent combination of mutations. Not only does this variant seem to be more transmissible; its lineage carries mutations that help it escape the antibodies that we develop in response to older lineages of the coronavirus. The coming year could be a story of two worlds undermining each other. Certain countries will approach herd immunity by vaccinating almost every citizen. Other countries could see mass casualties and catastrophic waves of reinfection—potentially with variants that evolved in response to the immunity conferred by the very vaccines to which these populations do not have access. In the process, these hot spots themselves will facilitate rapid evolution, giving rise to even more variants that could make the �vaccinated populations susceptible to disease once again. In a recursive loop, the virus could come back to haunt the vaccinated, leading to new surges and lockdowns in coming years. The countries that hoard the vaccine without a plan to help others do so at their own peril. Well that is depressing. But wait, we do have the vaccines. Craig and I are scheduled to receive our first dose next Monday February 8. I cannot tell you what a trying procedure that was! A friend texted me the link and I went online and began scheduling my vaccination. Halfway though I realized I needed my health insurance card (because you never think of this beforehand) and by the time I completed the form correctly, that vaccination spot had gone. I managed to get a later time slot and then I set about registering Craig - and by the time I had completed his form completely his available spot was 3 hours later than mine. But hey! We have these slots and other friends are still struggling. By the way, we both registered with another vaccination scheme some weeks ago and periodically they text us to say: we haven’t forgotten you but we don’t have a vaccination for you yet. Who’s organizing that? And I’ll do it 4 times better and for half the money. Here’s some vaccine questions answered from The Wall Street Journal: After filling out consent forms and receiving the shot, you’ll be monitored for adverse reactions for 15 or 30 minutes depending on your allergy history. You’ll simply need your photo ID and proof of your appointment. The two vaccines available in the U.S. are found to be similarly safe and effective. The second dose of the Pfizer vaccine is offered 21 days later, while Moderna is offered 28 days later. Staying well hydrated prior to the vaccine is encouraged. Ibuprofen or acetaminophen, can be used following vaccination to treat any fever or local discomfort. People are asked to stay at the site to be monitored for adverse effects, including allergic reactions, though these are rare. Adults will receive a vaccination card that includes the lot number and name of the administered vaccine along with a reminder to get their second dose. Those going for their second dose will need to bring this card with them. Side effects may include fatigue, muscle aches and soreness at the injection site. There is likely some protection from the first shot but the second dose enables the immune system to provide long-lasting protection. Doctors strongly advise getting both shots, in the recommended time frame. The protective effect begins to be observed from two weeks after the second vaccine injection. Precautions including mask-wearing and staying away from others are important even after you’ve been fully vaccinated, as the vaccines aren’t 100% effective. It is possible that even those who have been vaccinated can carry the virus without showing symptoms and pass it onto others. Research on this is still under way. But here’s this to consider from CNN: More than 530,000 people in the US could die of Covid-19 by the end of this month, a new CDC projection claims. That would be about one death for every minute of the pandemic. The CDC has also expressed concern that emerging data may show the UK variant making its way around the world is even �more deadly than the original strain. Researchers in the US are assuming there are far more cases of these international strains out there than are being reported. But there is some comforting news, too. Global vaccine confidence is rising, according to a survey, with more than half of people in 15 countries saying they’d take the vaccine if offered. And COVAX, a vaccine-sharing initiative, has announced its plan to distribute more than 330 million doses to developing nations in the first half of the year. Doctors and scientists and other reputable people are warning that this weekend’s Super Bowl could be a Superspreader Event. Now I know you’re really tired of hearing this, but in light of the new variants it is better to show caution. Perhaps watching it at home in your bubble, wearing the appropriate colors and eating yummy homemade Super Bowl food might be the answer this year. They have made us turn off the gas fireplace and I am wrapped in as many layers as humanly possible while typing. There are many noises happening again in the basement but they are hopeful it will be finished by mid afternoon. How did we all cope before furnaces and heating? That explains why some medieval fireplaces in palaces are so huge. You sat on a seat inside the fireplace to get maximum warmth. I wouldn’t have survived. Oliver: �Yesterday he spent a lot of time on one of the teacher’s lap. He looked hot and cranky. Another tooth coming through? After a day at sea, we reached our next destination: Dubrovnik is a city in southern Croatia fronting the Adriatic Sea. It's known for its distinctive Old Town, encircled with massive stone walls completed in the 16th century. Its well-preserved buildings range from baroque St. Blaise Church to Renaissance Sponza Palace and Gothic Rector’s Palace, now a history museum. Paved with limestone, the pedestrianized Stradun (or Placa) is lined with shops and restaurants. ― Google �Entering Dubrovnik harbor �Old Town ����Holding his hand for �luck �Ah, coffee! In the morning after we anchored, Craig took the tender in and went on a hike around the circuit of the Old Town walls. That photo memory is for tomorrow. After lunch, he took me back into the Old Town and we wandered around looking for possible Game of Thrones filming locations. I liked Dubrovnik’s Old Town, especially after we found a shaded cafe in a lane way to have some welcome coffee. I have to stop typing now and put my hands in their fingerless mittens under the blanket to warm up. Stay safe - we’re still in a pandemic. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-02-04_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-330 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-02-04 Title A name given to the resource Day 330 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/03ca54bb2ee8c7ef0cd8dd75ab5695ba.pdf 416af2719387f8a3f1db4ded349da19d PDF Text Text Day 329 by windoworks Its a big day. Yesterday was Groundhog Day and Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and so there’s 6 more weeks of winter. Listen, I just report the facts, I don’t explain them. Of course there is nothing factual about whether a groundhog sees his shadow to forecast winters duration, but for about 106 years this has been the premier tourist attraction at Gobblers Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. So winter will last until March 16 or thereabouts. No surprise there. I am posting the following because it describes the charges against Trump and what his new (disreputable) legal team are arguing in defense. It is a long read but I believe that every American: Democrat, Republican, Independent and non voters should read this account and think carefully about it. What will it mean if the Republicans in the Senate do not vote to convict after being presented with this iron clad evidence. What will it mean for the United States of America? How will this country go forward as a democracy from here? February 2, 2021 (Tuesday) Heather Cox Richardson, political historian and author. Today, on the same day that the remains of Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, who was killed in the January 6 insurrection, lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, the House impeachment managers filed their trial brief for the upcoming Senate impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump. The charge is that he incited the insurrection attempt of January 6, 2021, in which a mob stormed the Capitol to stop the counting of the certified electoral ballots for the 2020 election. Led by Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a former professor of constitutional law, the managers laid out Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election and his incitement of a violent mob to stop Congress from confirming the victory of Joseph Biden in the election. They note that Trump bears “singular responsibility” for the tragedy of January 6 and dismiss his argument that the Senate cannot convict him now because he is no longer in office, countering that such an understanding would give a president “a free pass to commit high crimes and misdemeanors near the end of their term.” The managers detailed Trump’s deliberate attempt to convince his followers of a lie: that he won the election in a “landslide,” and that Democrats had “stolen” the apparent victory. They say he “amplified these lies at every turn, seeking to convince supporters that they were victims of a massive electoral conspiracy that threatened the Nation’s continued existence.” But the courts rejected his arguments, and state and federal officials refused to cave to his demands that they break the law to alter the election results. So Trump announced a “Save America Rally,” urging his supporters to come to Washington, D.C., to “fight” for his reelection. He promised the rally would be “wild.” �Trump, they note, “spent months insisting to his base that the only way he could lose the election was a dangerous, wide-ranging conspiracy against them that threatened America itself.” He urged them to stop the counting on January 6, “by making plans to ‘fight like hell’ and ‘fight to the death’ against this ‘act of war’ by ‘Radical Left Democrats’ and the ‘weak and ineffective RINO section of the Republican Party.’”On January 6, he urged his supporters to go to the Capitol to stop what he called the massive fraud taking place there. He told them, “if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Carrying Trump flags, the mob marched to the Capitol and broke in, searching specifically for Vice President Mike Pence, whom Trump blamed for counting the votes accurately, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. One shouted, “What are we waiting for? We already voted and what have they done? They stole it! We want our fcking country back! Let’s take it!” Others shouted, “Hang Mike Pence!” and “Tell Pelosi we’re coming for that btch.”Allegedly “delighted” at the interruption to the vote count, Trump retweeted a video of his rally speech telling his supporters to be “strong” and, even as Pence and his family were hiding from the violent mob, tweeted, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.” This sent the mob into a frenzy. Then, while the Senate was evacuated, Trump tried to reach the new senator from Alabama, Tommy Tuberville, to urge him to continue to delay the counting of the electoral votes. Members of both houses from both parties called the president to urge him to call off the mob, but for more than three hours, he refused. When he finally issued a video telling his followers to go home, he said, “[i]t was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side.” He told them: “We love you, you’re very special.”Later that night he tweeted: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!” Trump’s new legal team issued its response to the House impeachment managers today, as well. They stand on the ground that, because Trump is no longer president, it is unconstitutional to try him on an article of impeachment. They also deny that the former president incited the insurrection and say he was simply exercising his First Amendment rights when he repeatedly attacked the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Far from backing down from his position, Trump is continuing to assert his argument that he won the election. “With very few exceptions,” his lawyers’ response reads, “under the convenient guise of Covid19 pandemic ‘safeguards’ states [sic] election laws and procedures were changed by local politicians or judges without the necessary approvals from state legislatures. Insufficient evidence exists upon which a reasonable jurist could conclude that the 45th President’s statements were accurate or not, and he therefore denies they were false.” �Trump’s argument has been dismissed in more than 60 court cases, so there is plenty of evidence to conclude that it is false. But he is doubling down on what scholars of authoritarianism call a “big lie:” that he was the true winner of the 2020 election, and that the Democrats stole it. The big lie, a key propaganda tool that is associated with Nazi Germany, is a lie so huge that no one can believe it is false. If leaders repeat it enough times, refusing to admit that it is a lie, people come to think it is the truth because surely no one would make up anything so outrageous. In this case, Trump supporters insist that there was massive fraud in the 2020 election (there wasn’t) and that Trump really won (he didn’t). As Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) pointed out last week, the Republicans who supported Trump’s big lie and challenged the counting of the electoral votes on January 6 still have not admitted they were lying. Big lies are springboards for authoritarian politicians. They enable a leader to convince followers that they were unfairly cheated of power by those that the leader demonizes. That Trump and his supporters are continuing to advance their big lie, even in the face of overwhelming proof that it is false, is deeply concerning. If there is any need to prove that Trump’s big lie is, indeed, a lie, there is plenty of proof in the fact that when the leader of the company Trump surrogates blamed for facilitating election fraud threatened to sue them, they backed down fast. The voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems was at the center of Trump supporters’ claims of a stolen election, and its leadership has threatened to sue the conservative media network Newsmax for its personalities’ false statements. When the threat of a lawsuit first emerged, Newsmax issued an on-air disclaimer. Today, even as Trump’s lawyers were reiterating his insistence that he really won the election, the issue came up again. When MyPillow founder Mike Lindell began to spout Trump’s big lie on a Newsmax show, the co-anchor tried repeatedly to cut him off. When he was unsuccessful, the producers muted Lindell while the co-anchor said, “We at Newsmax have not been able to verify any of those kinds of allegations…. We just want to let people know that there’s nothing substantive that we have seen.” He read a legal disclaimer: “Newsmax accepts the [election] results as legal and final. The courts have also supported that view.” And then he stood up and left the set. I cannot see a clear path forward here. The Capitol Building and the White House have been sequestered in a Green Zone, such as the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq. It refers to a secured area where the seat of government is located. Areas nearby that are unsecured are referred to as red zones. What’s even more disturbing however is that once again, comparisons between Trump and Hitler are being drawn, and the rise of Nazi Germany. When the January 6 attempted coup occurred, Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, expressed concern that these actions in the US would encourage similar actions by the NeoNazis in Germany. �The expression ‘the big lie’ was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, to describe the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously". Wikipedia When we lived in Berlin in August 2016, we visited a display called The Topography of Terror. There were disturbing photos of huge complicit crowds of Germans, all supporting the public shamings, the mass arrests and the firing squad actions. And these photos and the rest of the large display were set out unapologetically, as an unvarnished recounting of facts. There was no concealment of the truth of what took place, no matter how shameful. Some people embrace the big lie as it allows them to rise in power and importance. Some people support the big lie because they are frightened of the consequences if they aren’t seen to support it. Some stand on the sidelines and say nothing, hoping to absolve themselves of blame after it all goes pear shaped. In my wildest dreams, as dysfunctional as the US can be, I never imagined I would see a large group of people embrace and foster such a wildly untrue premise: that a Presidential election, so carefully regulated and policed, would be promoted as a fraud. Is no one thinking about the future of elections and their credibility? If you shout loudly that this legal election was somehow a complete and utter fraud, what will you shout about the next election. How will we return to a democratic system? I cannot see a clear path forward here. Today I’ll leave you with Oliver. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-02-03_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-329 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-02-03 Title A name given to the resource Day 329 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/9927566d0c2f8da279a24dec9fc5eca7.pdf 94bf6c92f64c3917000e7b29f42589ae PDF Text Text Day 328 by windoworks I was talking to my youngest last night and he said he thought I would sound happier in my posts after Biden was elected President. I thought I would sound happier too, but almost immediately after the President and the First Lady moved into the White House (still don’t like that name), stupid shit started happening. And I have to say that its depressing and scary and its the dead of winter. I am not allowed to walk outside when there’s ice on the sidewalks, roads and trails because my wrist surgeon assured me that if I fell on my right wrist, he would not be able to put it back together again. So, of course, I listen to him. The confirmed case numbers in the US are slowly dropping and daily deaths have slowed also. It seems January was our worst month of all. Yesterday Governor Whitmer posted that Michigan had vaccinated its 1M person. Which is good but her aim is to vaccinate 50,000 people a day as soon as possible. Just a side note here: Trump’s administration seems to have mislaid 20M doses of the vaccine, and try as they might, the Biden Administration can’t seem to find them. Why? You ask. Because the Trump administration had no plan, remember? No plan for anything, except making America great again (he was going to hold his breath and wish hard) and then when that didn’t work, Plan B: staging a coup. �This morning, in spite of my best intentions to not drown in dreadful video feeds, Craig and I watched Congresswoman Katie Porter being interviewed about January 6 and how Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez suddenly ran in to hide in her office. Porter said: what are you looking for? as Ocasio-Cortez ran around her office looking in closets and cupboards. She replied: I’m looking for somewhere to hide. Ocasio-Cortez eventually hid behind the door in Porter’s bathroom and listened to the mob screaming “where is she?” It is unbelievable that the evidence is showing that elected Republicans are trying to either: a) sweep this under the rug, b) deny it really happened, c) cover up their aiding and abetting, d) insist that the election was stolen from Trump, although it didn’t seem to be stolen from them, e) carry on as if they still hold the balance of power.... I could go on (and on and on). Trump now has 2 of the most despicable lawyers to run defense for his Impeachment Trial (look them up), and apparently they’ve convinced him that his defense that he was cheated out of the election is not the best ploy and so perhaps an argument that an Impeachmeant Trial after the Impeached President has ended his term is unconstitutional. From NPR: This is from a Congressional Research Service legal briefing on Jan. 15, two days after Trump's impeachment and in anticipation of the likelihood that the Senate would take up an impeachment trial after Trump's term was up: “Though the text [of the Constitution] is open to debate, it appears that most scholars who have closely examined the question have concluded that Congress has authority to extend the impeachment process to officials who are no longer in office." So they’re not arguing that he didn’t incite violence, they’re arguing that he can’t be convicted because he’s no longer in office. We’ll see. In other developments, there is a movement to discipline Majorie Taylor-Greene for her egregious behavior and at the very least, remove her from all committees. At the same time, The Women’s March is urging women all over the US to write to Ted Cruz’s major funders and ask them to remove their financial support due to his unconstitutional behavior. �And all the time, President Biden keeps working, working, working. For many contentious issues he is using his Executive Powers. This is probably not the best way of governing, but it is what is left to him by the autocratic Republicans. In other extraordinary news: Republican Representative Peter Meijer is �holding his first virtual town hall on Wednesday this week, and all constituents can attend. Wait, what? Isn’t that what elected Democrats do? Well that seems reasonable, Peter. Vaccines. From NPR: For nearly an hour Saturday, about 50 vaccination opponents and right-wing supporters of former President Donald Trump delayed COVID-19 vaccinations when they protested at the entrance to Dodger Stadium, the site of a mass vaccination campaign. Holding signs that said things such as "COVID=Scam," "Don't be a lab rat" and "Tell Bill Gates to go vaccinate himself," the protesters caused the Los Angeles Fire Department to close the stadium entrance as a precaution. People in hundreds of cars, waiting in line for hours, had to wait even longer. The site was shut down around 2 p.m. Saturday as several Los Angeles Police Department officers arrived at the scene. No arrests were made, and by 3 p.m., the site was reopened. "We will not be deterred or threatened," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Twitter. So we have stepped off reality into an unknown space. Every day I report these things and every day my brain does a little wiggle and if I was a robot it would say: does not compute. I understand if you don’t believe in the virus or the vaccine, I’m okay with that. Be it on your own head. But why do you have to demonstrate at a vaccination center and close it down? Here’s my real question: what’s in it for you? What do you gain if you stop other people from being vaccinated? What am I missing? Yesterday I received an email from my friend Merrilyn, who you remember lives in Perth, Western Australia. Here’s what she said: Well, at last the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic has reached Perth again. It’s 10 months since we were in lockdown and thanks to a young 20-something security guard at one of the quarantine hotels who has the British strain of the virus, the whole of the Perth Metropolitan area has been forced into a 5-day lockdown. That’s 2 million people. That’s how our WA Premier reacts to the alarm. We have a wonderful WAsafe App on our phones which we have to use wherever we go these days and thanks to that the authorities have been able to trace this young man’s movements and those of his 3 flatmates whilst he and they were out and about before being diagnosed. During this lockdown everyone has to wear masks – something that’s also new to WA residents. One fellow in a nearby suburb was walking the streets yesterday without a mask and was stopped by police who offered him a mask which he refused. He also refused to give his name and was arrested immediately, no bail was allowed and he will be in prison for 17 days until his hearing. Meanwhile there is a huge bushfire raging out of control in the suburbs north of us. We have experienced temperatures in the high 30s (high 90F) for the last few days with another 37 predicted for today. We are not in danger from this particular bushfire as the winds are in our favour at the moment, but as you know, �fires are unpredictable. We do have a bushfire plan and I have a bag packed should we have to evacuate. It does make life a little edgy at this moment. Imagine a non masker being arrested an jailed without bail for 17 days before their trial. That makes you think, doesn’t it? Its Oliver time. You can see how he brightens up my day. I’ll leave you to imagine what he’s thinking. The next day we sailed on to Taormina. Taormina is a hilltop town on the east coast of Sicily. It sits near Mount Etna, an active volcano with trails leading to the summit. The town is known for the Teatro Antico di Taormina, an ancient Greco-Roman theater still used today. Near the theater, cliffs drop to the sea forming coves with sandy beaches. A narrow stretch of sand connects to Isola Bella, a tiny island and nature reserve. ― Google �Mt Etna, from the ship �Looking down from the town to the bay with our ship in the distance �The town square and the �church �Taormina is a famed shopping stop. The Roman amphitheater �Looking along the coast through the amphitheater �entrance �Inside a nearby church Someone important’s house �A religious festival which used flower buds. I’m going to leave you with this today because it expresses my feelings exactly. F word included. