9 24 538 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ad7592e8de8b209778a0545be8d86daa.pdf 1c4fdf130638ea58c8750d0d601e380b PDF Text Text Day 17,384. No? Okay, day 267 by windoworks I begin today with this: The New York Times reports: At least 2,607 new coronavirus deaths and 184,174 new cases were reported in the United States on Dec. 1. Over the past week, there has been an average of 161,228 cases per day, an increase of 2 percent from the average two weeks earlier. The Times reports that as of this morning almost 14 million people have come down with coronavirus in the U.S. and more than 270,000 have died. Now CDC Director Robert Redfield claims that things are going to get much worse over the next three months. This is a quote that should raise red flags and cause people to reassess large gatherings and holiday travel plans. December, January and February are going to be rough times. I actually believe they’re going to be the most difficult in the public health history of this nation.” Dr. Robert Redfield, Director CDC Now that is disturbing, but it was reported on Tuesday. Since then this was recorded for yesterday, and we have crested over 14M cases in total: News & Guts More than 200,000 new coronavirus cases were reported on Wednesday while more than 100,000 Americans were hospitalized with the virus. Both those numbers are records. Also, the U.S. reported the highest number of new daily COVID deaths since the pandemic began with more than 2600 reported today. Here’s some other cheery news: Science Alert A systematic analysis of 33 COVID-19 autopsies has found small traces of viral material in the human brain, and they appear to have come from the nose. It's a scary thought that SARS-CoV-2 might actually make its way into the human nervous system; while the results are preliminary, the signs are not looking good. The upper part of the human nasal cavity, known as the nasopharynx, is thought to be one of the first sites of infection and replication for SARS-CoV-2, and it might also be a weak point in our brain's defences. The human brain is separated from the rest of the body's blood supply by a semipermeable barrier of cells - helpfully named the blood-brain barrier - that keeps toxins and pathogens away from our precious noggins, at least most of the time. �In fact, some scientists think this could be what's causing many of the neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19, including loss of smell and taste, headaches, dizziness, nausea, and fatigue. Some days this blog turns into ‘everything you ever wanted to know about whatever, but were afraid to ask. This is probably one of those days. Yesterday I came across a post which explained why Trump’s followers adore him and believe his every word. I thought it worthy of sharing. It might answer some of those ‘I don’t understand’ moments. The Rise of Gnosticism with Donald Trump an interpretation by Linda Kristensen Gnosticism is derived from the Greek word “gnosis” meaning to know or knowledge Gnostic is defined as “relating to knowledge especially mystical knowledge. Gnosticism is a collection of religious ideas and systems which originated in the first century AD among Christian and Jewish sects. These various groups emphasized personal spiritual knowledge over the orthodox teachings, traditions and authority of the church. Trump supporters see Trump as the “Chosen One” to run our country. His Rallies are Church to them and Trump is their Gospel. To attend a Trump rally is to engage directly in the ecstasy of knowing what the great man knows, divinity disguised as earthly provocation. (To Trump-supporters; Trump is the biblical equivalent of King David flawed but still he became King. Therefore he must be believed, honored and all must be loyal to him.) One of the defining marks of the MAGA cult, like the gnostics of olde, is their deep and intense belief in the Myth of the Untutored Genius. This myth is one of the oldest refuges of the lazy and dumb. So just as the members of the Master Race are always guys who look like this Adonis…so the people who fancy themselves untutored geniuses always talk as though their native, instinctive brilliance confers on them an intuitive understanding of everything by a kind of direct spiritual illumination that leaves all those pencil-necked dweebs who did the homework in the dust. So Trump, like Bart Simpson on the day of the test he couldn’t bother to study for, tells us that he has a “natural instinct” for Science. He brags that doctors are astounded at how he just intuitively knows so much about coronavirus. When people relying on the best facts, data and hard numbers crunch those numbers and report what they add up to…. (Trump) the Untutored Genius consults his “gut” and declares them all wrong because he “just knows”. �What can be done to combat Trumpism, MAGA, Gnosticism? NOTHING - they will believe this way of thinking until they don’t. �So Pamela, I hear you ask - what then can you tell us about QAnon? This is what I’ve discovered and its illuminating: QAnon is a wide-ranging, unfounded conspiracy theory that says that President Trump is waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping pedophiles in government, business and the media.It began in October 2017; an anonymous user put a series of posts on the message board 4chan. The user signed off as "Q" and claimed to have a level of US security approval known as "Q clearance”.These messages became known as "Q drops" or “breadcrumbs".QAnon began as a prank by 4chan members with the goal of convincing gullible people to unwittingly promote the fictional organization "QueersAnonymous". It has since been adopted and perpetuated by many around the world. And so there it is - it started as a prank. But even more concerning is this: Crooked Media: Trump’s freshly-pardoned former national security advisor Michael Flynn shared a deranged manifesto from a right-wing Ohio group calling for Trump to “temporarily suspend the Constitution” until a new election is held, impose martial law, and “silence the destructive media.” You know, like the textbook definition of a military coup. It’s a classic If You Give a Mouse a Cookie situation—if you pardon a criminal conspiracy theorist for lying to the FBI, he’s just gonna want to try sedition. Meanwhile, Trump’s hints at another presidential run in 2024 (which he may or may not kick off on Inauguration Day, like a baby) are getting louder. At the third of at least 25 planned mask-optional White House Christmas parties, Trump told guests, “It's been an amazing four years. We are trying to do another four years. Otherwise, I'll see you in four years.” As exhausting as it is to contemplate, we can all take comfort in the fact that it would be a tremendous kick in the nuts for Secretary of Running for President Mike Pompeo. As at every stage of the clown coup, Trump and his allies have called for anti-demoratic actions that have no chance of happening, based on fraud claims and conspiracy theories that have no basis in reality. But Republicans’ silence has helped amplify that anti-democratic rhetoric, and we can’t ignore that this one buffoon trying to protect his ego and escape accountability is weakening our defenses against the next, slightly shrewder buffoon to come along. Remember the movie where the TV journalist began a movement by opening the window and shouting “I’m not going to take it anymore”? Is it time for me to do that? Would anyone else join me? Okay, I can hear you all shouting: where’s Oliver? �This photo is titled: my Mummy’s mean and won’t let me have this chocolate rabbit. �Our next port of call was Girona. Girona is a city in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region, beside the River Onyar. It’s known for its medieval architecture, walled Old Quarter (Barri Vell) and the Roman remains of the Força Vella fortress. Landscaped gardens line the Passeig Arqueològic, a walkway following the Old Quarter’s medieval walls, which include watchtowers with sweeping views. ― Google ��������Such an interesting place. You know in 3 weeks sailing, we had 1 day at sea. This was the first week and we had shore excursions every day. Looking back, the 3 weeks were probably my favorite cruise. It is nice to relive it as I suspect it will be a couple of years before cruising begins again and Craig is asked to lecture. As I write this, it is a sunny morning. Michigan can have few sunny days going into winter and so we all cherish each sunny day. As ever, stay safe by wearing a mask, maintain physical distance and wash your hands. And one last thing: I read a recent article about those igloos and individual glasshouses that restaurants and cafes are putting up outside their premises. While they look safe, they’re designed to keep out the wind - and you actually need the wind to blow the virus away. I’ll leave you to think about that. � 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_2020-12-03_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-267 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-12-03 Title A name given to the resource Day 267 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/10a087c92fc669a073644adb3c74c3c0.pdf 192a4c9ba29258134c6aee92686161d9 PDF Text Text Day 266 by windoworks ��I feel as though we are in the calm before the storm. You know that moment when everything goes eerily quiet, then the wind picks up and suddenly, all hell breaks loose. From Washington Post: Americans heard the pleas to stay home. They were told what would happen if they didn’t. Still, millions traveled and gathered during last week’s Thanksgiving holiday, either doubting the warnings or deciding they would take their chances. Now, like any partygoer waking from a raucous weekend — feeling a bit hung over and perhaps a tinge of regret — the nation is about to face the consequences of its behavior and will need to quickly apply the lessons before heading into the doubleheader of Christmas and New Year’s. Health experts point to several key takeaways: Many states were overwhelmed by unexpected surges in testing — with many families hoping a negative result might make their planned gatherings a little safer. Some airports were not prepared for the huge crowds that had not been seen since the beginning of the pandemic, making it difficult for travelers to maintain social distancing. But perhaps the most obvious lesson: Public health messaging needs to be retooled, as whole swaths of the country are simply tuning out the warnings from officials and experts. “We have to rethink how we’re communicating. Blaming people, yelling at them, stigmatizing them — clearly it’s not working,” said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security. “We have to show compassion and empathy. Understand where people are coming from and persuade them to do otherwise.” As bad as the country’s infections and hospitalizations are now, they will probably worsen in coming weeks because of the millions of interactions that occurred during Thanksgiving, experts say. In recent days America’s infection curve has already become a sheer mountain-climber’s cliff with recordbreaking case numbers and hospitalizations. If people travel and gather for Christmas as they did this past week, they project, the country’s already catastrophic situation could reach levels where hospitals are forced to choose which patients to save and which to let die, and where lockdowns become unavoidable realities of everyday life. Many people seem to be continuing to indulge in a kind of magical thinking and denialism, as they have all year long. “It’s like ‘I know this is a bad idea, but I want to do it, so I’ll find a reason and way,’ ” Rasmussen said. You know I think its hard for people. They’ve had a president (normally the bastion of acceptable behavior) who has indulged in magical thinking for 4 years. I think of that well worn phrase: lead by example, and I realize that half the population is following Trump’s example. Here’s his example for Christmas and New Year: Washington Post: Despite the cacophony of warnings to avoid travel and gathering in large groups, the White House is planning a spate of indoor holiday parties. �With an example like that, what do we expect people to do? This is the bit from the Washington Post story that bothers me the most: hospitals are forced to choose which patients to save and which to let die. Remember all those war movies where they showed field hospitals where they put different colored tags on the toes of wounded soldiers lying on stretchers? And some nurse or orderly asked what the red toe tag meant? And the harassed doctor always said: oh this one we can’t save. Soon there will be patients with the modern equivalent of a red toe tag because our hospitals will be so overwhelmed with severely ill Covid cases, the medical staff will have to make life and death decisions. Thats the thought that really bothers me. Craig and I have done everything we were asked (and more recently, were begged) to do and yet, what if one of us ends up in hospital with Covid and even if we’re not red toe tagged, we’re there, in isolation, wondering if we’ll survive. Yesterday I watched Governor Whitmer and then Dr Joneigh Khaldun explain just how dire the situation could get, and even then, when I accidentally hit the comments button on the screen, there they were, those die hard nasty people shouting their rabid comments for all to see. Insisting that once again, Gretchen was stepping on our rights. I am tired of this. I would like all those ‘my rights’ people to move far away from this state and leave all of us who listen and research and understand consequences not only for ourselves, but for everyone else around us, happy here in our restricted conditions, secure in the knowledge that we are all working together to survive. I was talking to my brother-in-law who lives in Australia, about shopping at Trader Joe’s and their careful restrictions, cart cleaning etc. He asked if other grocery stores do that much to keep shoppers safe and when I answered no, he asked why not? Good question. �This pandemic has put a strain on marriages and relationships. Craig and I have been here, uninterrupted, for almost 9 months straight. We follow the same routine, day after day. Yesterday when I woke up Craig said: Congratulations! We‘ve made it through another month! And I guess if we’ve done almost 9 months, we can make it through 6+ months to July. Craig also said to me a week ago: I don’t want to end up living in our house like hermits with 3 pieces of furniture. And then yesterday he said: We are going to be living like hermits with 3 pieces of furniture, aren’t we? Well, yes. And our guest bedroom? The pile of ‘take with’ is growing at an alarming rate. News continues to pour in about the vaccines in the final approval stage. The Atlantic The vaccine news cycles are just beginning. More trial data are coming, our science reporter Sarah Zhang says in her latest. Expect future results that are “sometimes good, sometimes confusing, and sometimes disappointing.” But overall, the picture looks pretty great: Sarah, who once cautioned readers about putting too much hope in vaccines, is feeling optimistic. I asked her to take stock of what we know so far—and what we don’t. What we know • We have three effective vaccines: one each from Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca. (Although the latter company cleared the FDA’s bar for effectiveness, its trial results were pretty confusing.) �• If the first one, Pfizer’s, is authorized for emergency use by the FDA, it will be available by the end of the month. • Per a CDC panel vote this evening, the first recipients will be health-care workers and residents of longterm-care facilities. What we don’t know • How will we prioritize vaccines in the long run? Who will get them next, and when? • What other vaccines may be coming, and how effective will they be? (So far, all of the candidates require two doses. How will Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose solution fare?) • Will Americans be willing to take them? This morning there are clearer guidelines. Most importantly, Craig and I can hope to be vaccinated by February/March. Will this allow us to enter Australia without quarantining? Probably not. And here’s the thing that we’ve been thinking about: our family members will want to hug us when they see us - and well, we’re feeling kinda awkward about that. Its like that thing about shaking hands - no, and probably never. Oliver �Eyeing off Drew’s iced coffee with evidence of chocolate brownie around his mouth. �So our next port was Saint-Tropez. Saint-Tropez was a military stronghold and fishing village until the beginning of the 20th century. It was the first town on its coast to be liberated during World War II as part of Operation Dragoon. After the war, it became an internationally known seaside resort, renowned principally because of the influx of artists of the French New Wave in cinema and the Yé-yé movement in music. It later became a resort for the European and American jet set and tourists. Wikipedia.This was a port where I wandered around the old port shopping area and Craig explored further afield. ���Thats our ship at anchor. �Hilltop fort �Sun setting on our day in Saint-Tropez. To end today, I have a photo of a flowering Jacaranda tree from my friend Merrilyn. She passes this tree every morning on her daily walk. �See you tomorrow. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-12-02_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-266 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-12-02 Title A name given to the resource Day 266 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/6a00955f5f5439dcddcf1e1ae5492614.pdf 6377fe9b70602b7673144517e0c0d76b PDF Text Text Day 265 by windoworks I begin this morning with a reflection. A neighbor gave me a book for my birthday and I was reading it and I realized something significant. The author talks about intentions - something you can imagine yourself doing and then realizing that intention or dream. And sometimes we find the thing that makes us feel happy and fulfills our intentions, by accident. I realized as I read the book’s conclusion that I had accidentally found mine. In the beginning I wanted to be a writer and all the advice said: begin with what you know. So I began (years ago) to write my autobiography. Initially I had intended to finish it at my 50th birthday - which shows you just how long ago I started. I have not finished it and it sits reproachfully on my IPad. Next, every time we went on vacation, I wrote a blogpost, and sometimes, between vacations and when I felt so moved, I wrote another one off post. At the beginning of this pandemic I began writing this Pandemic Diary. At first it was short and scant, but over the last 9 months it has been added to and extended until it is an epic every day. Sometimes I check to see if it ‘looks’ long enough. But here’s the thing: I love writing it. I love the research that goes into every aspect of the blog. I love the way it flows from item to item. But most of all, as well as the joy of writing it, I love you, the constant Readers, who join me day after day, walking this pandemic with me. This is my unexpected intention, realized. I am a writer and it is one of the things that I do best. This is my song and I am singing to you. �Today the CDC (Center for Disease Control) has reported there are 96,069 patients currently in hospital. The virus numbers are climbing again. This morning for comparison, I looked at the daily case number in Michigan on June 16 - 164 new cases. Yesterday Michigan recorded 10,768 new cases, in a single day. All the experts are advising that this will be a ‘dark’ winter. They expect the case numbers to keep rising and the daily death counts to rise also. There is some good news - or as Dr Fauci says: a faint light at the end of the tunnel - both Pzifer and Moderna expect to have their vaccines available before Christmas. Now the discussion centers around who should get the first round of vaccinations. All hospital staff, of course. Then police, firemen etc. and perhaps nursing homes as well. They are sustaining a larger number of Covid related deaths. Our age group (66+) will be either the second or third round. �As we think about the end of the pandemic (but not, dear Reader, the end of the virus - sadly that is here to stay), reports are surfacing of the true beginning of the pandemic. Bloomberg Testing has found Covid-19 infections in the U.S. in December 2019, according to a study, providing further evidence indicating the coronavirus was spreading globally weeks before the first cases were reported in China. The study published Monday identified 106 infections from 7,389 blood samples collected from donors in nine U.S. states between Dec. 13 and Jan. 17. The samples, collected by the American Red Cross, were sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing to detect if there were antibodies against the virus. The findings of this report suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infections may have been present in the U.S. in December 2019, earlier than previously recognized,” the paper said. Reports of a mysterious pneumonia spreading in Wuhan, China, first emerged in late December 2019. After multiplying rapidly throughout the city in the following weeks, the disease spread across the globe, with the first U.S. case emerging on Jan. 19. The revelations in the paper by researchers from the CDC reinforce the growing understanding that the coronavirus was silently circulating worldwide earlier than known, and could re-ignite debate over the origins of the pandemic. It’s not the first evidence showing the virus could have existed or infected people outside China before 2020. A patient in France was found to have contracted the virus after being hospitalized with flu-like symptoms at the end of December, contradicting official statistics showing Covid-19 reached the country from people returning from Wuhan at the end of January. The CDC study indicated there were isolated infections in the western part of the U.S. in mid-December. Antibodies were also found in early January in other states before the virus was known to have been introduced to those places. The scientists indicated it’s unlikely that the antibodies developed to curb other coronaviruses, as 84 samples were found to have neutralizing activity specific to SARS-CoV-2. They also noted it wasn’t possible to determine the magnitude of infections on a state or national level based on the samples, or whether the cases were locally transmitted or travel-related. Well that’s interesting. Both Craig and I still wonder if we had it earlier in the year and a friend of mine diagnosed with pneumonia in January, has discovered that he has a problem with the blood flow in one of his heart’s ventricles - and his doctors think it is an indication of him having had Covid. If you were wondering how a pod or bubble works, here is a story that may make you think carefully before you begin: �NPR D.C. resident Catherine Dill describes herself as an introvert, so the initial weeks of the city's stay-athome order didn't wear on her quite as much as others. Still, after months on her own, Dill formed a pod with three close friends. "It took a lot of work to think through … how to do it safely, but now that we have a routine, it's just really comforting and emotionally uplifting to be able to share the same space with people again," Dill says. Her bubble includes a friend who also lives alone and a married couple, all of whom live a few blocks apart in D.C. But the pod is not "static," Dill explains — households will temporarily leave the bubble whenever someone takes on a new level of risk. "If any of us go indoors somewhere, then that person is out of the pod for two weeks," Dill says. And she means it: they're all largely getting groceries delivered (a luxury not everyone can afford during the economic crisis), so even going into a supermarket means cycling out of the pod. In one recent instance, a member wanted to be a poll worker during the election, so she knew that meant taking a two-week leave of absence from the pod after Election Day. President-Elect Joe Biden has named a large number of White House staff as well as proposed Cabinet members. His choices are an interesting mix of ethnicities, gender and color. At the same time he has begun outlining policies such as environment and education. And he and Vice-President Elect Kamala Harris have begun receiving security briefings which I’m enormously relieved by. Of course Trump hasn’t gone anywhere and here’s a piece from Crooked Media: In spite of his crack(ed) legal team, Trump continues to lose the election in fresh and exciting ways on a daily basis. On Saturday the Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed out a GOP effort to block the state from certifying its results. Recounts requested by the Trump campaign in Wisconsin’s two largest, bluest counties reaffirmed Biden’s victory. As of today, all six key states where Trump threw legal spaghetti at the wall—Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Wisconsin—have certified their results, making Biden’s victory official. And just in case you were wondering - they’ve begun construction of the official viewing platform for Biden’s Inauguration. Some Republicans are trying to persuade Trump to attend the Inauguration Ceremony to show his rabid supporters that he accepts Biden’s legitimate win. Good luck with that. Yesterday Oliver stayed home from daycare as he has a fruity cough and a runny nose - and once again, he appears to be teething. ��Here he is, glued to the TV while ‘The Lion King’ entertains him, and allows his mother to do some office work. Flashback: our first port was in Cannes. �I am impressed with how skinny I look. This is the Old Town part of Cannes on a sleepy �Sunday morning. I just want to point out that Craig made me walk up the steep streets to this look out - 6 weeks after my total hysterectomy. But it is a nice photo opportunity. �This might have been the spot where I said: no I don’t think �so. �This sort of walking was much more my style. After an early buffet dinner onboard the ship, they put us on buses and took us to our first Azamazing Evening. It was a Can Can Cabaret in a downtown Cannes theater. �Never one to miss an opportunity, Craig had his photo taken with some of the dancers. And then it was back to the ship and champagne as we got off the bus. Every Azamara cruise features an Azamazing Night, all laid on for free. Next port tomorrow. Remember to be careful, stay healthy and stay heroic. � 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_2020-12-01_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-265 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-12-01 Title A name given to the resource Day 265 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/dc6fa6f2e52346631cccef15691f9184.pdf 3d5badc744ad644493993f106023cb73 PDF Text Text Day 264. by windoworks ��The day after Thanksgiving the US added 205,460 new cases and the total cases have reached 13.4M. The total deaths stand at 267K. Michigan added 16,680 cases, for Thanksgiving and the next day. The total cases have reached 378K and the total deaths stand at 9461. I cannot give you yesterdays statistics for the US, Michigan or Kent County as they do not run the numbers on Sundays or Thanksgiving apparently. Yes, you really are looking at a cart with 4 bodies on it and the staff opening the temporary morgue housed in 2 refrigerated semi trailers. From Washington Post: Biotechnology company Moderna, one of the leaders in the race for a coronavirus vaccine, announced it would file Monday for regulatory clearance — a critical milestone that brings the United States a step closer to having two coronavirus vaccines before the end of the year. And there’s more. The vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer and BioNTech are a major proof of concept for a flexible and fast medical technology, years in the making, that utilizes a snippet of genetic material called messenger RNA that teaches cells to build the spiky protein found on the surface of the coronavirus. The immune system learns to recognize and block the real virus. Washington Post. So think about this: as a volunteer, you must be prepared to have the injections, not knowing whether you’re receiving the vaccine or the saline solution. Then you agreed to be exposed to the virus because if you aren’t exposed, how would the scientists know if the vaccine works? Moderna’s vaccine was 94 percent effective at preventing illness in a 30,000-person clinical trial, the company said — a performance �that exceeds expectations and is on par with the best pediatric vaccines. All 30 cases of severe covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, were in a group that received a placebo. Washington Post. I remember clinical trial discussion from my Psychology days at university. For a vaccine they must run a blind trial for it to be judged effective - and easily replicated. That means that the test subjects are divided into 2 groups. One group gets the vaccine and one group gets the placebo (has no therapeutic effect). This the control group. In order to test a vaccine, both groups must be exposed to the virus. This tells you if the vaccine works. Now in a blind test, no one working with the groups has any idea who was received the vaccine and who received a saline solution. The only people who know who received what are the scientist at the top running the trial, and they have no contact with the administering staff or subjects. There were 196 cases of covid-19 in the study, 11 of which occurred in the vaccine group — a decisive signal that the vaccine protected people from illness. The 30 severe cases of covid-19 in the trial, including one death, all occurred in the group that got salt water shots. Washington Post I know that as a test subject you have to sign all sorts of forms certifying that you are aware of the dangers of the trial, but still, it is disturbing that one subject died from the virus. So I tip my hat to all clinical subjects - you are far braver than I will ever be. Two of the vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer are hoping to be authorized to begin vaccinating the first group in mid December. I assume this will be frontline workers such as hospital staff etc. Then gradually next year, more and more of the population will be vaccinated. Two notes of caution: either vaccine will produce a day of side effects. You will feel as though you have the virus, but this should pass after 24 hours. The other concern is that the scientists are not sure if vaccinated people (i.e. asymptomattic people) can spread the virus. Again from Washington Post: Major questions remain, including how long the protection will last and whether the vaccine will decrease transmission in addition to preventing illness. One worst-case scenario that has been debated by scientists is a vaccine that prevents symptoms and disease but doesn’t decrease the spread of the virus by asymptomatic people. So its tricky and I know some people will be diametrically opposed to the vaccine. For Craig and I, it may be a requirement of making a long international flight and then avoiding quarantine in Australia. Will it signal the end of mask wearing? Probably not for the foreseeable future. And then there’s the problem of the long haulers. I always associated long hauls with 24 hour international flights, but now this is the new name of the ongoing sufferers of weird Covid symptoms. Here’s one story: PBS.org Imagine being young and healthy, a nonsmoker with no preexisting health conditions, and then waking up one morning feeling like you were being suffocated by an unseen force. Back in March, this was my reality. I had just returned from Europe, and roughly 10 days later started having flu-like symptoms. I became �weak overnight and had trouble breathing. It felt like jogging in the Rocky Mountains without being in condition, only I wasn’t moving. I went to the hospital, where I was tested for COVID-19. I was one of the first people in Texas given a non-FDA-approved test. My results came back negative. As a social epidemiologist who deals with big data, I was certain it was a false negative. More than four months later, the symptoms have not gone away. My heart still races even though I am resting. I cannot stay in the sun for long periods; it zaps all of my energy. I have gastrointestinal problems, ringing in the ears and chest pain. I’m what’s known as a long-hauler – part of a growing group of people who have COVID-19 and have never fully recovered. Fatigue is one of the most common persistent symptoms, but there are many others, including the cognitive effects people often describe as brain fog. It’s too soon to say we’re disabled, but it’s also too soon to know how long the damage will last. Well, it must be time for Oliver now. Here he comes to cheer us all up. �Laughing with Great Uncle Drew. �In late July 2018 we took our first cruise with the Azamara Quest, a smaller ship where Craig was to be the only lecturer. He would be lecturing for 3 one week cruises, back to back, around the Mediterranean. We flew into the Nice airport in France and were picked up at the airport by a man with a sign and driven in a luxurious limousine to Monte Carlo. We arrived at the dock where our ship was waiting. �It was at the moment I got out of the car that I realized I would have to up my dress �standards for this cruise as all the other passengers boarding the ship were impeccably dressed. The pool area on the ship �Looking at the Monaco harbor �Leaving the wharf �And we’re off! Here we are: 26 days until Christmas. Numbers are expected to rise dramatically over the next 3 weeks and at least half of America are worrying about what the other half will do over the Christmas break. Whatever your religion, it is much better if you and your family bubble celebrate the festive season together at home. Our hospitals have reached the ‘who lives and who dies’ stage. Now its up to us. Remember this is a team sport and we all need to keep our heads and hearts in the game. I can do this, you can do this, we can do this. Yes we can. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-30_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-264 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-30 Title A name given to the resource Day 264 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/a2a4152d04d16b5f51f15346c3534e0e.pdf 468715aa758cb136100519189350cec1 PDF Text Text Day 263 by windoworks Everything that Trump has done and continues to do, is undermining a large percentage of the population of the US‘s belief in the electoral system. This is extremely dangerous and has far reaching consequences. Despite everything to the contrary, Trump keeps telling his followers that the Democrats stole the election in a variety of ways - and they absolutely believe him. This is not a good sign for the democracy. Here’s some insider information: �Washington Post The facts were indisputable: President Trump had lost. But Trump refused to see it that way. Sequestered in the White House and brooding out of public view after his election defeat, rageful and at times delirious in a torrent of private conversations, Trump was, in the telling of one close adviser, like Mad King George, muttering, ‘I won. I won. I won.’ However cleareyed Trump’s aides may have been about his loss to President-elect Joe Biden, many of them nonetheless indulged their boss and encouraged him to keep fighting with legal appeals. They were “happy to scratch his itch,” this adviser said. “If he thinks he won, it’s like, ‘Shh . . . we won’t tell him.” The result was an election aftermath without precedent in U.S. history. With his denial of the outcome, despite a string of courtroom defeats, Trump endangered America’s democracy, threatened to undermine national security and public health, and duped millions of his supporters into believing, perhaps permanently, that Biden was elected illegitimately. Trump’s allegations and the hostility of his rhetoric — and his singular power to persuade and galvanize his followers — generated extraordinary pressure on state and local election officials to embrace his fraud allegations and take steps to block certification of the results. When some of them refused, they accepted security details for protection from the threats they were receiving. All the while, Trump largely abdicated the responsibilities of the job he was fighting so hard to keep, chief among them managing the coronavirus pandemic as the numbers of infections and deaths soared across the country. Though Trump ultimately failed in his quest to steal the election, his weeks-long jeremiad succeeded in undermining faith in elections and the legitimacy of Biden’s victory. As each swing state confirms the results for Biden, and Biden proceeds at a fast clip to appoint Cabinet members and others, the election seems decisively over. Trump has said he will move out of the White House if the Electoral College votes to confirm Biden’s win on December 14. But he has also said he will declare his run for re-election in 2024 on January 20, Inauguration Day. I wonder what will happen to all those true believers, family and friends who inhabit the White House now. I have seen stories about Melania divorcing Trump after January 20. I wouldn’t be surprised. While I know he can pardon himself for federal crimes ( shaky but feasible), no such pardon exists for the actions pending against him by New York State. I imagine Governor Cuomo is secretly smiling. Today is the day everyone who flew across the country to visit Grandma and Grandpa for Thanksgiving, is now flying home. Medical staff in every facility across America are doing this: Washington Post At a rural health system in Wisconsin, officials and medical experts began drawing up protocols for the once unthinkable practice of deciding which patients should get care. The chief quality officer of a major �New York hospital network double- and triple-checked his system’s stockpile of emergency equipment, grimly recalling the last time he had to count how many ventilators he had left. In Arizona, a battle-weary doctor watched in horror as people flooded airports and flocked to stores for Black Friday sales, knowing it was only a matter of time before some of them wound up in his emergency room. Days after millions of Americans ignored health guidance to avoid travel and large Thanksgiving gatherings, it’s still too soon to tell how many people became infected with the coronavirus over the course of the holiday weekend. But as travelers head home to communities already hit hard by the disease, hospitals and health officials across the country are bracing for what scientist Dave O’Connor called “a surge on top of a surge.” “It is painful to watch,” said O’Connor, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “Like seeing two trains in the distance and knowing they’re about to crash, but you can’t do anything to stop it.” “Because of the decisions and rationalizations people made to celebrate,” the scientist added, “we’re in for a very dark December.” I am personally at the point where I wonder if the virus is lurking in the air outside the front door. A family member in Australia asked what we were doing every day. He seemed a bit shocked when I described it. Here it is: Every morning Craig and I wake up about 6am. Craig makes us breakfast which we eat in bed. After breakfast he takes Murphy for a longish walk while I sit in bed and write this post. Later in the morning, after Craig returns and he reads the post and we drink some more coffee, Craig does some schoolwork, or book sorting and I get up and shower ready for the rest of the day. I clean up the kitchen, do any of my chores and then hey presto! Its time for lunch. After lunch we go for a drive and some days, a walk and then its back home for Craig to teach or continue with activities like book sorting or room painting. For myself, I bake or read or or work on my jigsaw puzzle or watch something on TV. At 3pm, its afternoon tea time - a cup of tea and a snack. On most days, Zoe and Oliver FaceTime about now and Craig and I chat with Zoe while watching Oliver play with his toys etc. About 5pm Craig takes Murphy for a shorter walk, while I organize dinner. We take it in turns to cook dinner but on teaching days its usually me. If Craig isn’t teaching we will play a couple of games of Rummikub before dinner. After dinner, Craig cleans the kitchen and then its time for TV. We have watched entire seasons of many shows and when one finishes its always a search for the next good one. By 9pm, we are both tired and so Craig locks up the house and we go to bed and read before falling asleep. And that has been our routine for the past 263 days and I suspect it will continue for the next approximately 190 days, or until we’re vaccinated. Did I mention that during this surge Craig has become the designated shopper? So most Sunday mornings at 7:30am he leaves the house to be as close to the start of the line at Trader Joe’s, in the senior and infirm hour from 8-9am. He prides himself on getting everything on the list in under 15 minutes - the maximum time allowable to be inside in a store in over 24 hours. No browsing, just organized shopping for groceries. �Yesterday we drove to Ionia State Park. This is a beautiful recreation area with hiking trails and cross country skiing tracks. The camping area had some people living there in RVs and tents - it will be cold there once the snow falls. We parked looking out at Sessions Lake and watching a fisherman launch his dinghy and row out to fish. ��It was a lovely area and one we’ll visit again. Authors note: occasionally I make a sack lunch and we drive somewhere scenic and quiet to park and eat our lunch. Our daily walks are most often in one of the nearby cemeteries - very quiet and hardly ever any live people. Oliver. It has been horrendously hot in Sydney and two days ago it was just too hot to sit him in his high chair. �This is the table and chair Uncle Asher gave him for his 1st birthday. �Our cruise came to an end in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, sits off the mainland on an island in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf. Its focus on oil exports and commerce is reflected by the skyline’s modern towers and shopping megacenters such as Abu Dhabi and Marina malls. Beneath white-marble domes, the vast Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque features an immense Persian carpet, crystal chandeliers and capacity for 41,000 worshipers. ― Google We were exhausted and had booked a luxurious hotel on the edge of a golf course for the night. But we had to visit the mosque. Outside the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in my ridiculous mandated covering. �The vast indoor courtyard. Notice that Craig can just wear his own clothes and doesn’t even �have to cover his head. �All marble and precious stones, crystal and gold, of �course. �On the famous Persian carpet under another priceless chandelier �It was synthetic and I nearly passed out from the �heat. �Gorgeous mosaics Outside again. We were only allowed in the public viewing area which was only a small part of the huge mosque. �Ah the blessings of a hotel pool on a hot day. �The next morning we flew home. See you tomorrow. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-29_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-263 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-29 Title A name given to the resource Day 263 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/da02acbb5200d26b5f4ae59fed161065.pdf 6cdf5158a589739dc8e5456ab9bbfb35 PDF Text Text Day 262. Saturday November 28. by windoworks ��Tomorrow, all those people who flew to be with family members for Thanksgiving, in spite of the experts, mayors and governors pleading with them not to do it, will fly home again. Undoubtedly COVID-19 will be on each plane, taking a free ride back to a new destination and new hosts. And before you accuse me of exaggeration, think about it. No one has any true idea of the number of people who carry the virus without symptoms. That they’re asymptomatic only shows up if they’re tested. Remember, a large percentage of the population believe fervently that the virus isn’t real, because Trump told them so. CNN As Thanksgiving week draws to an end, more experts are warning the Covid-19 pandemic will likely get much worse in the coming weeks before a possible vaccine begins to offer some relief. More than 205,000 new cases were reported Friday -- which likely consists of both Thursday and Friday reports in some cases, as at least 20 states did not report Covid-19 numbers on Thanksgiving. The US has now reported more than 100,000 infections every day for 25 consecutive days and hospitalizations remain at record high levels -- with more than 89,800 patients reported nationwide Friday, according to the COVID Tracking Project. A record was set just a day earlier, with a staggering 90,481 hospitalizations. And the nation recorded a daily death toll of less than 1,000 only twice this week -- while the two days prior to Thanksgiving each saw more than 2,000 American deaths reported. Based on the current Covid-19 numbers in the US, the country is far from rounding the corner. If anything, we are rounding the corner into a calamity. We're soon going to exceed well more than 2,000 deaths, maybe 3,000, 4,000 deaths every single day here in the US. The Thanksgiving travel and gatherings that took place over this past week will likely only further push cases upward, experts have said, warning of another surge soon to come. The holiday has been described as "potentially the mother of all superspreader events," with Americans leaving from every airport in the country and possibly carrying the virus with them, oftentimes unknowingly. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans to avoid travel for the holidays this year, but millions have flown since that warning. Officials expect Sunday -- as everyone heads home from their holiday destinations -- to be the busiest day of travel since the pandemic began. �So here we are. After an initial twitter storm,some wildly inaccurate press briefings and at least 33 emergency court cases, held without any tangible evidence at all and thrown out crossly by judges who said ‘don’t waste the courts time’ - Trump has become extremely quiet. Now when he makes a wild assertion on twitter, such as: There's no way that Biden got 80 million votes," , this appears underneath. �This claim about election fraud is disputed in bright red text and a warning exclamation mark Instead, he is doing as many reprehensible acts as possible - but very quietly. He is still talking about a 2024 run for President but I think that’s just talk. And more and more, non Trump supporters don’t really care what he does or where he goes after January 20 - as long as we never hear from him or his followers or his family again. What devastating words these must be for Trump: we don’t care about you. Have you noticed that everything eventually becomes a news item? No matter how wonderful or uplighting or catastrophic or unthinkable, each event is relegated to history and a smaller and smaller posting in the media. For 4+ years, Trump has lived by his constant presence on the front page - how unnerving it must be to surrender that position to Joe Biden and his incoming team. How upsetting to hear that Joe Biden had more than 20 calls from international leaders, all welcoming a return to normal relations between their country and hours. This morning I heard that Kim Jong-un, the dictator of North Korea, ( and the man Trump ‘fell in love with’, is displaying excessive anger and taking irrational measures over the pandemic. Apparently he has banned all fishing and salt production as he doesn’t want the seawater contaminated by the virus. I think I must be missing something here. Yesterday 2 batches of packing cartons arrived as well as 3 packing tape and dispensers and a life size roll of bubble wrap. Craig has now been through every bookcase in the house and there are many bags of rejected books in the basement. The packing supplies and a smaller number of accepted books are all in the guest bedroom which I think will be the packing room from now on. Craig has decided to paint his study as its the only room in the house that he hasn’t painted. Our daily lives now consist of discussions of: Are we planning on taking this? Should we sell it? Should we buy it in Australia? It’s exhausting and we still have 7 months before we leave. Oliver and his first excursion to a toy shop. I think all his dreams came true. ��And then he took himself home again ��Our next stop was at Dubai. Google: Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates known for luxury shopping, ultramodern architecture and a lively nightlife scene. Burj Khalifa, an 830m-tall tower, dominates the skyscraper-filled skyline. At its foot lies Dubai Fountain, with jets and lights choreographed to music. On artificial islands just offshore is Atlantis, The Palm, a resort with water and marine-animal parks. Sailing in through the haze. You can just see the Burj Khalifa. �The Burj Khalifa. is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. With a total height of �829.8 m (2,722 ft, just over half a mile) and a roof height (excluding antenna, but including a 244 m spire[2]) of 828 m (2,717 ft), the Burj Khalifa has been the tallest structure and building in the world. Wikipedia. Looking down at the Dubai Fountain. �Looking way out into the desert. ���This aquarium in the mall under the Burj Khalifa was huge. It took up a whole wall. �I’m glad I saw Dubai and went up to the top of the Burj Khalifa. But it is just a city of incredible wealth. All the work is done by seasonal immigrants from other poorer countries. There were billboards advertising teeth whitening and plastic surgery. We drove to a beach area but it was just huge mansions bordering the sea. All the United Arab Emirates states have been made excessively wealthy from oil. But the oil reserves are finite and very gradually, the world is turning away from oil and gas and moving to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. What’s impressive about the Emirates is that less than a hundred years ago, they were all Arab tribes living in tents in the desert as Bedouins. It was unbelievably hot, but a dry heat. On to our last stop tomorrow. That’s it for today and the sun is shining after a number of grey days. Stay safe, stay well. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-28_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-262 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-28 Title A name given to the resource Day 262 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/609593c4e4e63ff544d20ae4a322f097.pdf 6e95252418c4cc1c5edac6f4d317ca79 PDF Text Text Day 261. by windoworks Did you have a safe Thanksgiving? From all the photos of friends on Facebook, everyone I know had a safe Thanksgiving. It seemed we all celebrated just with those who live in our houses, and in some ways it was a sweeter Thanksgiving. Not everyone ate turkey, Craig and I included. I don’t mind turkey but it is not my first choice. We had chicken, stuffed with homemade stuffing and roasted vegetables on the side. We ate in the early afternoon and then spent the rest of the day in a food coma. Our dessert was an amazing pecan pie from Rise, the gluten free bakery. We remembered past Thanksgivings with neighbors and friends - snowy Thanksgivings and warm Thanksgivings. I was asked yesterday if Australia practices �Thanksgiving and I reiterated what I wrote in yesterday’s blog. Nevertheless, we might hold a family Thanksgiving on the Saturday after the official date. Its not a national holiday and that Thursday is a normal working day. Craig and I were reminded of the Thanksgiving meal we cooked in France on our 6 month sojourn in Europe in 2016. That was a solo one also. My mother-in-law once said to me: photos are nice, but memories are better. And she’s right. A friend told me how she and her husband had gone on two trips to the U.P. this year - once on their boat in summer, and again by car in the fall. She said the memories were so wonderful that they will carry them through this challenging winter to the promise of spring and a vaccine. I hope you celebrated safely, and will celebrate the Festive season in December safely too. There are no statistics to share today because - Thanksgiving. There is a warning that cases and deaths will rise sharply in 2 weeks. The photos of the crammed airport concourses with passengers waiting in long lines to board flights did not inspire confidence, and all those people have to fly home again this weekend. Worrying. Here’s a disturbing piece from NPR: The actual number of coronavirus infections in the U.S. reached nearly 53 million at the end of September and could be approaching 100 million now, according to a model developed by government researchers. The model, created by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, calculated that the true number of infections is about 8 times the reported number, which includes only the cases confirmed by a laboratory test. Preliminary estimates using the model found that by the end of September, 52.9 million people had been infected, while the number of laboratory-confirmed infections was just 6.9 million, the team reported in the Nov. 25 issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. "This indicates that approximately 84% of the U.S. population has not yet been infected and thus most of the country remains at risk," the authors wrote. Since then, the CDC's tally of confirmed infections has increased to 12.5 million. So if the model's ratio still holds, the estimated total would now be greater than 95 million, leaving about 71% of the population uninfected. This morning, what number there were, did confirm that the US has passed 13M cases. But these are just the cases confirmed by a laboratory test. Using the CDC model the true number of cases in the US for today only is 104M. At the beginning of 2020, the population of the US was just over 331M. This would mean that just under one third of the population has the contracted the virus. In our worst fears, Amy Whatsername cast the final vote on the Supreme Court bench, to allow religious groups in New York to continue to hold indoor services. Perhaps she never read about the Black Death. The Black Death was the deadliest pandemic recorded in human history. The Black Death resulted �in the deaths of up to 75–200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351. Plague, the disease, was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Wikipedia How was it promoted in Europe? The citizens believed that they were being punished by God for some imaginary transgression or behavior - so, they all crowded into churches to pray for forgiveness and an end to the plague. That turned out to be the perfect incubator. They died in droves - and the Black Death was not an easy death. See any similarities? Crowded churches with people praying fervently. I guess Amy wold say its the people’s choice. Now I have no problem with that IF the congregation STAYS in their church for the next 2 weeks. Just sayin’ ��I am alarmed by the number of infected friends and relatives I am hearing about. I don’t think a single one of Craig’s 59 students is unaffected by the virus. At least 4 of them spent Thanksgiving isolated and alone in their dorm room, with food delivered to their door. At least Craig and I were together with Murphy. Macy’s held their annual Thanksgiving Parade but greatly changed. It went the length of one block only, there were no bands and only a limited number of balloon holders riding on trucks. For the first time this year, they included this: The 2020 parade featured a land acknowledgment, traditional rattle song and a blessing honoring people of Native American tribes historically based in the Northeast. "Did you catch the performance of the Wampanoag Language Blessing?" Macy's tweeted just after 10 a.m. The parade highlight came as Indigenous people across North America move to reclaim their lands, a campaign that is gaining steam as the US grapples with injustices committed against marginalized communities. CNN. In miscellaneous news, Governor Whitmer has been nominated for Times Person of the Year. Yay Gretchen! Trump has said if the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden, he will move out of the White House. They better damn well vote for Biden! And I hope Trump moves out early to allow time for a forensic deep clean. The White House has been designated a virus hotspot, as so many staff and management have tested positive. �Covid-19 testing in Buffalo.Libby March for The New York Times As well as the virus, families are starving in the US. All government assistance ends on December 31, and Mitch McConnell has blocked any suggestion of renewals, or a new program. Lines for food banks are long, and sometimes supplies run out before everyone gets something. Every charity is stretched to the limit. Oliver �Is he mansplaining? �After Mumbai we sailed on to Muscat, Oman. Muscat, Oman’s port capital, sits on the Gulf of Oman surrounded by mountains and desert. With history dating back to antiquity, it mixes high-rises and upscale shopping malls with clifftop landmarks such as the 16th-century Portuguese forts, Al Jalali and Mirani, looming over Muscat Harbor. Its modern, marble-clad Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, with 50m dome and prodigious Persian carpet, can accommodate 20,000 people. �At the port waiting to board our �bus. Oman is mostly a desert country but wealthy from oil supplies �Nakhal, an Omani fort in the hills above the �Gulf �Teaching us about Omani history �I am standing in warm spring water and tiny fish are nibbling the dead skin off my feet. �Amazing experience. Would I do it again? Yes. The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque �All marble, �everywhere The gorgeous grounds around the �mosque The lecturers on the cruise: L to R - Carl Hulse (Washington Bureau Chief, New York Times), Roger Cohen (NYT op ed writer) , Maureen Dowd (NYT op ed writer), Warren Hoag (former International Editor, NYT), and Craig. �True And: �Our 2020 Thanksgiving Day photo. Remember: keep your guard up. We’ll get through this. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-27_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-261 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-27 Title A name given to the resource Day 261 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/55c7007f0ba1ca4622008091f83b5e6e.pdf 205973d369b060449dcef60938f8d1cf PDF Text Text Day 260. Thanksgiving. by windoworks This photo is from 11 years ago. It was the year Zoe and Asher traveled secretly to the States to surprise me and celebrate my 60th birthday. This was the year we were all together for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is not a national holiday in New Zealand or Australia. The British settled New Zealand after compromising with the Maori, and the British simply took possession of Australia because it seemed an empty land. Australia then became a major prison for British felons - far away and out of sight. Most people were sent there for the term of their natural life’s and were never allowed back to Britain. These were not murderers or such, these were desperate, starving people who’s crimes were petty ones at best. So New Zealanders were too busy surviving to be thankful and Australians were too busy being resentful to be thankful. There is a lot of discussion about the origins of Thanksgiving. History records that the first ‘Thanksgiving’ was held in November 1621 by the surviving pilgrims and some of the local Native Americans. They ate a feast of what was available - deer, fowl, corn etc. They didn’t have pies because they didn’t have an oven. I �think the feast was to mark their survival in a much harsher land and climate than they had imagined. Thanksgiving didn’t become a national holiday until 1863, when Abraham Lincoln designated the 4th Thursday of November as a day of giving thanks. I really don’t know how turkey and pumpkin pie became the main meal features. Roasting a turkey is a tricky thing - not long enough and its raw inside, too long and its dry and unpalatable. There are the traditional side dishes: mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole (not my favorite), dressing (stuffing), cranberry sauce and Brussels sprouts. The meal is usually eaten in the early afternoon after which everyone watches the obligatory football game. Before the meal begins, everyone gathers at the table and says what they are thankful for. This year I am thankful to not be surviving this pandemic on my own. I am thankful to have a husband, Craig, who stays steadfast through my hysterical laughter, cranky temper and torrents of tears. I am thankful for the outpouring of love from our family members, far, far away. I am thankful for enough money for a roof over my head, a warm and comfortable house to live in and enough food on the table for all meals. I am thankful for my dog Murphy Brown, who is always ready to cuddle and look at me with love in her eyes. I am thankful for all my friends, near and far, who reach out to me on a regular basis. I am thankful for the sunny days which I hold as a memory through the many grey days (ahh, Michigan). And I am thankful for you, dear readers, who take this fraught journey with me, day after day. Happy Thanksgiving. Two days ago, Governor Whitmer asked us all to stay safe for Thanksgiving. She asked us to celebrate this year just in our small bubble. She warned us that if we held our usual large family gathering this year, there might be empty chairs at next year’s Thanksgiving celebration. The medical experts are worrying that this celebration may be the tipping point for your local hospitals. Virus cases continue to climb. Washington Post The United States witnessed its deadliest day since early May on Tuesday, recording nearly 2,100 covid-19 deaths, with daily highs set in nine states. Nearly 88,000 people were in hospitals with the virus at the last count — another all-time high — setting up a historically bleak and dangerous Thanksgiving holiday. The U.S. outbreak just keeps accelerating. Yesterday the US added 178, 434 new cases. This brings the total to 12.8M. But its the death rate which is worrying. Yesterday the US added 2,294 new deaths and the total is now 262K. I remember being shocked by 200K deaths and then appalled by 250K deaths. The average of daily deaths seems to have increased to over 2,000 a day, and climbing. ��All around us, the numbers are increasing. We seem to be climbing a steep mountain with no peak in sight. People are suffering from covid fatigue. But I think if you let your guard down, even for a minute, you put yourself and your household in danger. As my neighbor, Amy said: what a sad last Thanksgiving for you and Craig. And that thought leads to this: Yesterday, Craig purchased our plane tickets. When he had completed all the details online and the message said thank you for your business, I burst into tears. So its really happening. We are leaving from Chicago at lunchtime on Monday July 5. Our tickets are one way, through Japan flying on JAL. Will we have to be vaccinated first? I don’t know. Will we have to quarantine in Sydney? I don’t know. So, Oliver. ��The tongue pokes out when he’s concentrating. Flashback: Mumbai. Mumbai (formerly Bombay) lies on the Konkan coast on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. The seven islands that constitute Mumbai were originally home to communities of Marathi language speaking Koli people. In 2008, Mumbai was named an alpha world city.It has the highest number of millionaires and billionaires among all cities in India.Mumbai is home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Elephanta Caves, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, and the city's distinctive ensemble of Victorian and Art Deco buildings. Wikipedia ������From the top: Dhobi Ghat. There are rows of open-air concrete wash pens, each fitted with its own flogging stone. Called the world's largest outdoor laundry, Dhobi Ghat is a very popular attraction among foreign tourists. It is located next to Mahalaxmi railway station on the Western Railway's Saat Rasta roundabout. It can be easily seen from the flyover bridge of Mahalaxmi station.Wikipedia. Authors note: although a tourist attraction Dhobi Ghat was deemed in disrepair and not clean. It has been shut down, demolished and a new more modern laundry facility has been constructed elsewhere. Second photo: a piece Mahatma Gandhi wrote, on display in his museum, in the house he stayed in when in Mumbai. Third photo: Craig in front of Mumbai Central Railway Station formerly known as the Queen Victoria Railway Station. Fourth photo: 2000 year old giant sculpture of the Buddha’s footprint. Fifth photo: another Buddha sculpture in the courtyard of the Prince of Wales Museum , and finally last photo: the Queen Victoria Gate to Mumbai. Interestingly, although named Empress of India, Queen Victoria never set foot in India, but 3 of her sons and 1 grandson did visit, all in her lifetime. So, celebrate online and stay safe. Remember: it will be all right in the end, and if its not all right, then it isn’t the end. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-26_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-260 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-26 Title A name given to the resource Day 260 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/a563f7b3d7f3c5aba4edcdb7ba7f5fd5.pdf 05a89c9c67c295c5cec53f1d86eb3159 PDF Text Text Day 259 by windoworks It seems like a good day to look back at the last 8.5 months. When I began writing this pandemic diary, it was the tail end of winter. I remember that March 11 was the monthly Women’s City Club Finance Committee meeting, followed by lunch and then followed by the monthly Women’s City Club board meeting. I had been following the progress of the coronavirus and so I was nervous about these back to back meetings. I came into the Finance Committee meeting and put disposable gloves, a box of tissues and a pump pack of hand sanitizer on the table in front of me. Everyone at the table looked at me as if I was an alien who had just joined their meeting by mistake. We talked about the virus and its possible implications for the club, but no one really believed it would make a marked difference. I remember thinking to myself: this virus will change the world. Life will never be the same again. At the time, friends and family thought I was being overly dramatic in much the same way as I was after 9/11. But 9/11 did change our lives in ways that we have accepted and now treat as normal. Catching a plane became so much more complicated overnight. We take our shoes off, put all our belongings through a scanner before we ourselves walk through a scanner and may be patted down in case we have explosives or guns concealed on our person. The door to the cockpit is locked from the inside so no passenger can break in and hijack the plane. Federal buildings have security guards and scanners to stop domestic terrorists. And so on. And although we grumble, we accept these restrictions and perform the tasks almost without thinking. Covid-19 has changed the world in the most profound way. It has affected practically every country in the world. Each country has dealt with it in a different way. Who can forget the Italians singing to each other every night out their apartment windows? The English population banging pots and pans one night a week and calling thank you to the medical workers. The yard signs which have proliferated here in Grand Rapids, thanking essential workers: doctors, nurses, truck drivers, postal workers, grocery store workers etc. We were all so grateful to the medical staff. Masks were not recommended at first, but then the CDC decided they were advisable. Friends began making masks by the hundreds and donating them to those who needed them - both personal and professional. One friend is still making them and has them bagged outside her husband’s studio for anyone to collect. In the beginning, Michigan had 2 cases. I’ll repeat that: 2 cases. The Governor, the Lieutenant-Governor and the Chief Medical Officer with advice from the Attorney-General and the Secretary of State, decided to close the state down. Everything closed. The only places open were grocery stores, pharmacies and medical facilities. You were allowed to go outside and walk, run or cycle. We were asked to say 6 feet apart from others, wash our hands frequently or use hand sanitizer for 20 seconds each time. Masks were �now encouraged, especially inside public premises. Restaurants and coffee bars converted to curbside pickup as did all speciality food stores. Fast food outlets put in drive thru facilities and have remained popular during this whole time. Sometimes the line of cars wends its way out of the parking lot as people wait to order. At first, hardly anyone wore a mask outside and although they were mandated to enter a store, it was not always enforced. Grocery stores introduced early shopping hours for seniors, healthcare workers and customers with underlying health problems. At the beginning Craig and I shopped once at Meijer during this very early morning time slot. Never again. We were astonished by the stampede of grey haired people, all elbowing their way to the products they wanted. Toilet paper ran out - I have no idea why. Hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes shortages I understand but toilet paper? Flour, sugar and eggs were next. Egg farmers struggled to get their hens to lay enough eggs to satisfy the population’s needs. Items would suddenly disappear: frozen vegetables, canned tomatoes chicken stock. Gluten free products began to be in short supply also. At the onset, Craig and I visited a Walmart looking for something we couldn’t find anywhere else. The shelves looked as though a tornado had gone through the store. Aisle after aisle of empty shelves and shoppers searching desperately for that one essential item they were missing. My store cupboards underwent a dramatic change. In the past I had bought new products that looked interesting and I though we might like. Now, my cupboards contain only what we use and consume regularly. For 259 days we have prepared and eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner at home. Occasionally I will make a carry out lunch that we will eat in the car, usually at a lakeshore spot somewhere. We have eaten 2 lunches (both sushi) that we purchased and brought home and 1 dinner that a chef made and Craig collected from his house. I think about those days when we would decide to go for a drive somewhere and stop to have lunch in a cafe or restaurant before returning home. I remember the social dinners out - at other people’s houses and in restaurants and all these things seem long ago. I think about them wistfully and about buying take out food and then I think: no, I don’t feel comfortable. So for me, the thought of having anyone else inside our house is extremely uncomfortable and worrying. I can’t be sure that Craig and I are not asymptomatic, or that the times that each of us were so ill, Craig in January (after a cruise) and me in early March (during another cruise) that we might have had the virus then. When we flew to Costa Rica to pick up the Central American cruise that Craig was filling in for a sick lecturer on, the man across the aisle from us was very sick. He coughed incessantly and sneezed and drank copious amounts of alcohol to make himself feel better. He never covered his mouth when he coughed and Craig sat with his sweater over his face the whole flight in an effort to keep the germs away. We have often wondered about that man. Did he have the virus? Was he a superspreader? Is he still alive? �Thinking back, Michigan had 2 cases in mid March. Since September the cases in the US, Michigan and Kent County have risen alarmingly. We have heard Grand Rapids mentioned several times as a virus hotspot. We have had notices from doctors and hospitals. Almost whole hospitals have been converted to Covid facilities. Michigan medical staff have been asked to keep working, no matter what. There are no states with extra medical staff. Everyone is struggling. I would say to contain the spread, but that hope has passed. Now we are asked to monitor our own health and keep ourselves and our families safe. Again, Michigan had 2 cases in mid March. Yesterday the US had 176,439 new cases. Total cases are now at 12.7M. As fast as we reach a new million, the case levels rise faster to the next million. How long until we reach 13M - a day? Two days? US deaths yesterday: 2,203. We have reached 2 thousand deaths per day and are racing towards 2,500. US total deaths to date: 260K. How long until we reach 300K deaths? Michigan’s new cases yesterday: 6,853 and total cases so far is 347K. Yesterday’s death count was 167 and total deaths are 9,094. At 10,000 deaths (not far way) that would fill 2 Ford Theaters. And here in Kent County, the Health Department posted this online last night: With more than 632 new coronavirus cases per day and positivity rates above 14 percent – the highest local rates since the onset of the pandemic – our ability to provide services essential for the health of the community is threatened. Furthermore, our ability to conduct case investigation and contact tracing is severely challenged. As a result, we are prioritizing case investigations and cannot assure communication to all people who test positive or their contacts in a timely manner. For that reason, we are asking for the cooperation of our residents and employers: • Any person notified of a positive test for COVID-19 should immediately isolate for a period of time not less than ten days from onset of symptoms (if applicable) or from test date. The person must be fever-free without the help of fever-reducing medications for at least 24 hours and all other symptoms must be improving before leaving isolation. *Any person who tests positive for COVID-19 should contact all persons they were in close proximity to from a period of time beginning 48 hours before onset of illness (if applicable) or the test collection date. Close contacts include persons within six feet of distance for at least 15 minutes cumulative over 24 hours and/or physically contacted with a hug, kiss, handshake, or other intimate contact. Those close contacts should be advised to quarantine. • Any person who has had close contact with someone who is infected with COVID-19 must quarantine for 14 days from the date of their last contact with the infected person. The quarantined person should stay home, stay away from others as much as possible, and watch for symptoms. If the person tests positive, they should follow isolation instructions outlined above. If the person tests negative, that does not mean they may end quarantine. That is because it can take up to 14 days for the virus to incubate after contact with someone who is infected. �The long incubation period is something that no one understood at the onset. The virus continues to puzzle and confound the experts. The long term effects, the way it mutates inside the body, the different symptoms between patients, the ways in which it is spread, what promotes the spread and what inhibits it - the questions are endless. Will life be the same? I don’t think so. I can’t imagine how long it will be before I can hug someone other than Craig, or visit a neighbor’s house, or even shake someone’s hand? How long before these ideas don’t make me feel uncomfortable? I don’t know. Maybe the masks and the distancing and the hand washing are with us forever, just like the scanners at the airport. Oliver, Zoe, Asher and our friend Chardi went to Taronga Zoo yesterday. Here’s Oliver and Zoe looking at the elephants. Asher made sure Oliver wore his giraffe pants to the zoo. ���We’ll return to the flashback tomorrow. In the meantime, wear a mask, wash your hands, stay at least 6 feet apart and NO HUGGING. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-25_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-259 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-25 Title A name given to the resource Day 259 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/f4c6f1ca10c2ff758618191ddae09096.pdf 4a265abe3cd333c2a328aea917549dc0 PDF Text Text Day 258 New York Times by windoworks Many Americans have spent weeks, if not months, asking some version of this question: What if President Trump refuses to leave office? The main answer to the question has always been the same: It’s not up to him. As long as other parts of the government — like Congress, the courts and the military — insisted that he honor the election’s outcome, he would have to do so. He could do so quickly and cleanly, as all of his predecessors have done. Or he could make it messy, discrediting American democracy along the way. But he would eventually need to leave the White House. As Matt Glassman, a Georgetown University political scientist, has told me: “Presidents compete with numerous actors — Congress, the courts, interest groups, political appointees in the departments and agencies, and career civil servants — for influence over public policy. The president must rely on his informal ability to convince other political actors it is in their interest to go along with him, or at least not stand in his way.” When a president fails to do so, he often ends up being powerless to act. And that’s what happened to Trump. Hundreds of local election officials refused to bend to him. Over the past few days, several congressional Republicans publicly told him that he needed to acknowledge reality. (Many other congressional Republicans were only mildly supportive of him, giving credence to his lies but doing nothing concrete to support his efforts to change the result.) Business groups — traditional Republican allies — also told him to begin the transition. In the end, Trump did as they told him to do. Washington Post Trump administration informs Biden it is ready to begin the formal transition; Trump tweets that he recommended initial protocols. Administrator Emily Murphy of the General Services Administration sent a letter Monday to President-elect Joe Biden informing him of the action after weeks of delay. It was the clearest acknowledgment of Biden’s win over President Trump. I should shout hooray, but I’m too tired. Its like that adage: the end of the world comes not with a bang, but with a whimper. Trump is whimpering. So what awaits him after January 20, 2021? Perhaps this: New York Times: Two separate New York State fraud investigations into Trump and his businesses, one criminal and one civil, have expanded to include tax write-offs on millions of dollars in consulting fees, some of which appear to have gone to Ivanka Trump,” the Times reports. “The inquiries — a criminal investigation by the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., and a civil one by the state attorney general, Letitia James — are being conducted independently. But both offices issued subpoenas to the Trump Organization in recent weeks for records related to the fees." Ivanka Trump tweeted that both investigations into her dubious "consulting fees” are “100% motivated by politics, publicity and rage.” �Biden has said that he has no interest in pursuing federal charges against Trump. Instead he has put Trump out of mind and has begun nominating his cabinet team. So far this is (as expected) a talented, educated group of leaders in their chosen fields and a mix of genders and ethnicities. It is exciting to watch Biden carry out his campaign promises. He has nominated John Kerry as Climate Envoy (a new position and a presidential recognition of the threat of the climate crisis - oh, we passed climate change some time ago) and he will sit on the National Security Council. So we are finally moving forward with the promise that the daily Trump drama will slowly fade into the background. But meanwhile (and there’s always a meanwhile), the virus rages on, unchecked. There are 2 days until Thanksgiving. 