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-02-02_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-328 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-02-02 Title A name given to the resource Day 328 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/cdba6cf9ae80b95fa6dc1bbfbb03ca87.pdf 91e9bb6ec4cec212f94c9049c0a993d2 PDF Text Text Day 327 by windoworks Yesterday I posted a photo of a completed 1000 piece Charles Wysocki jigsaw puzzle. So far, during this pandemic, I have ordered about 7 puzzles through Amazon. In the beginning, they were too expensive online and instead I ordered and paid for 2 puzzles from Barnes & Noble at a nearby mall. The store was on the second floor of the mall, but my instructions were to pull up in the car at the main mall entrance, call the store and then wait. A couple of minutes later, a young woman came down the fire escape stairs with my puzzles in a bag. I was most impressed by the store’s curbside pickup. It is the first day of February and restaurants in Michigan are allowed to open for in-house dining but under restrictive conditions. Many restaurants are not going to bother as the conditions are just too hard to enforce. The biggest problem is not only policing the customers and constantly sanitizing, its also the chance that one of the staff members will contract Covid and then infect the whole establishment and perhaps some customers before anyone feels ill. Craig and I are still not interested in eating out or buying take out. The emergence of 3 new virus variants is disturbing. How do these variants occur? Where do they come from? This article from the LA Times may have the answer: Among the sickest of COVID-19 patients, this population of “long haulers” appears to play a key role in incubating new variants of the coronavirus, some of which could change the trajectory of the pandemic. The mutations that arose from one single patient are “a microcosm of the viral evolution we’re seeing globally,” said Dr. Jonathan Z. Li, an infectious-disease specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston who treated him. “He showed us what could happen” when a germ with a knack for genetic shapeshifting stumbles upon conditions that reward it for doing so. Indeed, situations in which patients can’t clear a viral infection are “the worst possible scenario for developing mutations,” said Dr. Bruce Walker, an immunologist and founding director of the Ragon Institute in Boston. As weeks of illness turn into months, a virus copies itself millions of times. Each copy is an opportunity to make random mistakes. As it spins off new mutations, the virus may happen upon ones that help it resist medications, evade the immune system and come back stronger. SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, has been an unpredictable adversary. The chance to witness its transformation in near-real time, and see where and how it mutates in a single host, can guide the design of vaccines and medications that don’t lose their effectiveness over time, Walker said. In the first wave, he said, the proliferation of infections gives the virus ample opportunity to take on genetic changes that may live on in bodies of immunocompromised patients. By the time a second wave begins, novel variants that were incubating in these long-haulers have also begun to circulate. When they encounter vast numbers of new hosts, the result is a fertile environment for strains to establish themselves �— if their genetic modifications confer some advantage. The best way to prevent the emergence of more mutations is to both expand vaccinations and do more to protect people with compromised immune systems, De Oliveira said. “If we keep the virus around for a long time, we will be giving it more opportunities to outsmart us,” he said. There are now 5 vaccines in circulation around the world and they are all effective. In one article I read a question: should I take the Johnson & Johnson vaccine tomorrow or wait 2-3 weeks for a dose of Moderna or Pfizer? The unequivocal answer was: take the Johnson & Johnson vaccine now. Here a small excerpt which speaks to this: New York Times Here’s the key fact: All five vaccines with public results have eliminated Covid-19 deaths. They have also drastically reduced hospitalizations. “They’re all good trial results,” Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, told me. “It’s great news.” Many people are instead focusing on relatively minor differences among the vaccine results and wrongly assuming that those differences mean that some vaccines won’t prevent serious illnesses. It’s still too early to be sure, because a few of the vaccine makers have released only a small amount of data. But the available data is very encouraging — including about the vaccines’ effect on the virus’s variants. Well thats very encouraging. We are still 1 more worrying week out from our first vaccine shot. I now automatically delay things like a much needed haircut until after at least the first shot. �I suspect that most sitting Republicans are hoping that the Impeachment Trial and the reason for it, the January 6 attempted coup, would just simply fade into the background. Unfortunately for them, the investigations and the published results of those ongoing investigations are keeping this at the forefront. Washington Post When die-hard supporters of President Donald Trump showed up at rally point “Cowboy” in Louisville on the morning of Jan. 5, they found the shopping mall’s parking lot was closed to cars, so they assembled their 50 or so vehicles outside a nearby Kohl’s department store. Hundreds of miles away in Columbia, S.C., at a mall designated rally point “Rebel,” other Trump supporters gathered to form another caravan to Washington. A similar meetup — dubbed “Minuteman” — was planned for Springfield, Mass. That same day, FBI personnel in Norfolk were increasingly alarmed by the online conversations they were seeing, including warlike talk around the convoys headed to the nation’s capital. One map posted online described the rally points, declaring them a “MAGA Cavalry To Connect Patriot Caravans to StopTheSteal in D.C.” Another map showed the U.S. Congress, indicating tunnels connecting different parts of the complex. The map was headlined, “CREATE PERIMETER,” according to the FBI report, which was reviewed by The Washington Post. “Be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in,” read one posting, according to the report. FBI agents around the country are working to unravel the various motives, relationships, goals and actions of the hundreds of Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Some inside the bureau have described the Capitol riot investigation as their biggest case since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and a top �priority of the agents’ work is to determine the extent to which that violence and chaos was preplanned and coordinated. Investigators caution there is an important legal distinction between gathering likeminded people for a political rally — which is protected by the First Amendment — and organizing an armed assault on the seat of American government. The task now is to distinguish which people belong in each category, and who played key roles in committing or coordinating the violence. Video and court filings, for instance, describe how several groups of men that include alleged members of the Proud Boys appear to engage in concerted action, converging on the West Front of the Capitol just before 1 p.m., near the Peace Monument at First Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Different factions of the crowd appear to coalesce, move forward and chant under the direction of different leaders before charging at startled police staffing a pedestrian gate, all in the matter of a few minutes. The FBI is also trying to determine how many people went to Washington seeking to engage in violence, even if they weren’t part of any formal organization. Some of those in the Louisville caravan said they were animated by the belief that the election was stolen, according to interviews they gave to the Louisville CourierJournal.One of the comments cited in the FBI memo declared Trump supporters should go to Washington and get “violent. Stop calling this a march, or rally, or a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our President or we die.” Some had been preparing for conflict for weeks. In conversations later that month, Watkins allegedly spoke in apocalyptic terms about the prospect of Joe Biden’s being sworn in as president on Jan. 20. “`If he is, our way of life as we know it is over. Our Republic would be over. Then it is our duty as Americans to fight, kill and die for our rights. . . . If Biden get the steal, none of us have a chance in my mind. We already have our neck in the noose. They just haven’t kicked the chair yet.” “Historically, within the right-wing extremist movements, leadership has produced rhetoric to spin up their members, increase radicalization and recruitment, and then stand back and let small cells or individual lone offenders follow through on that rhetoric with violent action,” said Thomas O’Connor, a former FBI agent who spent decades investigating domestic terrorists. “Domestic terrorism actually developed the leaderless resistance concept, taking the potential blame away from the leadership and putting it down into small groups or individuals, and I think that is what you’re starting to see here.” Two main players who allowed themselves to be photographed maskless which then allowed easier identification, were arrested and indicted in federal court: NPR: Two members of the far-right group the Proud Boys were indicted in federal court Friday for their participation in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Charges included obstructing an official proceeding and assaulting officers. Forty-three year-old Dominic Pezzola of Rochester, N.Y., and 31-year-old William Pepe of Beacon, N.Y., were both originally charged by criminal complaint and were arrested in mid-January, a Department of Justice statement said. Both men were indicted in Washington, D.C., on Friday on federal charges of conspiracy, civil disorder, unlawfully entering restricted buildings or grounds, and disorderly and �disruptive conduct in restricted buildings or grounds. Pezzola faces additional charges of obstruction of an official proceeding; auxiliary counts of civil disorder, and aiding and abetting civil disorder; robbery of personal property of the United States; assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; destruction of government property; and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds. Wow! Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it? There is video footage of the crowd inside the Capitol Building, crammed shoulder to shoulder, maskless, shouting “Hang Mike Pence”. I watch that video and others and I can’t believe we’ve come to this - but we have. You would think that sitting Republicans would stand up and support their Oath and begin to work across the aisle to find compromises that both Democrats and Republicans can live with. There is a tiny indication of that with 10 Republicans presenting an alternative stimulus bill to President Biden’s bill. Hopefully this will at least open honest discussions which will conclude with a stimulus bill that is not perfect to either side but is one that they can both live with. Because that’s how governments, boards and committees work - no one should ever get their way perfectly, that would be a dictatorship or an authoritarian system. Its always all about compromise. Oliver has 2 of his bottom molars! Teething is such hard work. �This quiche stuff is yummy. �Yes! The flashback is back - but I’ve almost forgotten where we were. Oh, thats right - Amalfi. The umbrellas on the beach ���Back to the ship by tender �In the evening a soprano came on board to sing for us �Look to the right of the ‘A’ and you can see one of the fireworks that was part of the fireworks display that we stayed anchored to watch. �Goodbye Amalfi. It was fun! See you tomorrow - Groundhog Day. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-02-01_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-327 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-02-01 Title A name given to the resource Day 327 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/97cf89135ffd7be7f1f764eaf7a6d1df.pdf c364ded8d12e1efabe0299e86c0f62e7 PDF Text Text Day 326 by windoworks It is a dark and snowy morning on this last day of January. Every day I read the news and opinion pieces and I decide what to copy for possible inclusion in the day’s post and what to ignore. One of the biggest stories at the moment is the apparent disintegration of the Republican Party. I keep seeing this party referred to as the GOP which was puzzling because none of those 3 initials say Republican. Wild guess: Group of Putzes? Guess our Purpose? No? What it stands for - and this is surprising in this day and age - is Grand Old Party. Hmmm. That reminds me of something our realtor said last week. The term master bedroom is no longer acceptable. Why? Because it smacks of slavery. Ohhh. I see you all nodding. The correct term is main bedroom. I think the Republican Party needs to consider their widely used nickname. But they do have bigger problems. Here’s Crooked Media’s excellent summary: Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) said Friday that she will move to a new office further away from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-WTF) for her team’s safety, after a maskless Greene “berated” her in the halls of the Capitol, and targeted her on social media. Capping off a week of harrowing revelations about how Greene is, against all odds, worse than we thought, a newly surfaced pre-election video shows her wholeheartedly endorsing political violence: “The only way you get your freedoms back is it’s earned with the price of blood.” Wherever Cori Bush’s new office is, let’s maybe scoot it down 100 yards further? Here’s where everyone stands on the rapidly deteriorating Greene situation: The same week we learned that Greene had spread conspiracy theories about school shootings and bullied a Parkland survivor, Republican leaders put her on the education committee, then took a reaaally big bite of a sandwich, so they can’t comment right now. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lambasted them for it, and noted that Congress would need to adopt heightened security measures to address the reality that “the enemy is within the House of Representatives.” The parents of children killed in school shootings have called for Greene’s removal from Congress, and a major Jewish nonprofit group has demanded accountability. Republicans’ refusal to condemn the antisemitic, teen-harassing, violence-espousing conspiracy theorist in their midst reflects the fact that Greene isn’t some outlier in the Republican Party, but its godawful new face. She’s not even the lone GOP House member with extremist ties: Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has hung out with the Oath Keepers militia (whose members later attacked the Capitol), and told the group, “We’re in [a civil war]. We just haven’t started shooting at each other yet.” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) was linked to the “Stop the Steal” campaign, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) has close connections to a number of selfstyled militia groups, and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) appeared at an event attended by the Proud Boys (who were there to provide security, Gaetz stressed, as if that….helps). �You know the Impeachment Trial begins in the Senate on February 9. This delay was to give Trump time to assemble a team of lawyers. And he did - 5 well thought of lawyers. But, as of yesterday, all 5, I repeat, all 5 lawyers have removed themselves. They left because Trump insisted that his only defense be, that the election was rigged and he is still the President. Now I don’t want to feel sad for Trump, such a despicable person who has cost America such a steep price in lives lost, but I do begin to wonder. Did America (not Craig or I) elect a delusional man to the White House 4 years ago? In all these terrible 4 years, did the President lead the country down a rabbit hole of his own firmly held erroneous beliefs? Does he actually believe there was some sort of hidden voter fraud in the recent election? In some ways, that is sad and he really needs proper help - the heavily medicated, locked in a safe facility type. As Shakespeare said: truth will out. Here’s an amazing piece from the Guardian (I cannot speak to the validity but it sounds plausible). Donald Trump was cultivated as a Russian asset over 40 years and proved so willing to parrot anti-western propaganda that there were celebrations in Moscow, a former KGB spy has told the Guardian. Yuri Shvets, posted to Washington by the Soviet Union in the 1980s, compares the former US president to “the Cambridge five”, the British spy ring that passed secrets to Moscow during the second world war and early cold war. Now 67, Shvets is a key source for American Kompromat, a new book by journalist Craig Unger. Unger describes how Trump first appeared on the Russians’ radar in 1977 when he married his first wife, Ivana Zelnickova, a Czech model. Trump became the target of a spying operation overseen by Czechoslovakia’s intelligence service in cooperation with the KGB. Then, in 1987, Trump and Ivana visited Moscow and St Petersburg for the first time. Shvets said Trump was fed KGB talking points and flattered by KGB operatives who floated the idea that he should go into politics. The ex-major recalled: “For the KGB, it was a charm offensive. They had collected a lot of information on his personality so they knew who he was personally. The feeling was that he was extremely vulnerable intellectually, and psychologically, and he was prone to flattery. “This is what they exploited. They played the game as if they were immensely impressed by his personality and believed this is the guy who should be the president of the United States one day: it is people like him who could change the world. They fed him these so-called active measures soundbites and it happened. So it was a big achievement for the KGB active measures at the time.” Trump was the perfect target in a lot of ways: his vanity, narcissism made him a natural target to recruit. He was cultivated over a 40-year period, right up through his election.” Is that a bombshell, or were we already wondering? February 9 in the Senate should bevery interesting. So, the virus. What is the latest, I hear you ask. From Washington Post: �The road to herd immunity from the coronavirus suddenly looks longer. The emergence of more transmissible, potentially vaccine-evading variants threatens to extend the global health disaster and make 2021 feel too much like 2020. A complicated mix of good news and bad news makes any forecast for the coming months fuzzy. But scientists have one clear and sobering message: The pandemic is a long way from over. The mutation-laden variants are on the move, and that includes one first identified in South Africa and confirmed in a Baltimore-area adult, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Saturday. It was the third known case in the United States of the variant, following two cases announced Thursday in South Carolina. The person in Maryland had no travel history, which is evidence of community transmission. Research findings published in recent days have shown that vaccines will still likely work against mutated variants of the coronavirus. But they may not work as well, as the slippery virus continues to adapt to its new host, the human species. Scientists are ramping up genomic surveillance of the virus and vaccine makers are retooling their formulas in an attempt to keep pace with this morphing pathogen. “We’re very worried,” said Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health. “All it’s going to take is a couple more mutations on top of that, and you’re really going to have to start worrying.” There is also the issue of reinfection. Collins said Friday that he is troubled by information from the biotech company Novavax, maker of a vaccine that proved effective in clinical trials, that the new variant circulating widely in South Africa showed signs of eluding natural immunity among volunteers who had previously survived an infection with the more common coronavirus strain. The Novavax vaccine was strikingly less effective against that variant, called B.1.351, than against other strains. “That is something I had not seen before,” Collins said of the reinfection claim. “It is very tentative, and the numbers are not huge, but I would be alarmed if natural infection . . . is not sufficient to provide immunity.” So, I was going to include something about GameStop but honestly, it was so confusing, I gave up reading the article. Instead here’s what’s happening at our house. Over the last couple of days Craig has put a large amount of stuff out at the top of our driveway as “free”. It all disappeared, with the exception of some old magazines. He has also moved the 30 heavy, packed boxes down to the basement and we have depersonalized the house - a task that took much longer than you would think. Can I just say I am never doing this again? If there is a next time, I’ll pay someone. And remember how Craig said: lets not end up living like monks for 5 months? Too late. Our house now looks either a photo shoot for House & Garden or - sparse, uncluttered, perhaps minimalist. In other exciting news - our failing boiler (furnace) will be replaced in a week or so, but, that means we may be entirely without heat for a night. We’re already working out survival strategies. Oliver. Yesterday he was still feeling a little crabby and under the weather. But he is a trooper. He always tries to smile. �Well nearly always �In the park with Dad. Okay, that’s it for today. Stay safe. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-01-31_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-326 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-01-31 Title A name given to the resource Day 326 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/da0dae65d028c44cf8b48e6596186ffa.pdf d943c29ad572c127209b20280dd8759d PDF Text Text Annals of Psychology: Social Distancing for the Roaring 20’s Holly Bihlman | December 4, 2020 Social House Tavern in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, directly across the street from GR’s largest concert venue, sits on the corner of Monroe Ave and Fulton, bustling with drunk girls in heels draped in faux fur coats and boys desperately trying to get their numbers. The bouncers collect fake ID’s at the door and remind the party animals to keep their masks up on their face until seated at a table, or they will promptly be escorted (I use this term lightly) off the premises. The QR code for contact tracing implemented by Governor Gretchen Whitmer sits on a small stand-alone table by the door, prolonging the wait outside an extra three minutes for each guest to log their information into our system, and we do not have extra masks, so don’t forget yours in the Uber. I began working at the lively new bar, SOHO as we call it, a couple months ago coming off of a long quarantine and the unfamiliar threat of unemployment, desperately looking for a way to make rent. A friend of mine, Kendahl Overbeck, recommended the job to me and a few of our other friends, so now we run the place every Friday night. Kendahl’s regulars come in to see her consistently every weekend, and she smiles with her eyes since a big grin doesn’t get tips as well as it used to. As my first experience serving at a bar, sometimes I wonder why I chose the most dangerous time to be in such a highly populated bubble for ten hours every weekend, and then I wonder why all of us decided to do this. The truth is, in my experience, 20-something’s could care less about getting sick themselves because they’re invincible and will prioritize socializing over just about everything. It’s been done time and time again in movies and TV shows about �high schoolers and college students having unrealistically over-the-top experiences before they can legally drink. The culture of thrill-seeking is not an American trait though, it’s been proven scientifically that adolescents are in fact “Young, Dumb, and Broke” in the words of the famously free-spirited pop star, Khalid. Young adults are inherently risk-takers, and this has been wired into our brains through evolution, actually as a survival tactic, as ironic as that is at the moment. Kendahl, having recently become of legal drinking age, had an experience similar to mine at the beginning of the pandemic panic, losing her serving job of three years to the first hit on the economy. “My old job basically went bankrupt because of this pandemic, so I work at a bar now because it’s the easiest money I’ve ever made.” Coming home with upwards of $400 a night, cashing in a grand in one weekend sometimes, is what I would consider the easiest money I’ve ever made myself. But that’s not all; “It’s so fun; I do it on weekend nights and I don’t even have to go out because I go out when I’m working, and it’s incredible.” Sacrificing weekends of fun to be at work is no longer in our vocabulary, because the most fun I could be having is probably right there at work on our Fridays. Aside from the win-win situation we seem to have found ourselves in, just because the bar is opened back up doesn’t mean the virus disappeared over night; in fact, it’s actually skyrocketing again as we enter the annual sick-day season. Millennials and Gen Zs have contributed to the most COVID cases to date, and on the surface, it may seem that reckless partying and the infamous spring breakers of 2020 are the sole reason for this upward slope. On the contrary, several factors have contributed to the increase in younger COVID-positive cases, including older people staying in more as well as increased testing nationwide. Big cities with largely young populations have seen a spike in cases because of the availability of bars and social gathering hotspots, like Seattle. The New York Times published a report in June on the “disturbing” amount of cases appearing: “In King County, Wash., people in their 20s and 30s make up about 45 percent of new Coronavirus cases— a �number that was 25 percent in March.” Spring break hot spots like Dallas have also seen these same spikes, reporting ages 18-40 now make up 52 percent of new cases as opposed to the 38 percent reported for this age bracket in March. California law enforcement has taken a beating trying to deflect massive house parties in the hills, causing government officials to take extensive action against the unstoppable force of the underdeveloped frontal cortexes. The LA Times covered a press conference from Mayor Eric Garcetti in August, clearly fed up with these disturbances; “Wednesday night [Garcetti] authorized shutting off water and electricity service to homes that had repeatedly hosted large parties in defiance of the ban on gatherings.” These “nightclubs in the hills” have replaced the socially restrictive bars and clubs that young adults occupied on the weekends, causing more asymptomatic spreading than we’ve seen yet. To add some clarity to the situation, humans have always been naturally party animals. Neuroscientists and psychologists have been studying what makes humans such social beings in comparison to our close relatives, chimpanzees, since Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection. There are lots of scientific explanations for our social differences from any other species on Earth, and it isn’t because of our massive brain size. It actually comes down to one specific part of the brain that continues to develop through our 20’s, leaving young adults more prone to irrational decision making. A psychologist from North Carolina explained this gap in judgement in an interview with Business Insider framing the 20-something’s for being behind the Coronavirus’ unstoppable force: “Much of the brain's restructuring during this time occurs in the frontal cortex… During this development… young people rely more on their amygdala, the fight or flight part of the brain, for decision-making.” Because of this underdeveloped, crucial part of the human brain, adolescents are more selfish when they make decisions, too. This is why the younger populations have been taking the brunt of the blame for the consistent and more threatening spread of the disease now that winter is approaching. �There is an alternate explanation for these correlating statistics though— Rebbecca Renner published an article in September for National Geographic reporting on the number of COVIDpositive cases young generations have been causing, not due to their partying, but due to the essential workforce. If you think about this, judgement aside, what we have mutually agreed upon as a country is that the most able-bodied people right now are young adults, and the fact of the matter is, we need a running economy. The stimulus check sent out to people making a certain amount of income did not cover students that filed as dependents on their taxes— AKA— most young adults either still in college or still looking for a steady job. Therefore, in order to maintain an able America, people need the essential workers to keep businesses open and the younger generations need employment. Kendahl and I know this feeling all too well after losing our jobs to bankruptcy earlier in the year; “Because we’re a small business and I have bills to pay, I can’t wait for them [SOHO] to open because I need an income. I have rent and groceries and clothes.” Us able-bodied citizens of America are working right now because we have to, so the risk we’re taking is not exactly as optional as it may seem. The ongoing divergence between the hourly rates in states across America and the cost of housing is continually putting college students and young adults in this impossible situation. Even when not in the midst of a pandemic, Millennials were already crying out for some help to pay their bills at age 25. Renner’s hot take on the matter offers this alternate perspective on the rampant rise in positive cases; “So while younger generations are being blamed, in some quarters, for the pandemic’s spread, they are bearing the greatest burden of poverty and the brunt of the transmission risk that comes with keeping the economy going, all with little help in sight.” Although the partying and socialization are putting lives at risk, the opposite side of the coin shows a much more sympathetic approach to the blame Millennial’s and Gen Z’s have taken this year. College students and recent college grads work at coffee shops, restaurants, bars, retail stores and other minimum wage jobs if they aren’t already working in their field, and when �thousands of these establishments had to close, us already struggling college students had to scramble to make up for lost stimulus money. Kendahl makes the incredibly overlooked point, “I hate working for an hourly rate because it’s not a lot of money. I would have to work so much and all the time to pay my bills every month, versus working two days a week at SOHO. I also have savings, but I’m going to med school and I want to study abroad.” The overarching problem here is not the irresponsible distribution of priorities on our end, it is the inflation we’re battling that prevents us from the success we seek after graduation. “This scarcity [of jobs] places younger adults in a lose-lose situation: If they can find employment, many feel compelled to take it even if it means putting themselves at risk,” said Renner. Now, somehow it seems Kendahl and I might find ourselves in a lose-lose situation, contemplating if the risk of the virus is worth the reward. Inevitably it seems, this past November I got the dreaded call back from the doctor’s office after convincing myself for the previous 48 hours that I was, of course, negative. “So, unfortunately your test did come back positive.” Words that you may not think would scare you until you hear them yourself. I was one of the lucky “invincible” ones; though, COVID has been known to do unsuspecting damage on people in my age bracket regardless of well-kept health. I gave the virus to my friend and coworker, Abby Ditmar, to which she later commented at the bar once we were both healthy saying, “Last time I gave you a hug I got COVID, but I think you’re good now.” The humiliating and ostracizing experience forced me to take a different perspective; making sure I was more aware of who I could’ve spread it to became the most guilt-inducing anxiety I had ever experienced. Abby and I both survived the dreaded disease; however, there’s something to be said for the loneliness and mental exhaustion in the isolating experience. The interesting situation we found ourselves in here was that neither of us took into consideration where we might’ve gotten the virus, we just assumed the bar was the culprit. What we had not �considered was that Abby may have gotten it from her second job at our local grocery store and given it to me; leaving Meijer as another possible suspect. Who’s to say that we contracted the virus from the bar, each other, or a grocery store? We certainly didn’t get it partying with friends, and our masks are up at all times while working, unlike our seated customers. The possibility that the vast majority of these rising percentages and statistics proving the 20-something’s of America are causing the COVID spikes nationwide, could be coming from the essential businesses we so desperately want open. Although we may look to psychology for answers in defense of our young friends at the bars, maybe we should be looking more towards the risk our essential workforce is taking in order to keep our landlords happy. The risk has always been taking on higher rent payments and more monthly bills for Millennials, and it’s soon to be Generation Z’s. Adding a pandemic onto the pressure of working at Meijer or a downtown bar to get through the month’s bills after already having been laid off before the age of 21 doesn’t have much to do with partying, it has to do with our ability to work and our willingness to take risks. So why did I decide to work at a bar during a pandemic? I’m willing to take the risk so someone else doesn’t have to. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-01-25_BihlmanHolly Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bihlman, Holly Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-01-25 Title A name given to the resource Social Distancing for the Roaring 20's Description An account of the resource GVSU student Holly Bihlman used this piece in her Intermediate Magazine Writing class, mimicking a New Yorker style "Annals of" piece. It pertains to how 20 year olds have had to be the backbone of the essential workforce, but are taking the brunt of the blame for COVID's spread through partying. My take comes from working at a bar downtown and actually getting a positive test result back in November. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/eeddeb170e06b32c61363fb953eefc1a.pdf 3c69f21e1334e9dcbf0bf183ee02d51d PDF Text Text Letter From Denmark – Final Draft Griffin Amrein WRT 365 As of today, the United States has experienced over ten-million cases of coronavirus infection, and many individuals have died as a result of the rampant spread. As we walk through the public streets, once filled with care-free groups of people, now populated only by spaced out individuals wearing monotonous masks, many of us begin to question if things will ever return to normal, or what normal may even look like. For many countries, the coronavirus was background news until it was too late. Nobody in the crowds could foresee what was to come, and it was shocking. Some people, however, did see at the beginning what was in store for us, and were able to prepare accordingly. Perhaps if only certain small factors were changed, there would be a drastic change, and the infection rates could have been slowed enough for the rest of the lockdown to be mild in comparison to what it is now, and lives could be saved before ever being put at risk. Well, hindsight is always 20/20, especially in the year 2020, and now tens of millions around the globe are feeling the consequences of a pandemic. However, there is a place in Europe that boasts remarkably low statistics compared to most other countries. Although the peninsula mainland of Jutland lies just above Germany, the Kingdom of Denmark stretches its dominion across hundreds of northern islands of Scandinavia and the Atlantic, even including Iceland and Greenland. It is home to over 5.8 million people, about half of whom inhabit the island of Zealand. The coastal capital city of Copenhagen is slightly smaller in population than Detroit and is zig-zagged by bustling canals and characterized by centuries- �old architecture surrounded by colorful apartments often no taller than 4 stories. It is a very welloff nation with a uniquely modern infrastructure that is built upon about one thousand years of rich cultural history, in fact it isn’t an uncommon sight to see a brand-new Tesla parked down the street from a Medieval castle. Denmark is a relatively homogenous yet accepting country with a reputation of being one of the most enjoyable places to live. The citizens are patriotic and proud, but are knowledgeable of world affairs, mostly fluent in English and other foreign languages, and enjoy the ability to travel across Europe with ease. The country’s geography makes for polarized weather with the pleasant summer days experiencing frequent alternations between rain and sun, and the cold winters seeing extra-long nights. When the weather is good, the natural beauty of the landscape is highlighted, and the citizens take advantage of this by enjoying the forests, rivers, and grasslands which are often closely blended into urban areas. The Danish love the outdoors and use their bicycles as a method of transportation just as much as they use cars. The natives of Denmark are relatively healthy and have a stereotype for being blonde haired and tall with slender bodies and, despite being huge consumers of sweets (which are likely more licoricebased than most Americans are used to), this stereotype is largely based in reality. Despite technically being one of the few remaining monarchies in Europe, there is a parliamentary system of representative democracy which puts political power mostly in the hands of the people’s vote and elected officials. Denmark has been referenced a lot in American politics as an ideal of democratic-socialists such as Bernie Sanders, and with a high tax rate that is used to fund public education, healthcare, and welfare, as well as great concern for carbon emissions and recycling, the country certainly has a “one-for-all” mentality. �With this in mind, it should be no surprise that Danish citizens were quick to react to the threat of a global pandemic. As the virus spread through the world, Denmark was one of the first countries in Europe to initiate quarantine measures. In early March, 2020, most people around the world would have thought that closing down schools, universities, borders, and public gatherings was an extreme over-reaction, but shortly after it became clear that the rest of the world would have to follow in the footsteps of countries such as Denmark. In addition, Denmark has a government funded health care system which allows a higher number of people to seek free help if they believe they may be infected. In the United States, finances are something one typically must consider if they believe they may be infected, so this is likely a discouraging factor for many Americans to get a test, especially if they are unsure about their symptoms. As is the same for any case study, however, only time will tell how successful any of the quarantine measures will be in the long term. With so many factors at play, it is hard to paint a full picture of how widespread the effects of the Coronavirus are, have been, and will be. Despite this, looking at the data can help us get some context of our current situation. What we can learn from the data as of November 12, is that there are/have been 10,708,728 cases of Coronavirus infection in the United States, and four percent of these cases were fatal for the afflicted. Germany, the second most populated country in Europe and Denmark’s southern neighbor, has accounted for 726,176 cases of infection, with three percent of the cases ending fatally. In relatively small Denmark, the number of Coronavirus cases reaches 57,952 with only two percent (753) of them ending fatally. The number of active cases per day in both Germany and Denmark follow a somewhat similar curve when graphed over time with a sudden spike over the last few months, but while Germany’s curve has begun to wane in recent weeks, Denmark’s is �actually dropping. Compared to both, the United States has seen a steadier increase in the number of active cases, going up with a slight wave motion (Worldometer). Despite having access to this information, it is a more complicated endeavor to make sense of it in a real-world context. Numbers can often times mislead, and when it comes to COVID-19, Denmark might seem safer than other countries. It is important to remember that there are more factors than one can possibly think of that determine the infection rate of a disease like this. Learning from a first-hand source may help to clear the fog. Lars Zeiger is a Swedish-born citizen of Denmark whose named I made up for the sake of privacy. He is an educated, middle aged and middle-class single father who lives in an apartment with his teenage son and daughter in a small urban town about 30 minutes away from Copenhagen. A former professional swimmer, he’s energetic and jubilant, and has his family speak English around the house every Sunday to strengthen their fluency. Contrary to the data, Lars takes the virus very seriously. On a scale from one to ten, he described the threat of infection to be around eight or nine worldwide, and a solid nine in his country, although it reacted quickly. Perhaps he gives the danger such a high estimate because he knows the potential for infection in a country with so little open space. Like anywhere else, the Danes made many sacrifices for quarantine measures. Business has taken a similar hit to the United States, with many businesses closing down or having employees work from home. The recent growth in their tourism industry was projected to continue increasing in 2020, so when the virus made its appearance, the economy had already begun to shift in the direction of accommodations for overseas visitors. Many brand-new hotels were never inhabited and money was quickly drained away. The government is extending financial support to companies, but only if they had good earnings in recent years. To keep �people from crowding, only one person per family may enter certain shops at a time, however education seems to have been prioritized as much more essential with schools operating relatively unchanged. Lars remains a positive man during this and says that life in Denmark is still pretty good. Perhaps this type of satisfaction is one reason why the populous was so willing to comply with governmental restrictions. “Our government has been very keen on having an honest and good dialog with the press.” Lars insists, “The people here in [Denmark] are very pro the government in how they act.” He states that press conferences are regular with a number of important officials and health experts, allowing for a more open dialogue directly with the country. Lars points out that Sweden, which is another country known for its higher than average rates of happiness, chose the path of less restrictions. To consult the data again, Sweden has less than twice the population of Denmark but accounts for more than eight times the number of infected citizens (Worldometer). Until a day comes when things can settle back into a sense of new normalcy, people just like Lars across the world can only wait. Although there is room for differing opinions on how to proceed, we cannot pretend the crisis is over, or that it does not exist. To do so would circumvent the problem rather than defeating it. It is impossible for a single opinion to prevail over a global disease, and this is why the world must unite. Amidst divisions seeming to widen in the United States and in the world, we must remain vigilant of the fact that it is not person versus person; it is people versus the Coronavirus problem. What can we do about a problem but live in sacrifice for the good of others? From Copenhagen, to Wuhan, to New York, all people must work together in this challenging time. �Works Cited “Denmark.” Worldometer, 12 Nov. 2020, www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/denmark/. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-01-14_AmreinGriffin Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Amrein, Griffin Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-01-14 Title A name given to the resource Letter From Denmark Description An account of the resource A news article by GVSU student Griffin Amrein about the situation of COVID-19 in Denmark contrasted with other worldwide countries. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students 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/e9776c2ad66b962a9e30048940cd6a19.pdf 62169714d67f5ca04094e334174c918d PDF Text Text Grace Secontine COVID-19 Journaling Project Date: March 18-now Human touch. Our first form of communication. It connects us when we are happy, bolsters us in times of fear, excites us in times of passion ... and love, we need that touch from the ones we love almost as much as we need air to breath. I always understood the importance of touch during normal times, but now since the COVID-19 pandemic is happening, now I cannot understand the importance of touch... Until it got stolen from all of us…. Including me. The pandemic has changed my life in so many ways. For example, for my 22nd birthday, my original plan before the pandemic happened was, I was supposed to have the day off from work and go out to dinner with my friends, but instead, I celebrated my 22nd birthday in quarantine. Before my dad got sick on March 18th, he said, “I am going to someone’s house for a gathering.” I said, “ok, see you tomorrow.” On March 19th, he came home not feeling well and he went to urgent care and when he came home he said, “Gracie, I tested positive for COVID, but the doctor told me that I have mild symptoms.” I called my mom about it and she said, “Grace, I want you to quarantine at dad’s till he feels better. I love you very much and I will see you soon.” I was the only one who had to take care of my dad. I was also finishing my junior year of college as well. My mental state during quarantine was not too good. I had nightmares that my dad was at Beaumont Hospital on a ventilator and not breathing. Some nights I had breakdowns because I missed my mom so much. I spent 3 ½ months at my dads and my mental health took a toll by not seeing my friends but instead zooming them on a computer. I was scared that my friends were going to get sick and die. I had hallucinations during quarantine that one of my best friends was in the hospital and the nurse telling me that he is going to die the next day and I remember screaming and crying while I was in my room. How does it really feel preparing to go back to a college campus during a pandemic? It is unsafe and risky. The week before Grand Valley’s classes started, I decided to stay home and do online classes because I didn’t feel safe going back to a college campus. If I were on campus and got COVID, who would take care of me? Also, I would share a bathroom with my roommate, which I think is unsanitary because I do not want her germs to be in contact with mine. My parents and friends told me that I made the smart decision by not going on campus this semester. I plan to go �Grace Secontine COVID-19 Journaling Project Date: March 18-now on campus in January once hopefully COVID is under control. Young people especially college students are putting their own lives at risk by being around people that are from different states across the U.S. and who knows if they were in any type of large gathering over the summer and exposed to someone who was sick with COVID. This school year is different because of fall sports being cancelled due to COVID-19 and not a single fraternity party on a weekend. I was unemployed during the pandemic until June 9th. When I went back to work in June, I thought to myself, “I am putting my own health at risk by being around customers.” I was also nervous to wear a face mask because I did not know what people would say to me. My friend Michael McInerney told me that I am brave that I went back to work and he said, “I wish I could hug you, but I can’t.” I said, “I know.” It almost brought tears to my eyes that I could not even hug my friend. When my friend Jack Reinhart came in, he recognized me, and he could tell that I was smiling beneath my face mask. I said to him, “I didn’t want any guy from Seaholm to see me. You know, me wearing a face mask, I think it’s not cute.” I told him that I did not want them to ask me why I must wear one. He said, “I think it's cute!” Throughout the whole summer, I bonded with a lot of my co-workers including Amelia, Ellen, TC, Bre, Chase, Selena, Jalen, Sophie, and Trent. They know what I have been going through lately, and they understand. Whenever I am feeling down, Trent, TC, and Chase always make me laugh (a lot) until my face is beat red. Trent and I got really close until he had to transfer to another location, and we are still close. They made my summer memorable despite COVID. One day after work, I hung out with my friend Jack Reinhart. We both wore masks when we walked around Downtown Birmingham. After we ate dinner, we went back to his house and we talked. He told me something funny that happened at his internship office today and I started smiling. He said, “there’s that smile. God your beautiful and brave. I wish I could touch you.” I said, “like giving me a hug?” He said, “yes.” I told him that everyone lost that human touch like hugging their friends. My co-workers and I hung out on weekends and sometimes one weekday after work, we went out to get food, despite being six feet apart and not hugging them. I have been separating myself from large crowds of people so I can live. And I want to live. I wake up every morning thinking to myself, “how am I surviving this pandemic?” After all COVID-19 has stolen from us, I do not mind taking something back. 1 foot. (I am talking about the 6 feet �Grace Secontine COVID-19 Journaling Project Date: March 18-now apart rule). The one thing I learned from this pandemic is get close to the people you love and the people you work with. The COVID-19 pandemic has likely brought many changes to how you live your life, and with it uncertainty, altered daily routines, financial pressures and social isolation. You may worry about getting sick, how long the pandemic will last, whether you'll lose your job, and what the future will bring. Information overload, rumors and misinformation can make your life feel out of control and make it unclear what to do. During the COVID-19 pandemic, you may experience stress, anxiety, fear, sadness and loneliness. And mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression, can worsen. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-10-27_SecontineGrace Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Secontine, Grace Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-27 Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journaling Project Description An account of the resource Journal of GVSU student Grace Secontine's experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fc7e6fdb95d5d6a70a488f0ee67d6e69.pdf 264147d0e8f7d048dfafd75e8c6321a5 PDF Text Text Day 325. Saturday January 30. 155 sleeps to go. by windoworks I have asked friends and families to describe how the pandemic affected their working conditions and how and if it will have changed working conditions in the future. First up is my oldest child, Zar, who works at an online national news publication as a front page editor. New Zealand has been very lucky through the global Covid pandemic as after its lockdown in March (and a smaller, milder lockdown for Auckland for a couple of weeks in August) under the elimination strategy, life has been able to return to pre-virus ‘normal’ very quickly. While we have no community transmission of the virus, the work environment here has returned to what it was before the pandemic, but there is one main difference - the expanded acceptance of working from home. In the lockdown, most companies with office roles adjusted to working remotely. Many workers set up home offices and logged into work from there. Here again New Zealand is lucky as several years back it completed the roll-out of an national ultra-fast broadband network (UFB) to most areas, so people could hook up to fiber internet connections at speeds ranging upwards from 100mbps. This has made working remotely easy. With the experience of successful remote working from the national lockdown, many companies have embraced this as an option for employees - especially useful for staff with sick children or having to work unsociable hours. Another advantage of working remotely in the lockdown is that people can very quickly set up their home offices again if needed to in another lockdown situation - such as the milder lockdown in Auckland in August. �Kiwis have become quite adept at moving quickly to observe restrictions or lockdowns when needed, and the Government has invested huge sums in controls to keep the virus out. Here people refer to it as “putting in the mahi” (work) so they can then enjoy the results of this, living restriction-free. Thankfully, some of the people putting in the most valuable mahi are the contact tracing teams and Covid testers. As inevitable, we have had a few sparse cases where the virus has infected a border worker or returnee, who has ventured into the public (*See below). The contract tracing teams have been able to swing into action and ring-fence those very quickly, moving them and any close contacts into quarantine facilities with no need for further action. Fast testing, available free of charge around the country, was also ramped up, and quick results from large amounts of tests meant there have been no changes to restrictions or work environments. If further action is needed in the future, Kiwis will act together in our “team of 5 million”. *New Zealand’s borders are closed. Only New Zealanders have a right of entry, but must complete a minimum 14 days of isolation in a managed isolation facility (MIQ), with at least four consecutive negative Covid tests. The requirements are free. Foreigners (quite often film crews and deep-sea fishers, and, in some instances medical personnel) can apply for entry and if granted, must also complete managed isolation, but must also pay for it - in some cases many thousands of dollars. Its both interesting and a bit depressing to read how organized and efficient New Zealand has been at managing the virus. You may say: well their total population is only 5M, and that is a good point, but their �success is also an indication of the calm authority at the top - Prime Minister Jacinda Arden. A constant refrain to my question - why can’t we do that? Is: that would never happen here. And then the respondent usually refers to the Constitution. It makes no difference if I point out that as far as I know, every country in the world has a governing document similar to the US Constitution, because apparently our US one is special. Now I could delve into a long discussion about the Constitution and the law and I would point out that the sole purpose of the US Supreme Court is to interpret challenges to the Constitution - but that’s another blogpost. We haven’t been able to organize around the pandemic nationally because we didn’t have a national leader willing to take on responsibility for the safe passage of this country through this time. And right now, the Constitution seems under virulent attack by insurrectionists and coup leaders - and a large number of Republican Representatives and Senators seem to be aiding and abetting them. We now have a calm steady hand on the tiller in the White House, ably assisted by a diverse group of talented people who are working hard for the common good. Meanwhile, the truly disturbed (and I mean that in the mental health sense) and disaffected are doing their very best to tear up the Constitution and establish a dictatorship or monarchy in this country. Why, I hear you ask? The age old reasons - money and power. And because it popped into my head and seemed so appropriate, I offer this from ABBA: Money, money, money Must be funny In the rich man's world Money, money, money Always sunny In the rich man's world Aha aha All the things I could do If I had a little money It's a rich man's world It's a rich man's world From Heather Cox Richardson’s daily FB post: That anyone is trying to downplay that attempt to destroy the central principle of our democracy—fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power-- is appalling. And yet, Republican lawmakers are doing just that. Within the party, the pro-Trump faction and the business faction are struggling to take control. Those in the business wing of the party are not moderates: they are determined to destroy the government regulation, social welfare legislation, and public infrastructure programs that a majority of Americans like. �But they are not openly white supremacists or adherents of the QAnon conspiracy, the way that Trump’s vocal supporters are. And the absolute queen of the QAnon Republican Representatives is News & Guts: In addition to all her wacky conspiracy theories (Newtown school shooting was a “false flag” for example), Marjorie Taylor Greene has also made many bigoted comments. The latest post to surface came from Media Matters reporter Eric Hananoki who found the Georgia Congresswoman blamed the 2018 Camp Fire in California on the Rothchilds, a prominent Jewish family, and lasers beamed from space. Greene has expressed overt and more subtle antisemitic theories over time. In 2018 she shared a video, also on Facebook, that lambasted “Zionist supremacists” and advanced the “great replacement” theory, which falsely alleges that Jews are conspiring to undermine white-majority countries by bringing in nonwhite immigrants. At a minimum, she should be denied committee assignments and shunned by GOP donors. Other options include reprimand, censure or expulsion, particularly if she remains unapologetic or dodgy about her hatefilled views. Throughout history, Democrats and Republicans have both had fringe or corrupt members in their midst. How GOP leaders deal with someone so obviously unfit for office will speak volumes about the party’s values. If the US Constitution is our ruling document, how are House and Senate Republican members who took the mandatory oath of office abiding by it? I do solemnly swear and affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God. All enemies, foreign and domestic. Well that’s clearly stated and I rather think QAnon might fall under the domestic enemy category. But watching from the sidelines and after I watched an interview with Peter Meijer yesterday (a Republican Representative), I knew the Republican Party is tearing itself apart. Rep Meijer said how very disturbed he was by the behavior of the majority of the Republican Representatives and Senators. He is a newly elected member and he was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. His life has changed significantly. He wears body armor, he has security guards and he has had to vary his daily routine. Apparently, especially in Washington D.C., we are now living in a war zone. Remember how everyone laughed when a lot of women worried that the Day of the Handmaid was coming. With women such as Majorie Taylor Greene occupying a seat in the government, I can’t imagine what might happen next. And here’s this: �Washington Post The two pipe bombs that were discovered on Jan. 6 near the U.S. Capitol shortly before a mob stormed the building are believed to have been planted the night before, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation and video footage obtained by The Washington Post. The explosive devices, which were placed blocks from one another at the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees, have been largely overshadowed by the violent attempted insurrection at the Capitol. But finding the person suspected of planting both bombs remains a priority for federal authorities, who last week boosted the reward for tips leading to the person’s arrest from $50,000 to $75,000. The FBI said its agents are “using every tool in our toolbox” and have interviewed more than 1,000 residents and business owners in the neighborhood where the devices were found. On Friday morning, the FBI released additional information that confirmed The Post’s reporting about the timing of the placement of the bombs and raised the reward offered to $100,000. The video footage of the person planting the bombs is online. You can watch all the clips for yourself. And then there’s this: Washington Post Complex, overlapping layers of security and a growing distance from the American public have led successive presidents to label the White House “the crown jewel of the federal penitentiary system.” But the mansion may have competition for the title if an immediately controversial proposal goes through at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Days after apologizing for her agency’s “failings” in keeping the Congress secure on Jan. 6 against a rampaging mob whipped up by Donald Trump, acting Capitol Police chief Yogananda Pittman called for permanent fencing at the House and Senate. “In light of recent events, I can unequivocally say that vast improvements to the physical security infrastructure must be made to include permanent fencing, and the availability of ready, back-up forces in close proximity to the Capitol,” Pittman said in a statement. And to have the final word on this subject, from Heather Cox Richardson: In all my years of studying U.S. politics, seamy side and all, I never expected to see the name of an American president in the New York Times in a list comparing him to Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. But then, I never expected to see an American president urge a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol to overturn an election, either. Two posters about Covid which say it all, really. ��Oliver, to cheer you up. �To finish: its a Bernie meme. How long did it take you to find him? �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-01-30_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-325 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-01-30 Title A name given to the resource Day 325 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/b49b27a9859df77d58b680f5afc1966e.pdf f97aba625b0081c8143485e18b7a457e PDF Text Text Day 324 by windoworks You can’t make this stuff up. Well okay, its that sort of morning. First up: the virus. How did it get here from China, I hear you ask? Well..... Washington Post The first American evacuees from Wuhan, China, were met at a California military base last year by U.S. health officials with no virus prevention plan or infection control training — and who had not even been told to wear masks, according to a federal investigation. Later, those officials were told to remove protective gear when meeting with the evacuees, who were quarantined at the base, to avoid “bad optics.” Those are among the findings of two federal reports obtained by The Washington Post, supporting a whistleblower’s account of the chaos as U.S. officials scrambled to greet nearly 200 evacuees from Wuhan at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, Calif., in the early morning of Jan. 29, 2020. Well that certainly falls into the ‘nothing surprises me anymore’ category. Apparently watching and learning from the Chinese approach to the virus was not part of the brief. Really, you could be overwhelmed by how poorly the US was prepared and how badly the people in charge misread the danger. And what do viruses do best apart from move swiftly from person to person? That’s right - they mutate. Crooked Media tells it best: South Carolina health officials announced on Thursday that they had confirmed two cases of the South African coronavirus variant, the first report of that variant being identified in the U.S. Neither person infected with the strain had traveled to South Africa or had any connection with each other, suggesting that the variant, known as B.1.351 (catchy; memorable; Elon Musk has added it to his list of baby names), is already spreading around the state. This strain is 50 percent more contagious than your garden-variety coronavirus, has caused a large and rapid increase of new cases in South Africa, and has now been found in at least 32 countries. But wait - is that more? The sudden arrival of extra-spreadable new variants has exposed yet another weak spot in the late-stage Jenga tower that is U.S. pandemic preparedness: We have no way to track these suckers. The U.S. has no nationwide system for checking coronavirus genomes for new mutations; researchers at a patchwork of �labs across the country currently conduct genome sequencing on just a few-thousands samples per week, out of roughly 1.4 million positive tests. And this: Why are all these spooky new strains showing up all of a sudden?” you ask, slightly muffled by your double-mask situation. The specifics are still unclear, but the basic answer is evolution. The virus has been mutating all along, and thanks to our global failure to contain it, it’s had ample time to wind up with significant genetic diversity. Some of those mutations have provided an adaptive advantage enabling strains to spread faster—which is why we’re now faced with variants that are better at infecting people or at dodging the human immune system in similar ways. It’s possible (but not yet proven) that the coronavirus has evolved in response to increasing human immunity: A variant that’s good at evading antibodies wouldn’t have had an advantage at the beginning of the pandemic, when everyone’s immune system was totally defenseless. In places where many people had been infected and developed some level of immunity, though, those variants could quickly become dominant. So, double mask people. And now a new recommendation: a surgical mask (KN95) with a cloth mask over the top. Okay then. I may never go into a store again. I have become a hermit. I only venture out in our car. Craig takes me out almost every day for a drive. There isn’t a single part of