6 out of 10 Americans will stay home, safe and isolated in their immediate family bubble. The other 4 will drive or fly to larger gatherings of unprotected people, having decided that no virus is going to stop them from hugging Grandma and eating her delicious turkey dressing. Here’s a little chart for your consideration: �Yesterday, while sitting parked in a local park to enjoy the scenery and eat a snack and drink coffee, we watched with astonishment as 5 planes circled above us, coming into to land at our local airport. In 9 months I’ve never seen that many planes in the sky at once. And as Craig remarked: how many are bringing the virus for a visit this Thanksgiving? And here’s more: Washington Post The United States is now averaging more than 1,500 deaths each day — and with the national case count still climbing, that toll is expected to get much worse over the holidays. Those deaths do not fall equally across the country. The virus is killing Asian, Black, Hispanic and Indigenous Americans at rates far higher than for White people — sometimes striking down multiple generations in the same family, and devastating communities of color. �This week could make matters even worse. Our Education desk warns of “a mass pre-Thanksgiving exodus from [college] campuses nationwide that could spread the dangerous pathogen in hometowns across the country.” Government officials and public health experts are making final pleas for Americans to stay home. You can’t assume you don’t have the virus, and you can’t assume the people whose homes you’re about to enter don’t have the virus at this point in our pandemic,” Tom Inglesby, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said on “Fox News Sunday.” Remember, 4 out of 10 Americans aren’t listening. The biggest decision for Craig and I this Thanksgiving is whether to eat our meal at lunchtime or dinnertime? Maybe in the middle? And Christmas Day will be pretty much the same for us - on our own. Every year the Oxford Dictionary chooses a word for the year. This year they chose many: NPR As the months of the pandemic passed, quirky terms such as "covidiots," "doomscrolling" (the endless consumption of bad news) and "Blursday" (referring to the difficulty in determining what day of the week it is) surfaced. "Mask-shaming" also emerged, which refers to either shaming people for wearing a mask or shaming people for not wearing a mask. Scientific jargon entered public discourse, especially epidemiological terms, the report notes. Terms like "R number," "flattening the curve," "community transmission" and "superspreader" became more common for the public to use when talking about the pandemic. Craig has continued with the Great Book Shedding. Yesterday he discarded 398 books and kept 2. He’s very proud of this. This was the first bookshelf in his study. Now the question becomes - what to do with all these mounting discarded books? We have talked of a yard sale in the spring - I think it will be a series of years sales. I have begun to collect all the knick knacks and small treasures scattered about the house. These will be sorted at a later date. Later this week I will post photos of my remaining windows for sale on marketplace. Keep an eye out if you’re interested. We are proposing to fly out in early July, so this process of selling off and selling up will be a slow one, although 7 months is not that long. I think its time to start making lists. Oliver. I am constantly astonished by his daycare facility. Here he is painting a Christmas Tree for their Christmas display. �I love his look of concentration. �A return to the flashback. Some days past, I just couldn’t post the flashback - it seemed too frivolous. However, to resume. I left you somewhere along the west coast of India. I also missed out a stop, so here it is: Mangalore. Mangalore, officially known as Mangaluru, is the major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats mountain range about 352 km (219 mi) west of Bangalore, the state capital. The city developed as a port in the Arabian Sea during ancient times; it has since developed into a major port of India that handles 75 per cent of India's coffee and cashew exports, and is the country's seventh largest container port. Wikipedia. Mangalore fruit market ��Shiva Temple complex - no shoes allowed , so I was walking on the carpet as the marble tiles were too hot to stand on. Women and girls inside the Shiva Temple. ��Craig in the temple - note the red mark on his forehead. We paid a coin and the Hindu Priest blessed us by putting the red mark on our foreheads. I cannot express how hot the weather was. This morning when I went to the Kent County Health Department site to look up the daily statistics, there was a large warning post superimposed on the page. Try as I might I couldn’t copy it . It said that we have reached the highest level of alert; that our positivity rate remains above 15% (remember 1% or less is the preferred rate); deaths would continue to rise and hospitals were close to overloaded. Two days ago, Michigan hospitals began asking medical staff who had tested positive to continue working because staff shortages were now acute. So, like it or not, believe it or not, we are all in this together. Yesterday I watched a farmer’s daily video. He was a non believer until he developed Covid. He said the first indication was that his heart hurt and no amount of ibuprofen or Tylenol would help it. He was recovering but said his heart still hurt and that the virus bore no resemblance to a cold or flu - it was an entity inside your body. It was a powerful video because it was so understated. He survived, but will others? Remember, 4 out of 10 Americans wouldn’t follow the safety rules. Stay safe, and do your best. We’re all counting on each other. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-24_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-258 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-24 Title A name given to the resource Day 258 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/a01830cfdb33effd550ee8603673ef8a.pdf 07fea9a9f0a089861395d9b7b9e555ad PDF Text Text Day 257 by windoworks There are 3 vaccines currently entering the final stages: Pfizer, Moderna and Astra Zeneca. While this is excellent news for the future, there is still this winter to contend with. From The New York Times: As of Monday morning, more than 12,313,700 people in the United States have been infected with the coronavirus and at least 256,500 have died, according to a New York Times database. Case numbers are spiking across most of the United States, leading to dire warnings about full hospitals, exhausted health care workers and expanding lockdowns. And the pandemic shopping insanity has begun again. Here is a FB piece posted by a neighbor. From a grocery store manager: I manage a grocery store. Here's some things everyone should know: 1. I don't have toilet paper 2. I don't have sanitizer 3. I run out of milk, eggs and meat daily 4. I promise if it's out on the shelf … it's not in a hidden corner of our back room Those are the predictable ones, now for the real stuff 5. I have been doing this for 25 years I did not forget how to order product 6. I did not cause the warehouse to be out of product 7. I schedule as much help as I have, including many TMs working TONS of overtime to help YOU 8. I am sorry there are lines at the check out lanes Now for the really important stuff 9. My team puts themselves in harm's way everyday so you can buy groceries 10. My team works tirelessly to get product on the floor for you to buy 11. My team is exhausted 12. My team is scared of getting sick 13. My team is human and do not possess an antivirus… they are in just as much danger as you are. (Arguably more) But they show up to work everyday just so you can buy groceries 14. My team is tired 15. My team is very under appreciated �16. My team is exposed to more people who are potentially infected in one hour than most of you will in a week (medical community excluded, thank you for all that you do!) 17. My team is abused all day by customers who have no idea how ignorant they are 18. My team disinfects every surface possible, everyday, just so you can come in grab a wipe from the dispenser, wipe the handle and throw the used wipe in the cart or on the ground and leave it there… so my team can throw it in the trash for you later 19. My team wonders if you wash your re-usable bags, that you force us to touch, that are clearly dirty and have more germs on them than our shopping carts do 20. My team more than earns their breaks, lunches and days off. And if that means you wait longer I am sorry. The last thing I will say is this The next time you are in a grocery store, please pause and think about what you are saying and how you are treating the people you encounter. They are the reason you are able to buy toilet paper, sanitizer, milk, eggs and meat. If the store you go to is out of an item.. maybe find the neighbor or friend that bought enough for a year … there are hundreds of them… and ask them to spare 1 or 2. They caused the problem to begin with… And, please THANK the people who helped you. They don't have to come to work! I have no Michigan or Kent County statistics, as even in the midst of an escalating pandemic, they don’t post numbers on Sunday and I really can’t think of a good reason for why not. And here’s a curious thing. During the early surge of the pandemic, Dr London from Kent County Health Department would update us each day via video. Then during the summer it was cut back to every Thursday only. This has continued even though our situation is much worse. On the other hand Governor Andrew Cuomo has continued his frequent updates for his state complete with slides. I see that there is some negative discussion about Governor Whitmer mandating all universities to cease face to face classes. Talk about not paying attention. Firstly, this was a directive from the Michigan State Health Department, because, as you remember the Michigan Supreme Court took away Governor Whitmer’s executive powers for emergencies. Secondly, pretty much every university in Michigan had already shut down face to face classes as they were overwhelmed by students testing positive. Don’t forget that a number of Craig’s students are stuck in their dorm rooms for Thanksgiving (on their own with food delivered to their door) because they have the virus and can’t go home, or, their families have the virus and they can’t go home. I had thought of getting my hair cut but when I texted my stylist, she told me that she had one positive client but she herself tested negative; another stylist had a positive client and then she also tested negative; and one of the other stylists tested positive so she and her husband were quarantined. All in all, I decided to let my hair grow. �It seems evident that Trump will never concede - legally he doesn’t have to, he has lost the election anyway. Biden has begun crowdsourcing the funding he needs to complete his transition to the Presidency and the White House. There is speculation that Trump will go to Mar-A-Lago for Christmas �and simply never return to the White House. His debts are staggering and the lawsuits against him are piling up. Meanwhile, he’s talking about a 2024 run for President and he intends to continue to run the Republican Party with an iron grip. I think if he wants to avoid jail time he should claim sanctuary maybe in one of the 24 countries which don’t have an extradition treaty with the US - maybe Russia or Saudi Arabia? I really can’t imagine what Ivanka, Don Jr and Eric are thinking of - they’re not welcome in Manhattan. In a side note: if you’ve always wanted a swanky Manhattan address of your own, fear not. Life after the pandemic is touted to make those exclusive buildings 50% cheaper to rent, because the wealthy are moving out to safer rural places and landlords will be desperate to rent them out. Today some state Republicans are meeting with the Michigan electoral Certification Board. Apparently they want to (a) investigate some irregularities which everyone knows do not exist or (b) change the electors to all Republicans so that they can give the state to Trump, even though the state voted Blue for Biden and in spite of the federal ruling that electoral college voters must vote according to the candidate the state was called for. We are certainly living in interesting times. Yesterday Craig began the great book clean out. Did I tell you that we arrived in Michigan 18 years ago with 54 packing boxes - one of which held objects dear to me and the remaining 53 that held Craig’s books? Over the 18 years he has, of course, collected more. My collected books will fit nicely in a small plastic bag - but Craig’s..... He began in the TV room. Here’s what it looks like now: �As Asher said: very Marie Kondo (look her up). And here’s one advantage - without the loaded bookshelves (there was a third one where the TV now stands) the emptier room makes the TV louder and for those of us beginning to be hearing challenged, that is a blessing. The goal is to slowly clear all the rooms of the house, ready for buyers inspection. Its an extraordinarily daunting thought. So Uncle Asher arrived for a 6 day stay with Zoe and Oliver. He drove through torrential storms and crossed the border of Victoria and New South Wales about 10 hours after it opened again. It was closed for 138 days by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It is the first time Asher has been able to leave the state since the end of June. Here he is, safely arrived in Sydney, with his nephew: ��Thanksgiving is in 3 days time. Yesterday over 1M Americans boarded flights to families. The airlines were thrilled at this uptick in revenue, but medical teams in all states were not. It seems certain that the virus is everywhere and there is no telling how sick a person might get, or what long term symptoms may shadow the rest of their life. Experts are predicting that this holiday and Christmas will bring huge case increases. Well, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. As ever, stay safe, stay healthy and stay heroic. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-23_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-257 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-23 Title A name given to the resource Day 257 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/3fe20ea59fd7f18180b8c956819419ef.pdf f022d7bae1b36aa288662e153dda36ae PDF Text Text Day 256 by windoworks As each day dawns I find it harder and harder to process what is happening here in the United States of America. I am not naive. I know that the US has had a history of racism and inequality, of excessive wealth and grinding poverty, but it always promoted itself as a country where people could get ahead and achieve their dreams. And it was always based on democracy, that is, a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected members. There have been presidential scandals and heinous behavior by state elected officials, but somehow, sense and moral behavior swam to the top. Well, not always, but NEVER in the way we are seeing now. We are entering (or we have actually already entered) uncharted territory. All rules have been suspended by Donald Trump and his minions. There is not a single check or balance to be seen. So here is the state of play: a large chunk of Americans have happily enrolled themselves, their friends and their families into the Trump Cult. Yes, a cult. Cults are by nature defined as a religious belief and this applies directly to Trump. Almost 45% of Americans believe in the religion of Donald Trump and his �tenets. The central belief on which this cult rests is: believe everything I say, because I have come to rescue you from everything you abhor (equality, abortion rights to name a couple) and restore you and our country to the way it should be: white, racist, wealth for those at the top and poverty and servitude for those at the bottom. And guns for all. Women should be accessible for sexual pleasure and then just in the kitchen cooking and cleaning. Whether Trump adherents will admit it or not, those are the core beliefs that Trump holds. Like all dictators, he is probably unhinged and delusional. When he talks at rallies and makes absolutely no sense, his disciples love him all the more. They believe he is speaking in code or perhaps even tongues, which is a sure sign that God sent him to save their world. I am not a religious person. My break with God occurred when I was 13 years old and my mother died after a long battle with cancer. My Methodist pastor told me in all seriousness, when I asked him why my mother had to die, that God needed the good people for himself. I remember thinking: God has millions of people, I needed my mother and shouldn’t my need outweigh any god’s need? And later a deeper philosophical question occurred to me - why do gods have needs? But this is my life path and as much as I ask you to respect that, I do my best to respect your life path in return. But no matter how I try, I cannot respect Trump believers. I don’t believe Trump is the devil or that he is evil. I do believe the whole of his life is based on what is good/best for him - not even his children really seem to matter. This is all a long preamble to my point of despair. Trump has taken all the hidden fears and base behaviors of many Americans and elevated them to a cult status. And with that, he has begun to tear the United States of America in two. He is tearing it apart so successfully that I think it will be difficult to sew it back together again. Like life imagined after the pandemic abates, life after Trump will be significantly different. We will have no clear path back to normal. 45% of Americans believe that the virus is a hoax that Democrats thought up - and some of them die still believing that. They die without saying goodbye to their loved ones because they refuse to believe that the virus is real and they’re dying. And no, I didn’t make that up. This is not a trashy sci-fi movie written by hacks, this is the actual life Craig and I are living. We are surrounded by friends and neighbors we have barely seen for 9 months. Each household on our block has amended their lifestyle in an attempt to keep everyone around them safe, but this is not true for other neighborhoods. At this moment, we cook all our meals at home, while the leaders of the GOP for Michigan drink Dom Perignon in Trump’s hotel in Washington DC, maskless and surrounded by other maskless people. Like the myth of Pandora’s box - you can’t stuff these great and unexpected troubles back in the box, once opened. What will the USA look like in the future?I can’t imagine, and before you wave Joe Biden at me as a magical cure all, remember, Trump’s Republican Party will block him at every turn, and the disciples �will threaten and harass all Biden supporters. In a country where Republicans in charge of election vote counts are vilified, threatened and harassed because they tell the truth that Biden won their state, you can be sure that going forward, no one is safe. The phrase ‘once Biden is inaugurated’ is not as meaningful or as reassuring as it was a month ago. So that’s where we are. Who knows what today will bring, never mind tomorrow. And all the while, the virus explodes, faster and faster. Washington Post Americans should not risk traveling for Thanksgiving, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Thursday, as the covid-19 death toll ticked past 250,000 and the nation logged more than 1 million infections in a week. “What’s at stake is basically the increased chance of one of your loved ones becoming sick and then being hospitalized and dying,” said Henry Walke, the CDC’s covid-19 incident manager. But many Americans don't seem to be listening. Our Health desk reports that people are waiting for hours in line for coronavirus tests in some cities, and for days more to get a result. The huge demand is driven in part by the massive levels of disease, but also by people preparing to travel for the holiday. Even if you manage to get a test, experts warn that a negative result doesn't mean you'll be covid-free when you sit down with grandma for turkey. To repeat ourselves: Americans don't seem to be listening. Our National desk checked in on towns and cities across the country to find out how much, if at all, a year of death and disease has affected people's attitudes. We'll leave you with the first two paragraphs of that story, from rural Alabama: Most everybody in town knows that Gladys Maull has been battered this year: Her father, her sister, an aunt, a great-aunt, all dead from covid-19. Maull keeps a sign on her front door: “Please do not come in my house due to covid-19. Thank you.” Some people just step on in, maskless. ��New York Times The U.S. is heading into a make-or-break holiday week. The country passed 12 million cases, adding one million new cases in the past week alone. New daily cases are approaching 200,000: On Friday, the country recorded more than 198,500, a record. At least 255,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus, and hospitalizations rose beyond 82,000. Above, a memorial in Miami for virus victims. Craig and Murphy walked to Reeds Lake early in the morning yesterday. Here is the perfect mirror reflection: �There were complaints that I didn’t include an Oliver photo. I have temporarily run out of new ones, but then this appeared in my Instagram account. This is Oliver and his father, Christian. ��Authors note: I rewrote this post a number of times. But then I remembered, this is a chronicle of what is happening. In some ways I write this for the future as well as the present. These are the facts, and this is how I record them. Wherever you live, stay safe, stay healthy and above all, be heroic. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-22_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-256 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-22 Title A name given to the resource Day 256 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/a16c47fb77b90243cc361e8fd1635bed.pdf 5b4795d7749adb59c36c824f30462a90 PDF Text Text Day 255 by windoworks This morning I introduce Tracey Dale. Once upon a time Tracey was a high school senior who babysat my children, with two other school friends on a rotation, once or twice a week after school. I was teaching elementary school and the three girls took it in turns to babysit until 5pm, when I would take over and prepare dinner. Over the years we lost touch with the two other girls, but our connection with Tracey was reestablished through the television, as she won the Miss New South Wales title and then, with Craig and I glued to the TV, she won Miss Australia! To cut a long story short, she had a wonderful year as Miss Australia, and during that year she met Alan Dale, an actor who was starring in one of Australia’s favorite soap operas and they got married and eventually moved to Los Angeles. Fast forward to 2020. Tracey lives in Los Angeles, she has two talented sons and her husband continues in his acting career. We last met up in 2017, when Craig and I were in L.A. on our way to Australia, and had a great lunch together. I asked Tracey if she would contribute to “The View from Far Away”, and she agreed. Here it is. Enjoy. I Face-timed my 79 year old mother last week. When she answered, she sounded out of breath and immediately pointed the phone at the ceiling. “Hang on, I’ll just get some clothes on.” I calculated that it was midday on Monday in Australia. “What have you been doing?” I teased. She giggled, but when she finally aimed the phone at her face her explanation was far more outrageous than what I’d been imagining. She was choosing which dress to wear to a party at the golf club she and my dad belong to. “You’re going to a party?” I asked. “It’s a dinner really,” she said. “And the tables are spaced apart.” “But it’s indoors.” “Oh, yes.” We caught up on each other’s news and then she revealed that she was meeting some of her oldest friends for lunch at a cafe the following day. This group has known each other for more than 70 years. In fact their mothers had been friends and used to meet once a month to play cards. How is my mother having such a vibrant and happy social life when I’ve been a shut-in for nine months? She never missed a hair cut, and the golf club was only closed for a week or two at the beginning of the pandemic. Meanwhile, my last haircut was ten months ago. My once cropped blond hair is now long and dark brown with streaks of silver. I haven’t eaten at a restaurant or been inside a friend’s home in all that time. And I haven’t seen my oldest son — the longest we’ve ever been apart. The contrast is stark. �Was the Australian government daring, brilliant and clever in its dealings with the pandemic? Not really, mistakes were made — a cruise-ship allowed Covid positive passengers to disembark in Sydney and mingle with the greater population. Its shutdown wasn’t particularly militant: hairdressers never closed and schools were only shuttered for a relatively short time. What it did do was try. The Federal and State governments closed state borders and prioritized safeguards: there was enough PPE for health care workers, enough testing for everyone who needed it, plus they were serious about contact tracing. An app was developed to track any clusters, and they mandated name and address logs for everyone eating inside restaurants, clubs and hotels. They also took rapid action whenever there was an outbreak, in one case closing down a whole state for more than a month when positive cases spiked. And when the rules were broken, police laid charges. The other part of this equation was that, for the most part, the Aussies got on board with whatever their leadership requested of them. Not like sheep, like a football team, all working together for a win. And win they have. There is now virtually no community transmission and an economy and a population that’s recovering quickly. While I sit inside my Los Angeles home — aware that my family here has been luckier than most — and figure out what Netflix show to watch next (thank god for The Crown), my mum is choosing what to wear to her next holiday party. �Old friends get together for lunch once a month in Sydney, Australia Makes you think, doesn’t it? Meanwhile, in Trump’s America - I'm furious, team. Three weeks ago, President Trump held a superspreader rally in Muskegon, Michigan, just 20 minutes away from the hospital where I've been serving patients as an Emergency Physician for two decades. Now, in the wake of this rally, Muskegon is dealing with a tsunami of new COVID-19 cases. Hospitals are again filling up at an alarming pace. Refrigerator trucks are being driven in because morgues are overflowing. We have test positive rates of nearly 20%. Every shift I show up, we don't have beds. We're calling five, six, or seven hospitals around us just to find a couple of beds for sick patients. This is the reality that Donald Trump has put us in through his incompetence, his recklessness, and his unwillingness to cooperate with President-elect Biden's COVID19 Team — which only serves to slow down our country's ability to stop this virus. At this very moment, Trump is STILL trying to fight the election results and refuses to grant Joe Biden's COVID Team access to classified briefings or top public health experts. He's endangering our democratic process and American �lives. Dr. Rob Davidson Emergency Physician Executive Director Committee to Protect Medicare This dropped into my inbox yesterday: Kent County is now in the highest risk level for COVID-19. With this in consideration, the Kent County Health Department is issuing a Public Health Warning with comprehensive guidance on how residents can best protects themselves. With a community-wide positivity rate of more than 15% in Kent County, the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic is severely impacting the ability of public health officials to conduct case investigations and has threatened our local hospital systems. This Public Health Warning will likely continue through January 15, 2021 at the earliest. The cooperation of all residents with these recommendations will help our community reach a downward trend as quickly as possible. This is a Public Health Warning, not a Public Health Order. Note that this is a Health Warning, not a Health Order. This is because the Republican majority in both the State House and Senate have hamstrung Governor Whitmer and the Michigan State Health Department. No one is allowed to place an Executive Order or a Public Health Order. Apparently a minority of freedom fighters overtakes my right to be protected. And just to emphasize the scope of neglect, this morning the US reached just under 200,000 new cases (12M total) and just under 2,000 new deaths (254K total). Here is a way to visualize the death count: Washington Post Here's another way to think about it, from our Graphics team: If all 250,000 victims had come from the U.S. heartland, a region roughly the size of South Dakota would now be devoid of human life. How many more empty states will we have to visualize before this is over? �I love Crooked Media. They put their stories in terms I can relate to. Here’s yesterday’s excerpt: Their frivolous-lawsuit-based strategy to steal the election has run aground. Their even cruder “bribe Republican officials”-based strategy to steal the election has run into the brick wall of Republican opposition. We now await the thrilling climax of the failed Trump-Giuliani heist: like Thelma & Louise, but with globs of hair dye and spray tan trailing the convertible as it plummets earthward. • President Trump’s pseudo-legal effort to overthrow the election and end American democracy has reached such heights of absurdity that even the Trumpy-as-hell propaganda website Powerline noticed: Trump’s lawyers submitted an affidavit to a federal court alleging voting irregularities in Michigan, based �on data from townships in Minnesota, which, if we remember American geography correctly, is a different state (though in fairness to Trump’s lawyers, they both start with “Mi”). • Indeed, “lying about fraud” to “steal the election” is now the official position of the national GOP. On Thursday, the RNC twitter account quoted barking-mad Trump lawyer Sidney Powell claiming, “President Trump won by a landslide” (fact check: He lost, bigly). The GOP-endorsed Powell would later appear on Fox to assert, "the entire election, frankly, in all the swing states should be overturned and the legislatures should make sure that the electors are selected for Trump." Meanwhile, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) said“Rudy [Giuliani] and his buddies should not pressure electors to ignore their certification obligations.” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said, “it’s difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American President,” and Georgia has certified Biden’s victory. By early next week, enough swing states will have certified their results to guarantee Biden more than 270 electoral votes. �The top two GOP Michigan members were invited to Washington to meet with Trump. Before they left, honorable people everywhere overloaded the email accounts and message banks on both men. Then we all waited with baited breath to see what they would do (having reminded them that their careers were on the line). Then, this appeared: �So that email and message onslaught worked, hey? I bet they still won’t cooperate with Governor Whitmer. And by the way, the trip to Washington cut into their ‘hunting’ break. Now Trump’s moving on to another swing state. As Jim Carey so eloquently said: LLLLL Loser! I’m beginning to think Trump must enjoy losing, he keeps repeating it so often. Oh and this just in - Donald Trump Jr has the virus. We are asked to send thoughts and prayers. Well, I’m sending thoughts..... Well thats it for another day. Still hunkering down. 5 days until Thanksgiving. Do NOT be the person who infects your family this Thursday. Be thankful you’re alive and eating a good dinner, even if its by yourself. Remember, as Tracey said: not sheep but a football team. We can do this. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-21_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-255 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-21 Title A name given to the resource Day 255 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/7578166c1777faddf031e8580aee41d7.pdf 9e909a5f3750d9923e70debbfb56a5f9 PDF Text Text Day 254 by windoworks We begin this morning with this: a line for covid testing in one of the middle states. Every news venue has been sounding the alarm about gathering for Thanksgiving, but no one can tell if the majority of people are listening. Washington Post: Roughly one in 100 Americans are contagious with covid-19 at this moment, a level not seen since the the U.S. outbreak's deadliest period this spring, according to estimates by separate research teams at Columbia University and the University of Washington. Using different methods, both groups calculated that more than 3 million Americans have active infections — far more than the official counts record. “It is about equal to the number of public school teachers in the entire country, or the number of truck drivers,” our Health desk wrote. “If the University of Michigan’s football stadium were packed with a random selection of Americans, about a thousand of them would be contagious right now.” The University of Washington model estimates that another 245,000 people will be infected by the end of today. �About 40 percent of Americans plan to attend a large Thanksgiving gathering, despite the coronavirus’ rampant spread and warnings from public health officials. I continue to watch interviews with nurses and doctors who are not only dealing with extremely ill patients, but patients who believe literally to their dying breath, that they don’t have Covid. As the nurse or doctor shows them their vitals and test results, and ask if they would like to FaceTime or call their loved ones - time after time these patients insist that they’ll be fine - its just bronchitis or pneumonia, or maybe lung cancer. Some of these patients die still adamant that it isn’t the virus. Now I could go on a long rant here about Trump and the destruction and mayhem he leaves in his wake. He has convinced at least 71M Americans that the virus is a hoax and that even if you succumb, its just like a cold and man up, you’ll get over it. I am sitting here, shut in my house since March, not going out except for drives, short walks in safe places, doctors appointments and trips to the grocery store. The virus is now beyond anyone’s control. No borders between the states are closed and every state is taking action in a piecemeal way. There never has been even the briefest action taken by the Trump administration to assist states in any way. Any action taken by a Democratic governor of their state has