the Grand Rapids area and beyond we haven’t seen multiple times. Sometimes we drive around areas in the opposite direction, just for a change. Very occasionally I make us a packed lunch of some sort and we venture further afield Silver Lake or Saugatuck. In the future I may never make another packed lunch again. T hen the highlight of each day is: what to make for dinner thats new and exciting and that we haven’t eaten at least 20 times over the past 10 months. Our family book club has begun swapping a recipe a week, although Elle’s margarita recipe this week is not actually food. In other news, a thing called Game Stop happened and rather than try to explain it, here’s something that explains it You’ll need to blow it up to read it, sorry. ��This next piece is from Move On. MoveOn is a progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee. Formed in 1998 in response to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton by the U.S. House of Representatives, MoveOn.org has raised millions of dollars for liberal candidates in the United States of America. Wikipedia Also yesterday, the Capitol Police announced the January 6 white supremacist insurrection left nearly 140 officers injured, including some who suffered brain injuries or smashed spinal discs. And in addition to the five people, including one officer, who died in the attack, two additional officers present during the siege have since died by suicide. Which leads us to an interesting (worrying, scary) piece from NPR about QAnon: Now that former President Donald Trump has left office, the community of believers in the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory are left wondering what will happen next. Washington Post national technology reporter Craig Timberg has written about QAnon and related subjects in recent months. He acknowledges that it can be hard to sum up exactly what QAnon is. "Our copy editors [at the Post] are questioning whether we should call it a 'conspiracy theory' or an 'extremist ideology,' " Timberg tells Fresh Air. "Some researchers think it's a cult. Some think it's an alternative reality game." The gist of QAnon is that there is a person who goes by the pseudonym "Q" who is supposedly a top-secret official in the U.S. government. Q posts cryptic online messages about the "truth" of what's really happening in the world. QAnon proponents believe that Trump was battling a cabal of deep-state actors and their celebrity allies who were, in turn, engaged in satanic worship and pedophilia. Are you with me so far? People who believe in this then take those sort of cryptic messages shared among themselves, analyze it, and then have sort of become a community of fellow travelers in this stuff that seems so crazy to many of us, but actually is a really animating force in a lot of people's lives and has been for years," Timberg says. QAnon supporters, Timberg notes, regard Trump "not merely as their president and leader, but also as essentially a messiah." People with QAnon paraphernalia were well represented in the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. "[They believed that] Trump was going to stay in office, that he had really won the election, that the various baseless claims of election fraud were going to be proven true and acted upon," Timberg says. "And that a bunch of Democrats [were] going to be rounded up and arrested and, depending on which version of this you believed, shot or hung." Hang in there. �Trump's departure from the White House and Joe Biden's inauguration as president left many QAnon followers angry and confused. After the mob stormed the Capitol, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube on Jan. 6 banned Trump — and social media platforms targeted QAnon as well. Timberg predicts that pushback from the social media giants will likely mean fewer people will be engaged with QAnon but that the supporters who remain will be even more impassioned. "Researchers have been saying to me for weeks that … the QAnon believers whose beliefs survive the inauguration of President Biden are likely to be more committed. They're likely to be more fervent and more conspiratorial," Timberg says. "There is a real danger that what we'll see is a somewhat smaller but maybe more fervent and maybe more hateful and maybe more stealthy remnant that remains a force in our political life for years to come — and maybe also engages in acts of violence." OMG and WTF! On what Q supporters think is next, now that Trump has left office I would say they fall into two broad categories: There are those who believe that "the great storm" is still coming in some way, shape or form, even though President Biden is now in office. And I guess there's two iterations of this. One is President Trump is secretly in charge and controlling events from Mar-a-Lago. I guess the other is that there's a new date, March 4, which was the original inauguration date in this country, was done away with, I believe, in the '30s, and that when March 4 arrives, Donald Trump will swoop back in and say, "I've been president all along, I'm taking a second term," and then the mass arrests and the coming storm all happen then. So we'll have to see what happens to that group when that day comes and goes. But then there's an even more angry kind of dead-ender group that is feeling as though this central tenets of QAnon about pedophilia and Satan worshipping, etc., have been true all along, that Donald Trump was not maybe the messiah they thought he was, and that they're sort of like preparing for a longer struggle. Of all the groups, that one kind of scares me, because they're really doubling down on the most terrifying parts of these prophecies. I had heard snatches of this and combined with the domestic terrorism alert, this makes this horror story real. I said to my counselor (and yes, in a pandemic in this country,everyone needs a counselor) I feel as though I’m living in the middle of a really badly made science fiction movie and all I want to do lately is just scream. No, really. So even though Biden is President and working as fast as he can to help us all, the dangerous committed loonies are still out there, in the midst of a mutating viral pandemic. Are we near the end of the movie yet? I’m exhausted at watching it through my fingers and humming loudly during the really scary parts. �Well okay, Oliver. Yesterday he was well enough to go to daycare. They played with a big tub of crumbly dough and Oliver and a friend eventually climbed into the tub with the crumbly dough. As you do. ���So double masks and be very careful out there. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-01-29_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-324 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-01-29 Title A name given to the resource Day 324 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/74241e8103c223a06968b1af80601d2a.pdf 5e41c54a9b0ebf83c8d04416dc3c441e PDF Text Text Day 323 by windoworks I have noticed a disconcerting development. Some days like this morning, I woke up and thought its Sunday. Of course its actually Thursday. Not sure why this is happening and what it means. So where are we on this Blursday? First up: And as a very scary follow up to that, this dropped into my inbox last night : Washington Post The Department of Homeland Security issued a warning Wednesday to alert the public about a growing risk of attacks by “ideologically-motivated violent extremists” agitated about President Biden’s inauguration and “perceived grievances fueled by false narratives.” �DHS periodically issues such advisories through its National Terrorism Advisory System, but the warnings have typically been generated by elevated concerns about attacks by foreign governments or radical groups, not domestic extremists. In a statement, the department said the purpose of the new bulletin was to warn the public about a “heightened threat environment” across the United States “that is likely to persist over the coming weeks.” The bulletin is a lesser-status warning designed to alert the public about general risks, rather than an imminent attack linked to a specific threat. DHS does not have any information to indicate a specific, credible plot; however, violent riots have continued in recent days and we remain concerned that individuals frustrated with the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances and ideological causes fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize a broad range of ideologicallymotivated actors to incite or commit violence,” the statement read. The most recent bulletins DHS has issued — both this month — warned the public about an elevated threat from Iran. No other bulletin in recent years has been issued to alert Americans about violence by domestic extremists. Throughout 2020, Domestic Violent Extremists (DVEs) targeted individuals with opposing views engaged in First Amendment-protected, nonviolent protest activity,” the bulletin states. “DVEs motivated by a range of issues, including anger over covid-19 restrictions, the 2020 election results, and police use of force have plotted and on occasion carried out attacks against government facilities.” It added: “DHS is concerned these same drivers to violence will remain through early 2021 and some DVEs may be emboldened by the January 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. to target elected officials and government facilities.” The new bulletin will remain in place through April 30. This bulletin (scary warning) will remain in place for 91 days, or if you prefer: 13 weeks. So here we are, anxious and worried for the next 13 weeks. How could this be happening, I hear you ask? You know the answer - Trump, his despicable Republicans and the willing cult members. From Crooked Media: 45 out of 50 GOP senators voted to advance the fabricated argument that trying Trump on an impeachment charge is unconstitutional—part of an effort by Trump loyalists to bypass any trial for a president who incited a violent insurrection, let alone a conviction. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), one of the five Republicans to break ranks, has called bullshit on his colleagues who try to frame impeachment as divisive without first recanting their inflammatory lies about the election, and on Tuesday urged them to get on Fox News and affirm that Joe Biden won legitimately. It seems they have not gone on Fox News to affirm that Joe Biden won’t legitimately. Why speak up against the voter fraud lie fueling right-wing violence when you can use it as a pretext to rig future elections? Republican lawmakers around the country have been racing to pass restrictive new voter laws in the wake of GOP losses in November, nominally to tighten election security. Georgia Republicans �introduced legislation on Wednesday that would require voters to submit photocopies of their IDs both when applying for absentee ballots and when returning them, in accordance with that well-known constitutional clause that only U.S. citizens in possession of an HP Laserjet Pro may vote. It’s another perfect day to abolish the filibuster and pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Republicans had a post-insurrection opportunity to reckon with the extreme right-wing elements they’d allowed Donald Trump to unleash, redraw the party boundaries to exclude them, and find their way back to reality. That they continue to refuse has frightening implications, but it should clear the Biden administration’s conscience about simply leaving them behind. Once again, we are living in what is supposed to be a democracy. Defined by Websters Dictionary, democracy means: government by the people 1a : government by the people especially : rule of the majority. b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections. 2 : a political unit that has a democratic government. When you read that, it seems that most Republicans are concerned not with governing for all but with governing for that smaller group of middle class to wealthy, white, racist, misogynist people. That group used and abused by Trump, Fox News, Tucker Carlson, QAnon and other militant insurgents. Most of the really wealthy people who ascribe to this don’t care about anything other than power and money. They don’t care about anyone outside their family, and some of them don’t even care about them. I am truly depressed by all this. President Biden and his awesome team carry on regardless. As well as righting the ship of state, Biden has to find a way to root out all the Manchurian candidates implanted by Trump with iron clad contracts. But if watching hours of legal dramas on TV has taught me anything nothing is actually iron clad. So the country stands at turning point. We can submit meekly, and let the minority Republicans in both houses hold the upper hand (seems counterintuitive) or, the Democratic majority in both houses and the Democratic White House fight the insurgency and reestablish this country as a true democracy. In order to begin, Trump and his Republican politician cronies must be neutralized - and while Melania Trump continues to set up a post White House office at Mar-A-Lago, that neutralization can’t happen. There is a chance that if the Republicans are successful at suppressing consequences for themselves or Trump, the US could end up with 2 governments: Trump in Florida and Biden in D.C. Don’t laugh. Think about what you have witnessed so far in 4 years that was completely outside of your imagination. And just to confirm that, here’s a post about a sitting Republican from Crooked Media: �We knew Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was a bigoted, unhinged QAnon cultist before she was elected. Here’s a quick and incomplete rundown of what we’ve learned about her since she took office: She has spread conspiracy theories about school shootings on Facebook, endorsed the executions of Democratic leaders, supported the QAnon claims that there’s a global pedophile cabal involving top U.S. political figures, and said the 2018 midterms represented “an Islamic invasion of our government.” On Wednesday an awful video resurfaced of Greene harassing Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg. The flashlight of justice is highlighting many distressing things. Here’s just one brought to light by Washington Post: Fighting a pandemic is expensive. So is biomedical science, which is why many public health programs and projects rely on federal funding. But since 2010, millions set aside to develop drugs and vaccines for a public health crisis were misused by Health and Human Services Department staff. A whistleblower complaint triggered a federal investigation into the HHS office that oversees vaccine research. Investigators found that funds were improperly spent on salaries, administrative expenses and office redecoration. Salaries, administrative expenses, and office redecoration. Because, as we all know, to develop new drugs and vaccines to combat public health crises, those scientists and researchers needed a better office space for all those hours they don’t spend in there while they are supposed to be in the laboratory developing things. I am worried that we are approaching a dystopian society (an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic). Uh oh. I think we can see the similarities here except this isn’t imagined. Okay, I’m exhausted. I’m exhausted by the world around me, I’m exhausted by my level of dismay and anger, and some days I’m just exhausted by reporting the real world. Don’t get me wrong, I am ecstatic that Biden is President and Harris is Vice President and I’m excited by all the work being done and the talented people being confirmed. But this is still an uphill battle and I think we all have to pitch in. I’ll leave it there for today. One last upsetting point: 2 days ago the world passed 100M confirmed covid cases. In the US confirmed cases may be slowing but we are still averaging over 4,000 deaths a day. As of today, the US has recorded more than 25.5M confirmed cases which is more than the total population of Australia. Think about that. More than every person living in Australia, a whole continent. Oliver! He has been sick for a couple of days and the doctor said his ear was a little red but not enough to warrant antibiotics. �There are some days when you feel so crummy that the only place you can safely sleep is in �Mummy’s comforting arms. Stay safe. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-01-28_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-323 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-01-28 Title A name given to the resource Day 323 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/c303f47c4dad4377a95de0f48da589e5.pdf 896c4e8a67f5f716eaa6deb827feb813 PDF Text Text Day 322 by windoworks The world around me is changing. Organizations and companies are recognizing that this virus is here in some form for the long haul, and even if this one is subdued and contained, there is always the prospect of the next virus - which might be worse. This morning Craig read an article about a cruise line which had been bought out by an independent company. I wonder about cruising. At the very least, all crew and passengers would have to be fully vaccinated to be allowed onboard. So that takes care of the ship population. But the bigger problem is the ports and the shore excursions. There is risk involved for both the passengers and the local population. How is that solved? I saw that a European cruising company undertook a short cruise last year which ended up being even shorter after a passenger tested positive for the coronavirus. I am surrounded by businesses that are struggling to survive. The most successful are those food providers who have adapted quickly to curbside pickup with limited outside dining. Some eateries have maintained and expanded their daily online presence. A few restaurants have set up a weekly take out menus. Everyone has tried to find that magic formula which enables them to survive. Our local yarn store has finally decided to close. The truth is, that for many people like me, the only option is online shopping. If Craig (the designated shopper) can’t find it in his carefully scheduled visits to the grocery store, then I order it online. I even have a folder in my mail app for online orders so I can keep track of what I have ordered. And to be frank, there isn’t anything I can’t order online. Clothes (including underwear), shoes, hair products, bathroom supplies, make up, jigsaw puzzles, grill pans, curtains, quilts my list is endless. Once I learnt how to return incorrectly sized items and to recognize my proper size for each clothing and shoe outlet - I was ready. Do I miss going to stores and ‘browsing’? Yes. Does shopping online make me feel safe? Yes. Do I feel constrained? Yes - but safer. Downtown in Grand Rapids there is a large convention center. Before the virus, Grand Rapids was such a popular convention destination, that there were plans in place to build a second convention center. Recently, the DeVos Convention Center was refurbished as a large vaccination center and yesterday the first people were vaccinated. The entire converted space was not opened up yet, as just like every other state, the available vaccine supplies are limited. However, help is on the way. Washington Post Federal allocations of coronavirus vaccine to states and other jurisdictions are expected to increase by about 16 percent next week, easing shortages that have intensified nationwide without fully alleviating supply problems. Jeff Zients, coordinator of the White House’s covid-19 response, is expected to inform governors of the increase on a call Tuesday afternoon, according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke on �the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it. The weekly allocation is forecast to go from about 8.6 million doses to about 10 million doses. The vaccine is distributed on a population basis among 64 jurisdictions, including 50 states, eight territories and six major cities. Zients is expected to stipulate that the increased supply will come from releasing more doses of Moderna’s vaccine — one of two authorized for emergency use in the United States. At this point, we are 12 days out from receiving our first shot and I am hoping we will still get it. I have heard of people having their vaccination deferred - scary thought. So the Notice of Impeachment was delivered to the Senate on Monday night and the trial is set to begin on Tuesday February 9. A number of Republicans have said lets just vote to acquit him now, because that worked so well before. We told you he wouldn’t ever do anything egregious again. Okay so, how do they explain the attempted coup? And by the way, apparently there is another coup/insurrection planned fro March 5. I’ve looked up March 5 on my calendar and apart from the fact its a Friday, I can’t find any other significance. The Republican Senators asked for the 2 week delay in the trial beginning because they �thought it would Trump time to find a lawyer (obviously Giuliani’s out), and they thought the public would have lost interest by then. Oh, and to give President Biden time to have hearings for his cabinet appointments. But what they didn’t think about was, this gap gives reporters and investigators time to publish more and more details of of what happened and who incited it and who abetted it. NPR: Another impeachment manager, Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, says he thinks the case for convicting Trump in the Senate trial will become stronger in the days ahead. "As the days go on, more and more evidence comes out about the president's involvement in the incitement of this insurrection, the incitement of this riot, and also his dereliction of duty once it was going on," he told NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro. Castro said he's "confident" the case will be strong enough to convince GOP senators who haven't yet indicated how they'll vote on a conviction. "I would hope that, first of all, they keep their powder dry, that they listen to all the evidence and wait for the case to be presented," he said. "But most of all, at the end of the day, what we need is for people to put country over person, in other words, over Donald Trump and also country over party, Republican or Democrat." And here’s something unnerving: Washington Post The commander of the D.C. National Guard said the Pentagon restricted his authority ahead of the riot at the U.S. Capitol, requiring higher level sign-off to respond that cost time as the events that day spiraled out of control. Local commanders typically have the power to take military action on their own to save lives or prevent significant property damage in an urgent situation when there isn’t enough time to obtain approval from headquarters. But Maj. Gen. William J. Walker, the commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard, said the Pentagon essentially took that power and other authorities away from him ahead of a pro-Trump protest on Jan. 6. That meant he couldn’t immediately roll out troops when he received a panicked phone call from the Capitol Police chief warning that rioters were about to enter the U.S. Capitol. All military commanders normally have immediate response authority to protect property, life, and in my case, federal functions — federal property and life,” Walker said in an interview. “But in this instance I did not have that authority.” Walker and former Army secretary Ryan D. McCarthy are set to brief the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday behind closed doors about the events, the beginning of what is likely to become a robust congressional inquiry into the preparations for a rally that devolved into a riot at the Capitol, leaving five people dead and representing a significant security failure. Wait! Is that more chickens moving in? �FB post Amazing assessment…"Now, Biden is inheriting a nation where many people may simply refuse to recognize him as president; he is facing down an army of spoiled, well-off white people so convinced of their own importance that even a lawful government or the peaceful transfer of power matters less to them than getting their own way. When those people see Biden sworn in as president, they are seeing many things: the humiliation of Trump, the rising threat of “woke” culture, an impermissible ascent to power for Black or female or LGBTQ+ or Jewish people (though Biden is none of those things), or a conspiracy to eat babies. Most importantly, though, they are seeing that someone told them no." And to me, that is the most important thing. NO. Because just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. NO. Just in case it wasn’t clear the first 100 times - NO. Here’s more: Move On: Robert Reich Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley are enemies of democracy, and they must not remain in Congress. Democracy cannot abide lawless lawmakers. I've been in or around politics for over a half-century now. The current Republican Party is the most treacherous, corrupt, and cult-like institution that I have ever encountered. The Biden presidency marks a new beginning, but we dare not minimize, forget, or dismiss the calamity of the last several weeks—or the last four years. Unity does not mean letting the instigators of an attempted government coup off the hook. Among a myriad of other actions, President Biden found time to call Putin: White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Biden called Vladimir Putin and discussed a number of topics, including Ukrainian sovereignty, the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, reports of Russian bounties on U.S. troops in Afghanistan and interference in the 2020 election. “His intention was also to make clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of our national interests in response to malign actions by Russia,” Psaki said. All right! And he also did this: Washington Post President Biden is scheduled to take executive actions as early as Thursday to reopen federal marketplaces selling Affordable Care Act health plans and to lower recent barriers to joining Medicaid. The orders will be Biden’s first steps since taking office to help Americans gain health insurance, a prominent campaign goal that has assumed escalating significance as the pandemic has dramatized the need for affordable health care — and deprived millions of Americans coverage as they have lost jobs in the economic fallout. Under one order, HealthCare.gov, the online insurance marketplace for Americans who cannot get �affordable coverage through their jobs, will swiftly reopen for at least a few months, according to several individuals inside and outside the administration familiar with the plans. Ordinarily, signing up for such coverage is tightly restricted outside a six-week period late each year. During Biden’s campaign I received a questionnaire from him 4 times. Each time he asked what were my biggest concerns - and now he’s acting on all those points that recipients answered. That’s impressive. So the virus is mutating. There are 3 known mutations and there seems there will be more going forward. Washington Post New coronavirus variants emerge constantly in populations in most of the world's corners as global cases surpass 100 million. A few of those, if they can hitchhike in travelers' bodies, make it across international borders. One, first detected as it churned through a Brazilian city, was just found in a nasal swab from a Minnesota resident. That person — the first known U.S. case of this variant — had traveled to Brazil and remains in isolation, authorities said. Precisely what the Brazil variant and others mean for transmission is still being investigated. But it's likely the U.K. variant, which is the best-studied, is more contagious. Facing that strain, the U.K. has embarked on a real-world experiment with its vaccines. Its government will delay booster shots to extend the supply. The wait between doses could lengthen to 12 weeks — up to four times the period in clinical trials. Drug makers are aware of the pressure new variants place on vaccines. The companies are working to ensure when vaccines are pitted against variants, the inoculations win. From a liberated Dr Fauci (that man won’t stop smiling): wear 2 masks in crowded places, pharmacies, doctor’s offices, grocery stores. 2 masks are needed with these more contagious variants. One person from each family in a grocery store and remember, no browsing. It is time to consider what the future might look like. We can’t return to life as it was. This morning I read an excellent article in The New Yorker titled: Has the pandemic transformed the office forever? The short answer seemed to be yes. It was just too long for me to extract excerpts but its worth a read. It also speaks to how life will be going forward. In many countries, very different. Even in successful countries such as Australia and New Zealand, they are struggling with how and when to open the countries up to visitors again. It seems as soon as you subdue the virus - it flares up again. So will it ever end? Everything I have read says no. It will be with us, hopefully to a lesser extent, forever. I know, I know. Deep breath. Here’s Oliver. �With Great Uncle Drew eating vegemite toast downstairs in the cafe. Look! New sandals. Yesterday when we FaceTimed, Oliver had a temperature and didn’t care to speak to us. Zoe thought about taking him to her doctor - but children with temperatures have to be covid tested before the doctor will see them. If he is no better today, she will take him to the hospital less than a block from her apartment. There they will test him and then they’ll examine him. See? Living with covid in the future. Here’s a Bernie nod to Michigan - both the upper and lower peninsulas are referred to as ‘hands’. �And this last item is the updated AllSides media bias chart. For your information. �Double mask up, people. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-01-27_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-322 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-01-27 Title A name given to the resource Day 322 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/b4d4d3068ede1f6aa3b7555fdab4d567.pdf 1d68a905584cdb2adf2c9570283086a4 PDF Text Text Day 321 by windoworks Being midwinter, its snowing. Meanwhile, along with Trump’s impeachment trial and the everlasting pandemic, now a new topic has entered our lives: the climate crisis. Because when we’ve shown how adept we are at coping with 2 major crises, why not add a third? But this is serious business. Trump refused to believe in the climate crisis, following the age old method of putting your head in the sand. (This comes from the supposed habit of ostriches hiding when faced with attack by predators. The story was first recorded by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder, who suggested that ostriches hide their heads in bushes. Ostriches don't hide, either in bushes or sand, although they do sometimes lie on the ground to make themselves inconspicuous. The 'burying their head in the sand' myth is likely to have originated from people observing them lowering their heads when feeding). With the advent of the vaccines, people have been talking about life returning to normal. Not so fast, people. New York Times But what does normal even mean anymore? It’s easy to forget that 2020 gave us not just the pandemic, but also the West Coast’s worst fire season, as well as the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record. And, while we were otherwise distracted, 2020 also offered up near-record lows in Arctic sea ice, possible evidence of significant methane release from Arctic permafrost and the Arctic Ocean, huge wildfires in both the Amazon and the Arctic, shattered heat records (2020 rivaled 2016 for the hottest year on record), bleached coral reefs, the collapse of the last fully intact ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic, and increasing odds that the global climate system has passed the point where feedback dynamics take over and the window of possibility for preventing catastrophe closes. Meanwhile, the earth’s climate seems to be changing faster than expected. Take the intensifying slowdown in the North Atlantic current, a global warming side effect made famous by the film “The Day After Tomorrow.” According to the climatologist Michael Mann, “We are 50 years to 100 years ahead of schedule with the slowdown of this ocean circulation pattern, relative to what the models predict … The more observations we get, the more sophisticated our models become, the more we’re learning that things can happen faster, and with a greater magnitude, than we predicted just years ago.” In 2019, the Greenland ice sheet briefly reached daily melt rates predicted in what were once considered worst-case scenarios for 2060 to 2080. Recent research indicates that rapidly thawing permafrost may release twice as much carbon dioxide and methane than previously thought, which is pretty bad news, because other recent research shows very cold Arctic permafrost thawing 70 years earlier than expected. As the pandemic has worn on, the desire to get back to normal has increased, and the hope for radical �positive change has subsided. But we must not let it dissipate. We can’t afford to. Because we won’t see “normal” again in our lifetimes. Well thats depressing and challenging. My youngest child, Asher, and I had a long discussion about this 2 years ago while driving around Oregon. He continues to be very concerned about the climate crisis. I asked him what Oliver’s generation will do and he said that they would find new ways of coping - such as living underground. As I write this, the East Coast of Australia is experiencing its first heatwave of the summer. On a side note: Craig and I are investigating buying a house in the Blue Mountains (just outside Sydney). It is a beautiful bushy mountainous area with the caveat of being in the bushfire zone. We’ll have to choose carefully. Impeachment: here’s some notes from my favorite: Crooked Media. Impeachment has hit the Senate, federal coup enablers are under investigation, and Rudy Giuliani’s buttdialing days are numbered now that he’s getting his ass sued off: We’ve entered Accountability Season, and shockingly, Republicans want no part of it. • Republicans might regret requesting an extra two weeks before disingenuously declaring Trump innocent, as whole new episodes of his attempted coup continue to spill out into the open. The Justice Department’s inspector general has announced an investigation into whether any current or former department officials tried to help overturn the election. That announcement came just days after the New York Times broke the bananapants Tale of Two Jeffreys: Trump had schemed to oust then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and replace him with Jeffrey Clark, a DOJ lawyer who had “spent a lot of time reading on the internet” (huge red flag) and wanted to use the department to force Georgia lawmakers to overturn the state’s election results. If you were wondering: Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the longest-serving Democratic senator, will preside over Trump’s impeachment trial. (The Constitution specifies that the chief justice preside over the trial of a sitting president. It does not give clear guidance on who should oversee those for others.) New York Times. �And just in case you believed the insurrectionists were operating in a vacuum, also from Crooked Media: • German intelligence officials are concerned that the Capitol riots will further radicalize far-right extremists in Europe. Far-right extremists around the world have been connecting online for years, and even traveling to meet each other and train together in person. Many of them in Europe saw the violence on January 6 as both a symbolic victory for their shared, racist cause, and a strategic defeat they could learn from. German authorities immediately tightened security around the parliament building in Berlin in the wake of the attack, and while no concrete plans have been detected in Germany, officials there are concerned about both a strengthening of international far-right networks since January 6, and neo-Nazis’ current volatile state: “a dangerous mix of elation that the rioters made it as far as they did and frustration that it didn’t lead to a civil war or coup.” Now its time for the pandemic. First up, the worry that the mutations might not be quelled by the vaccines on offer. But here’s reassuring news from The Atlantic: Will the vaccines work against the mutated coronavirus strains? Our staff writer Sarah Zhang reports: In a word, yes. But in a few more words: There are three separate variants of major interest right now, first �detected in the U.K., South Africa, and Brazil, respectively. The more transmissible U.K. variant doesn’t seem to affect the efficacy of the vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna at all. But the South Africa and Brazil variants share a trio of particularly worrisome mutations. Data today from Moderna suggest that vaccine-induced antibodies are not able to bind the South Africa variant as well as they do the usual virus—but they still work well enough to be protective. That’s because the vaccine normally stimulates many times more antibodies than the minimum necessary to protect against the virus. Out of prudence, though, Moderna is looking into how an additional shot of its vaccine or an updated booster based on the South Africa strain could protect against waning immunity, especially in the long term as the virus continues to evolve. But for now, the most important thing is to keep vaccinating as fast as we can. Salisbury Cathedral in England functions as a vaccination center.Tom Jamieson for The New York Times Are we ready for the next pandemic? And yes, scientists are reasonably sure there will be more. NPR How to make sure the world is never so devastated by another pandemic? �Health officials from around the globe have been vigorously discussing that question over the past week at the annual meeting of the World Health Organization's Executive Board. The members, whose nine-daylong, mostly virtual gathering concludes on Tuesday, have heard recommendations from four separate panels. While the conversations have been wide-ranging, common themes keep emerging: Time for fundamental change The pandemic's toll of more than 2 million reported deaths and worldwide economic and social dislocation was not inevitable, said many speakers. It was the direct result of a failure to prepare adequately for a pandemic threat despite years of warnings that better preparation was necessary. The need for speed Much of that reset will involve vastly increasing the pace at which individual nations and global organizations like the WHO assess incoming threats and take action. As Clark put it, "The international system for alert and response has the trappings of an analog system in a digital age." Money matters To maintain a truly robust system of disease detection and response will take money, of course. But many speakers said that just as important as getting together an adequate amount of funds is ensuring that this funding stream is reliable. Why this pandemic could be the one that finally prompts action Even as they made recommendations, many speakers seemed mindful of how many previous efforts to prepare the world for pandemics have failed. With every new pandemic or other major health threat, there are many evaluations which come up with dozens of recommendations. They are nearly too numerous to count, and too few of them have been acted on. The group expressed hope that the sheer magnitude of the crisis this time could make the difference. This is a unique opportunity born out of the gravity of this crisis, to reset the system. Just a footnote here: we are now included in the World Health Organization again. Yippee! This morning we ask ourselves: do travel restrictions work? President Biden has imposed new travel restrictions from countries dealing with new mutations of the virus. Here’s some thoughts from the New York Times: One of the biggest lessons of the pandemic has been the success of travel restrictions at reducing its spread. And this is a moment when they have the potential to be particularly effective in the U.S., given the emergence of even more dangerous coronavirus variants in other countries. President Biden seems to realize this, and has reinstated some travel restrictions that President Donald Trump lifted just before leaving office. It’s not yet clear whether Biden will impose the kind of strict rules that have worked best elsewhere. So far, he has chosen a middle ground between Trump’s approach and the approaches with the best global track record. �Many of the places that have contained the virus have relied on travel restrictions. The list includes Australia, Ghana, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and Canada’s four Atlantic provinces. At key points, they imposed severe restrictions on who could enter. There is a crucial word in that sentence: severe. Travel bans work only when countries don’t allow a lot of exceptions. Barring citizens of other countries while freely allowing your own citizens to return, for example, is ineffectual. “Viruses don’t care what passport you carry,” my colleague Donald G. McNeil Jr., who’s been covering infectious diseases since the 1990s, told me. Voluntary quarantines generally don’t work either, since many people don’t adhere to them. Some take mild precautions and still describe themselves as “quarantining.” As Donald says: “For it to work, it has to be mandatory — and actually enforced. And not at home.” Australia crushed the spread of the virus in the spring partly by ending its voluntary quarantine and requiring all arrivals, including Australian citizens, to spend two weeks in a hotel. The military then helped enforce the rules. China and some other Asian countries took similar steps. In eastern Canada, tough entry rules were “one of the most successful things we’ve done,” Dr. Susan Kirkland, a Nova Scotia official, has said.Travel bans had such a big effect, Dr. Jared Baeten, a prominent epidemiologist, told me last year, that public-health experts should re-examine their longtime skepticism of them. “Travel,” he said, “is the hallmark of the spread of this virus around the world.” At this point in time, even if we are fully vaccinated, we are not confident that we won’t have to quarantine in Australia in early July. We are mentally prepared, however. Oliver! How do you cope in a heatwave? Take off all your clothes and sit in the paddling pool. ��To end today. I offer this from National Geographic: Greening the mosque: In a packed city, how can a community garden together? Maybe on a roof. This “farm” in Jakarta, Indonesia began in the early weeks of a COVID-19 outbreak. On the fourth floor of a mosque, the garden has produced various vegetables for local consumption and for sale. Photographer Muhammad Fadli, on assignment for a story on food security and the pandemic, says the profits will go to the mosque’s welfare fund and to feed the farmers’ families. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-01-26_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-321 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-01-26 Title A name given to the resource Day 321 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/df4b574f528b73086c682cad0d5ebd66.pdf e58be1bfa3502f9a5910317391bc061e PDF Text Text Day 320 by windoworks Sea change (noun): a profound or notable transformation. Why am I posting this? Because that’s what I think is happening right now. I think this is the moment when we can only go forward, we can’t go back. We have seen what happens when a sitting President tries to reestablish public acceptance of racism, white supremacy, gender inequality, misogyny. In the beginning of Trump’s reign, there was an ugly awakening. People began to think ‘If he can act that way or say that phrase, then I can too. He’s the president and if the president can do that, I can too’. And all those horrible unspoken thoughts were now expressed, loudly and nastily. Next came actions, bold, in your face, actions. And a large portion of America said Thank God. Now I don’t have to pretend any more! That large portion showed their true faces and their true faces were ugly. People who had been friends for decades were torn apart when one friend made the assumption that racial slurs and the like were acceptable in their everyday conversation. And why? Because Trump does it and he’s the President. I am continually upset by the comments that follow an update report on FaceBook by my Governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Now, of course, there are a large number of responses which say thank you for looking after us and keeping us safe, but sometimes those positive responses are outnumbered by the others. Responses which have nothing to do with the topic of the post but are just an excuse to use the rights that have been freely given by Trump. The right to denigrate, abuse, harass and threaten. Because they are following the gold standard set by Trump. But, Trump is gone and lawsuits and the impeachment trial are all beginning soon. Trump has relocated to Mar-A-Lago in Florida and is experiencing many ‘friends’ deserting him and the club. He is trying to shout about forming a 3rd political party ‘The Patriots’. He is threatening Republicans from the sidelines, that those not faithful to him will be replaced. He is going to use the $70M campaign funds he obtained under false pretenses from his gullible cult members (unless, of course, various banks claim that money as partial reimbursement for their heavy Trump losses). But, the chickens are home to stay, and the sea change is just beginning. President Biden is steadfastly rolling back the damaging orders put in place by Trump. He has surrounded himself with a team of talented, diverse, well educated and the leaders in their fields. One absolute qualification for each team member: to always tell the truth and freely admit mistakes. I watch Dr Fauci talk: freely and happily, with no fear of being fired. I read articles of (hopefully) all police chiefs across America investigating and rooting out racism and gender inequality in their ranks. The new Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, has already instigated an investigation into racism and inequality in all military ranks. �Here’s some of what the Biden Administration has done so far: �President Biden and his administration are working at light speed. If some Trump appointees who were asked to resign their posts refused, they were fired. And in the meantime there is a huge groundswell of demands for all sitting Republicans who signed the amicus brief to overturn the election results, to be expelled form the House or the Senate. Its hard to ignore the growing number of affronted Americans demanding this edition. A sea change sweeps all before it and leaves the bitterly entrenched flopping like stranded fish on the shore. Some politicians are still saying stupid and nonsensical statements, not realizing that Trump’s day is done and that mode of behavior is no longer acceptable. I’ll name some so you can watch out for them and know they are pissing in the wind: Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Rand Paul. They are behaving this way because they think it will increase their chances of being elected President in 2024. What they forget are two things: a sea change and, a week in politics is a long time - 4 years in politics is an unthinkably long time. Just as I am writing, this pops into my newsfeed: Washington Post: Voting machine firm Dominion files defamation lawsuit seeking $1.3 billion from Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for former president Trump. The lawsuit, citing dozens of Giuliani's statements, accuses him of repeatedly lying about Dominion Voting Systems and its voting machines in an effort to promote the "Big Lie" that the election was stolen from Donald Trump. Hear the chickens settling on their roosts and clucking contentedly? They’re here to stay. �Above, a mass vaccination site in Glendale, Arizona. To the virus and the vaccine: The newly appointed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Sunday that the federal government remains in the dark about just how much vaccine is currently available and warned that states like New York won't be able to quickly replenish its limited supply, NBC News reports. “One of the biggest problems right now is I can't tell you how much vaccine we have, and if I can't tell it to you then I can't tell it to the governors and I can't tell it to the state health officials," Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. Well that’s depressing and we are still 2 weeks out from our first shot. Here’s some more news: CBS News The U.S. has surpassed 25 million cases of COVID-19, according to data reported by Johns Hopkins University. News of the milestone comes days after President Joe Biden kicked off his efforts to combat the pandemic, signing a stack of COVID-related executive orders during his first day in office. The U.S., which has about 4% of the world's population, has reported over a quarter of the world's COVID-19 cases. As of Sunday morning, the disease had killed more than 417,000 people in the U.S. Globally, there have been nearly 99 million reported cases. The U.S. has reported the most cases and the �largest number of deaths of any country. India — with a population four times larger than the U.S. — trails the U.S. with the second-highest case count, reporting more than 10.6 million cases of COVID-19. Mr. Biden has prioritized the pandemic during his first days in office, and his team aims to speed up the delivery of vaccines and protective equipment. Administration officials acknowledged that their goals are largely contingent on Congress, which would need to pass the Biden team's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the newly installed CDC director, told Margaret Brennan on "Face the Nation" last week that by the middle of February, there could be half a million deaths in the U.S. "I think we still have some dark weeks ahead," Walensky said. I participated in a Facebook poll yesterday, which asked if I would eat out after February 1 when restaurants can reopen for limited in-house dining. I said no and then I read the numbers - 95 yes and 1400+ no. That says it all really. Here’s this reality check for us all from the New York Times The coronavirus pandemic in the United States has raged almost uncontrollably for so long that even if millions of people are vaccinated, millions more will still be infected and become ill unless people continue to wear masks and maintain social distancing measures until midsummer or later, according to a new model by scientists at Columbia University. The arrival of highly effective vaccines in December lifted hopes that they would eventually slow or stop the spread of the disease through the rest of the population. But vaccines alone are not enough, the model shows. And if precautions like working remotely, limiting travel and wearing masks are relaxed too soon, it could mean millions more infections and thousands more deaths. There is no doubt that getting vaccinated protects the recipient. Still, several infectious-disease researchers contacted by The New York Times cautioned that it would be months before enough people in the United States will have gotten the shots to allow for normal life to begin again. Only then will the number of people with immunity — those who have had the disease and recovered, plus those who have been vaccinated — be large enough to take the wind out of the pandemic, said Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist at Columbia who shared his team’s modeling calculations. Dr. Shaman estimates that more than 105 million people have already been infected across the U.S., well above the number of cases that have been reported. And his projections show millions more infections are yet to come as the vaccine rolls out. So, protest and complain all you want, but that’s what the scientists are telling us and now we have to accept that all those years of study, research and passing hard exams means they actually do know what they are talking about. Just a reminder: TrumpWorld is permanently closed and there is no refund on your tickets. �Its Oliver time. He is sticker mad and the appliances in Zoe’s kitchen are now suitably adorned but she won’t let him sticker her cell phone. ��Running �is such fun! I have tried to live my life according to another one of my mother’s frequent admonitions: If you can’t say something nice, its better to not say anything at all. I have tried. Same old, same old: mask up, wash your hands and 6 feet apart. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-01-25_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-320 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-01-25 Title A name given to the resource Day 320 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/6da48949f644fd9de91198f545a16b76.pdf 3e8ccb167902384b863f54858e8f77b4 PDF Text Text Day 319. by windoworks Well this pandemic diary has gone on for much longer than I anticipated - and it appears to be stretching into the future. I began writing about life in a pandemic and at first I thought I would never be able to survive the self -imposed restrictions on my lifestyle. This morning an astounding amount of time has passed by: it is almost 46 weeks or over 10 months since my personal pandemic journey began. And a common thread throughout, each time I thought of doing something outside of my safe bubble - I would get excited but then I would think: no, I’m not comfortable doing that. I was talking to a friend yesterday and she said that she and her husband have perhaps ruined eating restaurant food. Meals have become a very important part of her day (as it is for Craig and I) and both of us have gradually adjusted our diets to cope with new dietary restrictions. For my friend it is much less salt and sugar. For Craig and I it is gluten, diary and soy free and making former store bought treats from scratch. During the cold weather I have been communicating with friends by phone but lately I have slipped up on that. It seems that as time goes by it gets harder and harder to stay in touch. And its not just me either, but a collective feeling of withdrawal. It is odd and worrying to me to see my families in New Zealand and Australia eating in groups in restaurants and going to clubs and bars. These are unthinkable activities to me and even though cafes and restaurants will reopen under restrictions on February 1, neither Craig nor I can imagine eating out again. It is becoming apparent that conquering this pandemic may take so much longer than we want. National Geographic AS COVID-19 CONTINUES to run its course, the likeliest long-term outcome is that the virus SARS-CoV2 becomes endemic in large swaths of the world, constantly circulating among the human population but causing fewer cases of severe disease. Eventually—years or even decades in the future—COVID-19 could transition into a mild childhood illness, like the four endemic human coronaviruses that contribute to the common cold. “My guess is, enough people will get it and enough people will get the vaccine to reduce person-to-person transmission,” says Paul Duprex, director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Vaccine Research. “There will be pockets of people who won’t take [the vaccines], there will be localized outbreaks, but it will become one of the ‘regular’ coronaviruses.” But this transition won’t happen overnight. Experts say that SARS-CoV-2’s exact post-pandemic trajectory will depend on three major factors: how long humans retain immunity to the virus, how quickly the virus evolves, and how widely older populations become immune during the pandemic itself. Depending on how these three factors shake out, the world could be facing several years of a halting postpandemic transition—one marked by continued viral evolution, localized outbreaks, and possibly multiple rounds of updated vaccinations. “People have got to realize, this is not going to go away,” says Roy Anderson, an infectious disease �epidemiologist at Imperial College London. “We’re going to be able to manage it because of modern medicine and vaccines, but it’s not something that will just vanish out of the window.” All this just confirms that our lives will never be the same again. We have to learn to live in the long term with Covid and its required restrictions. On another subject: Trump. Hear all those extra chickens clucking towards Trump, now that he’s not the President? Here’s an opinion piece from George T Conway (of The Lincoln Project): Washington Post From the earliest days of his administration, it became painfully apparent that in all matters — including affairs of state — Trump’s personal well-being took top priority. Four years and two impeachments later, he has managed to avoid the full consequences of his conduct. But now that run of legal good fortune may end. Trump departed the White House a possible — many would say probable, provable — criminal, one who has left a sordid trail of potential and actual misconduct that remains to be fully investigated. A desperate fear of criminal indictment may even explain Trump’s willingness to break any number of laws to stay in office despite losing his reelection bid, democracy and the Constitution be damned. He considered unfathomable measures such as declaring martial law and having the military somehow “rerun” the election. He risked further potential criminal exposure with his appalling — and, unbeknown to him, taped — conversation with Georgia’s secretary of state, during which he threateningly demanded that the official “find” enough votes for him to win the state, and by pressuring a Georgia elections investigator to “find the fraud” that didn’t exist. And then, as the clock wound down on his time in office, he committed the ultimate impeachable offense for a president: fomenting a violent attempted putsch at the Capitol to stop Congress from confirming President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Prosecutors and jurors may have to decide whether it’s also a crime. Private citizen Trump stands stripped of the legal and practical protections against prosecution that he enjoyed during his tenure: constitutional immunity; a protective attorney general; a special counsel operating under self-imposed and external constraints; and the ability to invoke the presidency in litigation, even meritless litigation, to delay state prosecutors’ investigations. No longer will he be able to claim interference with his public duties, or to remove those who might allow damaging investigations to proceed. Even before he incited the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, Trump had amassed an impressive slate of potential criminal acts — from before his presidency and during. His life amounts to a virtual issuespotting exercise for any student studying criminal law. The laundry list of potential crimes is the product of the brazenness of Trump’s behavior over decades. Trump’s modus operandi has been to do whatever he considers necessary in the moment and thinks he can get away with. It worked for far too long. Trump has managed to avoid serious legal repercussions — �not just during his four years as president, but throughout his life. Trump’s presidency has ended. So, too, must his ability to dodge the consequences. This next piece articulates my belief that American Presidents are not only the current Commander-inChief but also the chief example of how to behave when holding a position of enormous responsibility. Sometimes I felt that I was the only one who recognized that by his example, he gave the citizens of America permission to follow his example and behave just as badly. It became: if the President can do it, so can I. And so many people jumped in the boat with him, including an astonishing number of elected officials. The Atlantic: Trump used his maleness in roughly the same way that he used his whiteness: as permission. And he turned his own entitlements into a gaudy sales pitch. Part of Trump’s promise to voters, in 2016 and again in 2020, was that they might be liberated not by his virtues, but by his vices. They, too, might be spared the inconvenience of obligation to other people. They, too, could be free to indulge their wants with impunity. They, too, could engage in cruelty and rebrand it as a proud stance against political correctness. They could call themselves patriots—not because they sacrificed for a common cause, but because they understood that the worst thing one can be, in this world, is a pussy. One of the most shameful legacies of Trump’s presidency will be his failure to control the coronavirus pandemic; one core element of that failure has been his framing of mask wearing—a simple, inexpensive, and effective way to slow the spread of the virus—as a front in America’s culture wars. That reinterpretation, too, was an extension of Trump’s worldview. It falsely pitted personal freedom against the collective good. It elevated �an extremely mild inconvenience—the wearing of a face mask—into an alleged infringement of Americans’ rights. It ratified one of the basest assumptions of Trumpism: that freedom is, in its essence, manly. And that the common good, by contrast, carries the stain of femininity. Patriot or pussy. That false choice is killing people. So, undeterred, Trump is forging on: In recent weeks, Trump has entertained the idea of creating a third party, called the Patriot Party, and instructed his aides to prepare election challenges to lawmakers who crossed him in the final weeks in office, including Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (RAlaska) and Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.), according to people familiar with the plans. Multiple people in Trump’s orbit, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, say Trump has told people that the third-party threat gives him leverage to prevent Republican senators from voting to convict him during the Senate impeachment trial. Trump advisers also say they plan to recruit opposing primary candidates and commission polling next week in districts of targeted lawmakers. Trump has more than $70 million in campaign cash banked to fund his political efforts, these people say. �But what he keeps ignoring, is the twin threats: impeachment and lots and lots of litigation. Can we just start the lawsuits and the Impeachment trial now, please? I’ve got my popcorn ready. Meanwhile, our new President has done a Herculean job of overturning Trump’s more offensive executive orders and he is working hard on issues close to most Americans hearts, such as unemployment relief, vaccine distribution, immigration and so on. When does that man sleep? In an entirely different subject, here’s a photo of my glass collage triptych windows beautifully installed in my friends Pamela and Jack’s house. I just couldn’t be prouder. ��These windows depict the balloon festival over Albuquerque. There is a balloon on the left rising up as the dawn breaks. Oliver ��As I was agreeing with my friend yesterday, our children had very boring lives until they went to school. Four days a week Oliver has painting and cooking, and water play and lots of toys and puzzles and balls and bikes of all kinds to ride on. He is taught colors and textures and numbers and words and action songs. Each of those four days he comes home, shattered with fatigue and each of those four nights he sleeps soundly - sometimes for 12 hours straight. He knows nothing of pandemics and politics and he thinks Mummy sometimes wearing a mask is normal. He knows we are the little people on Mummy’s phone and he starts saying Hi before we answer. If the connection drops out he cries and if Craig isn’t there he points and asks repeatedly (in Oliver speak) where is Grandad? At the end of our conversation we always sing, sometimes up to three songs with him. He provides the actions and then he knows its time to say ByeBye and blow us some kisses. He’s adorable. I am tired of the pandemic and the crazy cult members. I try to have hope and confidence in the future, my future. And I try to do as my mother said and “Rise above it dear, rise above it”. I’ll leave you with this very last Bernie meme. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-01-24_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-319 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-01-24 Title A name given to the resource Day 319 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/3c694a5b2e83959fae49a6a9961d94e7.pdf e41593b1c6298fc4291bc25b8b2786ec PDF Text Text Day 318. Saturday January 23. 162 sleeps to go. by windoworks ��These are the proposed rules for easing of restrictions here in Michigan. In the US we have reached 24.9M cases which is over one quarter of the total global cases (96.2). The death toll for the US has reached 414,000 - well on track to reach 500,000 by March. To give you some idea of that number - Atlanta, Georgia has a population of 515,000. So imagine most of Atlanta’s population gone by March this year. And just in case you thought we were making our way out of the woods, here’s a sobering piece from CNBC: LONDON —There is “some evidence” a new Covid variant first identified in the U.K. could be more deadly than the original strain, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday. “We’ve been informed today that in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant — the variant that was first discovered in London and the southeast (of England) — may be associated with a higher degree of mortality,” Johnson told a news conference. He added that all the evidence suggests the vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca-Oxford University, the two currently being used in the U.K., remain effective against both the old and new variants of the virus. The evidence is still at a preliminary stage and it’s being assessed by the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, which advises the British government. The variant, known as B.1.1.7, has an unusually high number of mutations and was already associated with a more efficient and rapid transmission.Scientists first detected this mutation in September. It has since been found in at least 44 countries, including the U.S., which has reported its presence in 12 states. Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that the modeled trajectory of the variant in the United States “exhibits rapid growth in early 2021, becoming the predominant variant in March.” Speaking alongside Johnson on Friday, the U.K.’s chief scientific advisor, Patrick Vallance, said there is now early evidence that there’s an increased risk for those who have the new variant, compared with the old virus. President Biden has put some much needed orders in place but his administration is still coming to terms with the fact that they were not going to amend and improve the Trump’s administration vaccine roll out program - there was no program at all! No program at all. None. Added to that, when offered more vaccine supplies last year, Trump demurred , and those supplies went elsewhere in the world. I continue to be staggered by Trump’s actions, as much as I continue to be aghast at the actions of his cult members. Now, Biden has implemented a mask mandate on all forms of public transport as well as in all federal facilities. Of course, in the Capitol Building in D.C. where they installed walk through metal detectors, they had to also cordon off both sides of each scanner, as Republicans were refusing to walk through and were going around the detectors. Because they’re special and they don’t want their concealed weapons taken off them. �How can you have any sort of reasonable discussion with people who feel strongly that the rules that apply to everyone don’t actually apply to them? Here’s a little something from Crooked Media: In a shocking affront to the very idea of unity, Democrats have announced that they won’t simply pretend that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is still in charge, even after he specifically asked them to. • Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have confirmed that the House will transmit the article of impeachment against Donald Trump to the Senate on Monday, though the trial won’t start until the week of February 8. McConnell had asked for a longer delay to give Trump’s legal team more time to prepare, presumably by paging through the many statements from Capitol rioters citing Trump’s words as their motivation for rioting and mumbling “hoo boy” with increasing hopelessness. No word yet on how long the trial will last, whether the Senate will be able to conduct other business while it’s ongoing, or how McConnell will vote—but it’s looking unlikely that 17 GOP senators are ready to step back from the brink and convict Trump of inciting insurrection. • Schumer also announced on Friday that he will reject McConnell’s demand for unchecked power to veto Biden’s agenda, correctly calling it “unacceptable.” Meanwhile, Senate Democrats continued to recklessly hinder national healing by (checks notes) implementing the agenda that 81 million Americans voted for, drafting legislation that would expand the child tax credit by sending recurring monthly payments (totaling at least $3000 per kid, per year) to tens of millions of families. Unlike the stimulus checks, the Biden administration hopes to make those payments a permanent government program lasting beyond this year. How much of an uphill battle will it be for President Biden? Here’s some thoughts from an opinion piece by David Brooks, a columnist with The New York Times. Most calls to “national unity” are vacuous pap. They are unrealistic, kumbaya pleas to “come together” around nothing. But, as Richard Hughes Gibson wrote this week in The Hedgehog Review, the best calls to national unity are arguments. They are aggressive calls to come together around a specific idea of America, a specific national project. From Biden’s Inaugural address: Here is the thing about life: There is no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days you need a hand; there are other days when we are called to lend a hand. Over the last years, politics was about everything except actual governance. Under Trump, partisanship was about personal identity, class resentment, religious affiliation, racial prejudice and cultural animosity. Biden is a genius at separating politics from the culture wars. He’s been a genius at sidestepping the Trump circus, including the hullabaloo it arouses on the left. We have endured an age of affective polarization, when we didn’t disagree more, we just hated each other more. Under Biden, the emotional temperature �will go down. People believe lies because of motivated reasoning. Under Biden the motivation will go down. Frankly, we need more political apathy in this country. Will he be able to pass this sort of sweeping legislation? I have far from given up hope. Everyday, I read that Republicans will never go for these spending plans, and I always want to ask the writer: Have you noticed that Republicans have already voted for roughly $3 trillion in new spending over the last 10 months? Do not underestimate how divided and confused their party is right now. Do not underestimate how much Republicans trust Biden personally. I was shocked by how moved I was by the Biden inaugural. We’ve been through an emotional hailstorm over four years. Suddenly the sky has cleared. It’s possible America may emerge from this trauma more transformed than we can imagine. Speaking for myself, I do not understand why a large portion of the population feel that rules and regulations do not apply to them. I can never understand what makes these people so special that they don’t have to follow the rules. Are these rules and regulations so invasive that they would rather contract the virus than put up with some inconveniences? Last night, a student from a class last year wrote to Craig and said despite all her careful behavior, she contracted the virus and has had to quarantine herself from her mother - in the house she moved back to, to keep herself safe. I am reminded of that saying I posted some months ago: some of us are sheltering under the largest umbrella we could find while others are dancing recklessly in the rain and seemly staying dry. I wonder if there shouldn’t be a certification of proper mask wearing to be displayed before a vaccine shot is given. If you think the virus is a hoax - well okay. More vaccine shots for us! In New South Wales, Australia they have a daily update (even on Sundays). Each day they announce the new cases (or lack thereof) and speak about the ongoing cases and whether they’re in the ICU or just in a hospital ward. Then they ask everyone, every day, to get a free test even if they have the mildest of symptoms. Each day the spokesperson reminds everyone that once tested, you must remain in isolation at home until a negative test result is secured. And here’s the clincher: in almost a year, New South Wales has recorded less than 5,000 cases in a population of 7.5M. How unthinkable is that? Here in Kent County (pop: 657,000) we currently have 48,204 positive cases and 627 deaths. I know its like comparing apples and oranges, but still. Oliver went to the beach and did some rock scrambling. Be still, my beating heart said Craig, his rock scrambling grandfather. ����Yesterday we did a virtual tour of our house with our realtor. A very informative and agreeable Zoom call. Earlier in the day, the furnace guy came and inspected our failing furnace and promised to install a better, more efficient furnace for 0h about $10,000 or so. Well I have to have heat in the winter, and hopefully it’ll be a great selling point for the house, along with the brand new hot water heater installed 6 months ago - because everything breaks down during a pandemic. We have paid the deposit to the moving company and they sent out loads of paperwork including safe covid rules for movers and home owners. Of course. Because everything is that much harder in a pandemic. Now I just had to post this because it made me laugh. �And although I laughed, I have seen enough Bernie memes to last me a lifetime. Move on, people. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-01-23_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-318 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-01-23 Title A name given to the resource Day 318 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/2e04a3e326244bb67f7bfe5d366e23f6.pdf 5ee94dd815153f8169f301cef49a2f00 PDF Text Text Day 317 by windoworks The new day blooms as we free it. For there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it. Amanda Gorman “The Hill We Climb” This is the beginning of President Biden’s 100 days. I have no idea when this idea began but it seems an arbitrary and brutal judgement of an incoming president. In Biden’s case, he has inherited a country deeply divided and spinning rudderless in place. For 4 years there has been no guidance, no responsibility and absolutely no compassion. Trump and his administration have left behind the new Republican version of a scorched earth. And yet, President Biden remains optimistic and has spent the first day and a half of his presidency signing executive orders that begin the enormous task of overturning the most heinous of Trump’s actions. The Biden Administration has already restored Spanish to all government forms and changed gender designations to be all encompassing. At her first press conference, Jen Psaki made one tiny error - and then the next day she apologized. Apologized! I am overcome. Here’s more: Crooked Media • On Thursday, the Biden administration released a 200-page document outlining the centralized, federal coronavirus response we can finally have now that Jared Kushner is off trying to get into country clubs by pretending to be three kids in a trench coat. Biden signed a series of executive orders and actions to implement the plan, which includes the creation of a National Pandemic Testing Board to increase testing capacity, using the Defense Production Act to ramp up vaccination supplies, testing capacity, and PPE production, a mask mandate on public transportation, and more funding and direction for state and local officials. • Thanks to the Trump administration’s transition sabotage, Biden’s coronavirus team has only just learned the scope of the vaccination task they’ve inherited, which turns out to be less “doing some renovations on an existing structure” and more “shooing angry raccoons out of a half-dug foundation, then building a house from scratch.” Biden’s coronavirus czar Jeff Zients told reporters on Wednesday that Trump’s vaccine distribution strategy was nonexistent: “What we’re inheriting from the Trump administration is so much worse than we could have imagined. We don't have the visibility that we would hope to have into supply and allocations.” And why would this be, Pamela? I hear you asking. Because, and hear me now, Trump never cared - never, ever. And because he never cared about this country and its citizens, 74M Americans still believe the virus is a hoax and wearing a mask interferes with your personal freedom. Here’s a distressing story from The New York Times: �I took a 1,600-mile road trip this week that has left me even more amazed at how poorly the United States has handled the coronavirus — and more worried about how much work the Biden administration has to do to get it under control. I want to tell you that story this morning. I came home from my trip shaken by what I had seen. Almost everywhere I stopped — gas stations, rest stops and hotels, across Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois — there was a sign on the door saying that people had to wear masks to enter. And almost everywhere, most people ignored the sign. At a Fairfield Inn in Ohio, a middle-aged couple sat unmasked on a lobby sofa for hours, drinking beers and scrolling through their phones. The hotel staff evidently did nothing about it. At a convenience store in Indiana, a hand-drawn sign on the door read: “Face masks are required. Please do not enter without one!!” Customers did anyway. Nationwide, about half of Americans are not wearing masks when in close contact with people outside their households, according to a survey released yesterday by the University of Southern California. Wearing a mask isn’t much fun. It’s hard to speak clearly, and if you wear glasses, the fogging is annoying. But the inconvenience sure seems worth the benefits. Study after study has shown that masks reduce the virus’s spread. Yet millions of Americans have decided they would prefer more Covid — for their communities and potentially for their families and themselves — to more masks. Meanwhile, those chickens are still flooding in to roost. I’m reminded of the saying - you can run but you can’t hide. First up, Trump. Washington Post Another one of former president Donald Trump’s banks said Thursday that it is closing his accounts, as Trump returns to a business hammered by covid-19 and the backlash to Trump’s role in the deadly attack on the Capitol. “We no longer have any depository relationship with him," Bank United said Thursday. The bank declined to give a reason for its decision. The Florida-based bank had held some of Trump’s money since at least 2015, according to the former president’s financial disclosures. At the end of 2020, Trump said he had two money market accounts at Bank United, containing between $5.1 million and $25.2 million combined. The financial disclosure forms allowed Trump to list his assets in ranges, rather than exact dollar amounts. Since the Jan. 6 attack, a number of key partners, vendors and customers have cut ties with Trump’s company. That list now includes three of the four banks that held Trump’s largest deposits: Signature Bank and Professional Bank announced their decisions earlier this month. The fourth, Capital One Bank, has declined comment, saying it does not discuss current or former customer relationships. In addition, Trump has lost two real-estate brokers, an e-commerce vendor, a chance to host the 2022 PGA Championship. New York City also said it would end the Trump Organization’s contracts to run a �carousel, two ice rinks, and a golf course in city parks. The Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment. And thats not even mentioning the lawsuits! As for those errant Trump supporting Republicans: Washington Post Pelosi warned Thursday that some members of the House could be prosecuted if they “aided and abetted” the Jan. 6 takeover of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. “There is no question that there were members in this body who gave aid and comfort to those, with the idea that they were embracing a lie, a lie perpetrated by the president, that the election did not have legitimacy,” Pelosi said at her weekly news conference. “There will be prosecution if they aided and abetted an insurrection in which people died,” she added. Among other things, Democrats have suggested that some of their Republican colleagues gave tours of the Capitol on Jan. 5 that could have helped with planning for storming the complex the following day. At a later news conference, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he believes anyone who broke the law should be prosecuted. We can talk all we want about unity and compassion and even forgiveness, but I believe that a large portion of the population (myself included) want to see meaningful consequences. All of us really want retribution but we’re all trying to be better than that. I do want to see the Senate vote to convict Trump of impeachment so he can never hold any office ever again. I do want to see the House QAnon members unseated, along with all the House Representatives and Senate members who voted to overturn the Electoral College votes. I especially want to see Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley thrown out on their ears. Ted Cruz has become silent but Josh Hawley is so supremely sure of himself, he won’t shut up. The evidence coming out is staggering. Now it appears that Michael Flynn’s brother (remember pardoned Michael?) Well, look, read it for yourself: Washington (CNN) The Army is now acknowledging that Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn, the brother of President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn, was in the room for one of the key January 6 phone calls in which DC government and US Capitol Police were asking for National Guard troops to quell the unfolding violence at the US Capitol. The decision-making has come under scrutiny as city and Capitol Police officials have alleged that the Pentagon was slow to respond, while the Pentagon and Army maintain they never denied or delayed requests for the National Guard.The revelation comes as the Department of Defense is already trying to rebut accusations that it denied or delayed the deployment of additional troops as the riot worsened on Capitol Hill, eventually leaving five dead, including a Capitol Police officer. A DC official called the process of calling up more guardsmen "long" and "tortured." �I think the truth is that Charles Flynn is unfairly guilty by association, mostly because Michael Flynn made himself one of the chief agitators, telling the insurrectionists that the election of Joe Biden was a lie. And this is a problem that President Biden can do nothing about. It is so entrenched that along with covid being a hoax, people will die believing these dreadful lies. I’m sure you’ve all read many many articles about these lies and the ongoing effect on the present administration and the upcoming 2022 midterm elections. It just amazes me that in the face of all the evidence, people still won’t believe the truth. Remember how I reported that severely ill patients in Intensive Care, on a respirator, would not say goodbye to their families because they refused to believe they had covid (How could they - it was a hoax, right?) and they died believing they didn’t have covid and they weren’t dying. They died still believing the lie. You can’t climb over that belief. It is too tightly ingrained. My news feed is full of positive stories of President Biden and his administration, who are soldiering on regardless. The hill they have to climb is steep, but the team surrounding the President are competent, talented, able and willing. This morning a man is coming to look at our failing boiler (its winter, of course its failing) and give us a quote and we are having the first Zoom meeting with our realtor. Our path is set and we are moving towards returning to our families, far across the world. And no, I haven’t forgotten - Oliver. ��The new day blooms as we free it. For there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be 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_2021-01-22_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-317 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-01-22 Title A name given to the resource Day 317 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/2e82f00e9fd4cc03366de9c452029af1.pdf b68c041c3e57154628994ab167e4e190 PDF Text Text Day 316. by windoworks ���Ah yes. And I think Crooked Media expressed it best: Notice an unusual lightness in your chest? A strange unclenched quality to your fists? A palpable absence of malarkey wheresoever you turn? It can mean only one thing: President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., of Delaware has taken office. I began the day by watching Trump, Melania and the children all board the plane for Florida. I watched the plane disappear in the sky - just to make sure he was really gone. And just like that, it was over. Later in the morning I watched the Inauguration. I watched as the cars arrived - Joe and Jill Biden in The Beast - a car that can survive any type of attack. I watched Barack and Michelle Obama walk down the steps, George W and Laura Bush come in, Bill and Hillary Clinton too. There were so many notables. Everyone was warmly dressed for the cold day. Then it was a kaleidoscope of memorable moments - Kamala Harris sworn in as Vice President by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor (Kamala’s husband will be known as the Second Gentleman). Then Joe Biden sworn in as President by John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States. �Look at that huge bible Jill is holding. President Biden then gave a great Inauguration address. And again, Crooked Media said it best: The country wasn’t magically fixed at 12:01 p.m., as viewers were reminded with every glimpse of masked attendees, National Guard troops, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett killing the vibe on the dais. But the formal beginning of the Biden era means that democracy has prevailed and profound change is already underway, because you voted for it. What a feeling. Here’s just some of what President Biden said: We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts, if we show a little tolerance and humility, and if we’re willing to stand in the other person’s shoes — as my mom would say, ‘Just for a moment, stand in their shoes.’Here we stand just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work of our democracy, to drive us from this sacred ground. It did not happen. It will never happen. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Not ever.Now we’re going to be tested. Are we going to step up? All of us? It’s time for boldness, for there is so much to do. And this is certain: I promise you, we will be judged, you and I, by how we resolve these cascading crises of our era. �And of course, there were songs: Lady Gaga sang the national anthem, Jennifer Lopez sang “This Land is Your Land” and “America the Beautiful” and lastly Garth Brooks sang “Amazing Grace” and he stopped before the final verse and asked everyone, including all of us at home watching, to sing the last verse with him. So we did. Ever notice how hard it is to sing when you’re crying? Then the new national poet laureate, Amanda Gorman, read her poem “The Hill We Climb” After that there were so many moments - one that stands out was President Biden climbing out of The Beast and he and First Lady Jill Biden and their family walking down Pennsylvania Avenue and walking into the squeaky clean White House. �As promised, President Biden got straight to work. He began in the Presidents Room and then moved to the Oval Office. NPR Below is a partial list of Biden's actions: Require the wearing of masks and social distancing in federal buildings and on federal lands by federal employees and contractors Rejoin the World Health Organization Ask federal agencies to extend eviction and foreclosure moratoriums through March 31 Ask Education Department to extend federal student loan payment and interest pause through Sept. 30 Rejoin the Paris climate agreement Revoke the presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline Place a temporary moratorium on oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Begin to reverse more than 100 actions Trump took to roll back environmental regulations Rescind President Trump's 1776 Commission and revoke Trump's order limiting diversity training Stop on all wall construction at the southern border �Reverse the Trump directive to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census numbers used to reapportion each state's share of congressional seats and Electoral College votes In all, he signed 17 Executive Orders. There is almost every moment of the whole day available online. By 5:30pm I was suddenly completely exhausted. The day had been a huge success and my fears of violence were unfounded. Of course, the security presence was enormous - they had covered every contingency. Later in the night we watched this: I am almost at a loss to tell you what an absolute joy it is to watch a proper White House Press Secretary. As my friend Mary Alice said (and I echo her words): Be still, my beating heart. In other celebrations: NPR The inauguration kolam project is "not just a welcoming of a new administration. It's this idea that so many people came together with all of their stories," says Sowmya Somnath, one of the organizers. �And here’s a surprising but joyful item: �NPR An art project that turned the border wall at the U.S.-Mexico border into the temporary base for pink seesaws – inviting children on each side to come play together – has won the London's Design Museum award for best design of 2020. "We are totally surprised by this unexpected honor," said Ronald Rael, who designed the project with fellow architect Virginia San Fratello. They share the award, he said, with the Ciudad Juárez, Mexicobased art collective Colectivo Chopeke. �Apparently, the revelation that they may have been played has begun for QAnon: NPR: QAnon supporters believed Wednesday’s inauguration was an elaborate trap set by the former president, wherein Democrats would be rounded up and executed while Trump retained power. Various other doomsdays theorized by the QAnon community have also come and gone without incident. But unlike those past days, Biden's inauguration leaves the community with little daylight. As their predictions failed, radicalized QAnon members expressed their betrayal on messaging apps like Telegram and forums named after their failed doomsday scenario, The Great Awakening. Ron Watkins, the former administrator for the message board and QAnon hub 8kun and a major force behind false conspiracy theories surrounding the election results, seemingly capitulated, posting a note to �his more than 100,000 followers: “We gave it our all. Now we need to keep our chins up and go back to our lives as best we are able.” Some QAnon followers spent weeks preparing for a nationwide blackout starting at noon on Inauguration Day, warning friends and family in text chains and Facebook messages to buy CB radios and stock up on food. They believed Trump would announce martial law through the Emergency Broadcasting System before carrying out mass arrests. If nothing happens I will no longer believe in anything," said one supporter at the beginning of inauguration. “We all just got played,” said another, moments later. And lastly, Oliver. ��To finish, sing it with me: Happy days are here again The skies above are clear again So let's sing a song of cheer again Happy days are here again. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2021-01-21_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-316 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-01-21 Title A name given to the resource Day 316 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