incurred ridicule, calls to overturn any restrictions and a slew of threats. The White House has had at least 2 outbreaks that we know of, and most of the infected staffers are never heard of again. Remember Hope Hicks the superspreader of the first cluster? Did she recover? Did she die? Who knows? And I am absolutely sure that Trump staged his ‘bout’ of Covid. �And this arrived in my inbox yesterday from Tina Freese Decker, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Spectrum Health: To our patients and community, We have stood strong, together, tackling the many challenges of these past months with commitment and hope. Last spring, we came together as a community and flattened the curve of COVID-19. I’m reaching out to you today because things have changed drastically. COVID-19 is now surging like never before in our communities, and we need your help. • Of the thousands of tests we conduct every day, more than 18% of people tested are positive. • Hospitalizations have quadrupled in the last four weeks — now five times higher than our peak in the spring. �• People are coming to us very, very sick. And one in 10 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are dying. This virus is affecting all groups, young and old, across all populations. • Because hospitals throughout our state and nation are experiencing the surge at the same time, there is very limited opportunity to share staff and transfer patients. Our teams of doctors, nurses, caregivers and support staff are working tirelessly to do everything possible to battle this virus. But — we cannot do it without your help. We know what works to slow the spread of this deadly virus. Wear a mask; they do protect you and others. Wash your hands often. Stay socially distant. Avoid all gatherings. I know this is hard, but the sacrifices you are making now truly will save lives. I and all of our team members at Spectrum Health remain so grateful for our community standing strong with us. Thank you. And just to keep you up to date: US - 187, 396 new cases yesterday. Total cases: 11.8M. Yesterday’s deaths: 1,962. Total deaths: 252K. Keep breathing. Michigan - 7,855 new cases yesterday. Total cases: 310K. Yesterday’s deaths: 141. Total deaths: 8,717. Breathe in, breathe out. Kent County - 742 new cases yesterday. Total cases: 27,055. Yesterday’s deaths: 10. Total deaths: 277. At some point these figures become meaningless. We are so inundated with ‘breaking news’ etc., that the numbers sit on the page and we say oh well. But 252,000 people have died across this country. 252,000, and each person meant something. These are the numbers for yesterday only. Today’s numbers will be bigger. We will reach 300,000 deaths soon and then 400,000 as they are predicting. AND ALL THESE DEATHS, ALL OF THEM, CAN BE LAID AT DONALD TRUMP’S FEET. Or wrapped around his shoulders so that the weight of them crushes him completely. That’s what I hope, but he will never be held accountable. None of them will be. Instead we will all be asked to forgive and move on. There isn’t enough forgiveness in the world for what he has managed to do. I much prefer ‘an eye for an eye’. The one light at the end of the dark tunnel is this: Washington Post. Pfizer, BioNTech say they will file today for emergency clearance of coronavirus vaccine, which could make doses ready in December The companies announced they plan to file Friday for regulatory approval of their coronavirus vaccine, a landmark moment and a signal that a powerful tool to help control the pandemic could begin to be available within weeks. Once the companies file their application, those findings will be scrutinized by regulators, potentially paving the way for limited doses of the vaccine to be available in December. So at least the frontline workers like nurses, doctors etc will be vaccinated by early next year. It will take months for the larger population to begin to be vaccinated. So we should be excited but patient. �And all the while, Trump is sowing as much dissent and chaos as possible. Crooked Media Donald Trump is actively and personally attempting to overturn the results of an election he lost by nearly six million votes (updated to at least 8 million), and the fact that it won’t work this time is limited comfort. Republicans at every level have shown a willingness—or even eagerness—to destroy democracy when they have no chance of success; how many of them would behave better in the coming years if overturning a future election required stealing only one state? �Joe Biden has mentioned that Trump and his family/minions will be ‘assisted‘ from the White House, if necessary. This is diverting television for everyone who doesn’t live in the US, but it is horrifying in its long term implications and a dreadful experience for those of us living here.Trump has turned the United States of America into a low grade reality show for the world. And once a precedent is set such as he is doing by refusing to accept his loss, it is almost as if it is set in stone. I just cannot imagine how long it will take until some sort of calm is established. I’m not even sure the current democracy will survive. �An unexpected feel good moment: this morning Craig received an email from a woman in Canada. Her father (in his 90s) is an Emeritus Professor and suffers from macular degeneration. This is a eye disease �that causes loss in the center of the field of vision. (Dame Judi Dench has it). Anyway, the family live scattered across Canada and in normal circumstances would meet up several times a year. However, the virus has stopped this, and the father is finding life difficult. So the daughter set up video sessions twice a week during which the father, mother and daughter watch an episode of Craig’s Great Courses ‘Big History’ lectures. These have so reenergized her father, that he is now going for long walks outside and discussing each episode at length with her mother. The daughter wrote to thank Craig for such a wonderful course and asked if he would Skype with her father if she set it up. Of course Craig will say yes when he responds. Oliver �Clapping his hands. Very pleased with himself. �So that’s it. We are beginning the looong task of thinking about what to take and what to leave behind. Its a big task thinking about moving countries, especially as you are not quite as young as you used to be. On my birthday, TJ my neighbor asked me - 39 again, Pamela? Yes, I replied. Oh mum, said Asher when I told him, you can’t be - I’m 39! Twins! I wanted to say. The virus is lurking outside your front door. Be very, very careful. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-20_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-254 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-20 Title A name given to the resource Day 254 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/d501f8fa266a40b35e6cf7fadb982bfb.pdf e1eaa0ef2da54c461257f3ec5df74b04 PDF Text Text Day 253 by windoworks The more things change, the more they stay the same. Yesterday, the total of cases in the US reached 11.6M as we are adding at least 1,500 new cases per day. Soon we may be adding 2,000 cases a day. And as predicted, yesterday we reached 250K deaths. the prediction that we may have 400,000 deaths by January/February is beginning to look all too likely. I look at the daily increases in Kent County and I find them distressing to read. They are predicting 1,000 new �cases a day by Christmas. And you know your county is in trouble when they post under: We need your help. Home Health Department COVID-19 URGENT - We Need Your Help This Holiday Season At a time when we would typically gather with loved ones to celebrate the holidays, COVID-19 cases are spiking in Kent County. The extremely high infection rate is threatening the ability of our local health department and hospitals to provide services essential for the health of our community. We need your help to get things under control. Here’s what you can do to help keep your family and friends healthy this holiday season: • Avoid gathering in-person with people from outside your household • If you do get together with family or friends from outside your household: o Keep gatherings small – 10 people or fewer o Wear a mask and distance when gathering indoors, even with a small group o Wash hands frequently; keep hand sanitizer readily available and don’t share towels o Designate one person to serve the food; that person should wear a mask and wash their hands before and after serving o Bundle up and gather outdoors if possible; wear a mask if you can’t consistently keep 6 feet apart Do not host or attend in-person holiday gatherings if you or anyone in your household: • Has been diagnosed with COVID-19 and has not met the criteria for when it is safe to be around others • Has symptoms of COVID-19 • Is waiting for COVID-19 test results • May have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days • Is at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 The risk of COVID-19 spreading at your holiday gathering increases as follows: LOWEST RISK Gather in-person only with members of your own household. Celebrate “virtually” with extended family and friends using videoconferencing or a group phone call. MORE RISK Smaller (under 10) outdoor and in-person gatherings in which individuals from different households remain spaced at least 6 feet apart, wear masks, do not share objects, and come from the same local area (e.g., community, town, city, or county). Drop off a holiday meal at the home of your loved ones – designate a time and drop the meal at the front door; do a brief “driveway visit,” wear masks and stay 6 feet apart; wash your hands before and after delivery. HIGHER RISK Medium-sized in-person gatherings that are adapted to allow individuals to remain spaced at least 6 feet apart and with attendees coming from outside the local area. �HIGHEST RISK Large in-person gatherings where it is difficult for individuals to remain spaced at least 6 feet apart and attendees travel from outside the local area. And after all this time, I can’t believe this is still happening: Washington Post: A newly married Ohio couple said nearly three dozen people at their wedding, including three of their grandparents, now have the coronavirus. Which part of highly contagious, especially inside crowded inside spaces with singing, dancing and eating, did you not understand? Here’s the latest map of the US showing Covid infections: Michigan is in the highest number of cases category. And yet we are contending with a State House and Senate who can’t seem to grasp the severity of the virus spread. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The head of Trinity Health Michigan says frustration prompted a Twitter response to Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, garnering a lot of attention online. “Mike, as a member of the medical community you claim you are working with, we don’t see you. One phone call with our CMOs does not constitute working with us. We have told you we are in trouble, but you decided that the pandemic was a good time to take a vacation,” Trinity Health Michigan President �and CEO Rob Casalou replied to Shirkey’s statement on new MDHHS restrictions that take effect Wednesday. The health system leader followed that up with, “We need leadership and there appears to be only one leader in Lansing willing to deal with the reality of this public health crisis. The leaders of our state Senate and state House have decided that a recess was more important and then choose to criticize from the sidelines.” Casalou’s posts refer to the GOP-led legislature going on a break that typically covers the start of firearm hunting season and Thanksgiving each year. One glaring difference being that previous November breaks didn’t align with surging cases of a deadly virus.“When I saw the reply from the Senate Majority Leader, I just hit a point of frustration that I no longer could accept the fact we’d allow politics to continue to exist in the single largest public health crisis of our lifetime,” Casalou told News 8 Monday afternoon. �Crooked Media Eleven days after the election ended in decisive victory for Joe Biden, Republicans’ continued performance of uncertainty about the outcome is as appalling and dangerous as it is unrelentingly embarrassing. On Tuesday, the two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers briefly refused to certify the election results in Michigan’s largest county, for a very valid reason that definitely wasn’t “Detroit has a lot of Black voters and we don’t think their votes should count.” (Against all odds, a white man in a polo shirt summed up this stunt best.) The Republicans reversed course on Tuesday night, for a very badass reason that definitely wasn’t “reporters started finding all the racist memes on our Facebook pages.” As a cherry on top, Donald Trump missed the memo and congratulated his would-be coup enablers on their courage, after they had agreed to certify the results. So there we have it. One week exactly to Thanksgiving and people are still trying to tweak the rules to accommodate the 20+ people they want to have at their Thanksgiving table, all sharing food, stories, laughter etc. and of course, sharing the virus. It will just be Craig and I with Murphy at my feet at the dinner table. Yesterday we drove out to Grand Haven and sat in the car while we ate our lunch and watched the wind swirl up the sand and the waves. Afterwards we drove to Kirk Park and walked the circuit through the woods. It was a chilly but sunny day. �I am beginning to see the world through different eyes. Yesterday, when we came home, I posted on FB that after Craig retires on May 4 2021, we are returning to Australia to live. The pull of family and our grandchild is just too strong. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that family matters. Don’t panic, I will keep writing the blog even after we return to Australia. It might be interesting to follow our adventures as we pack up, sell the house and leave. Time for Oliver. �Bottle time at daycare. �Today, I’ll leave you with this: Tomorrow then. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-19_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-253 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-19 Title A name given to the resource Day 253 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/a1b5bd45b83234cbdf698407d8c8305f.pdf f6d0b4c92611cdb2f3e77008ac97dc0e PDF Text Text Day 252 by windoworks A friend of Craig’s has just driven across the country from Long Beach California to pick up his daughter who is now on a break from her studies until January. He decided driving was a safer choice than flying. But he was astonished and dismayed by the crowded restaurants he saw in states like Texas, Arizona and Missouri, as he drove through. I guess we all know what the people of those states will be doing for Thanksgiving. And just in case you still weren’t sure about that traditional extended family dinner: �From a post by a doctor on FaceBook: FB This has been a tough week. Covid cases are exponentially increasing and stressing our community and our hospital systems. Almost every night that I have been on call I had to have a very difficult conversation with a family about a dying Covid-19 patient. Last night I had two Covid deaths. For those of you who think that this is not real or it’s just the “flu” or it’s a political ploy, wake up! The decision to wear a mask is not a personal choice or a “freedom”, it is a necessity to protect one another. How many more deaths is it going to take before Covid non-believers accept this grim reality. Our national response to this crisis has been extremely inadequate and politicized . It’s not about politics, it’s about frank incompetence. Many more people are going to die before this over. Many more health care workers will also be stricken while we risk our lives serving our communities. I know that this post will only reach a �minuscule amount of people but if we all rally together and practice the CDC guidelines maybe we have a chance. Sorry for the rant, but I’m truly scared. Last night, the hospitals in Grand Rapids (and perhaps all of West Michigan) announced that they would be full with no more available beds by this weekend. That’s 3 days away. And to confirm that, here’s this: The Atlantic More than 1,000 American hospitals report that they don’t have enough staff to manage the influx of coronavirus patients. That’s 22 percent of hospitals in the U.S.. This frightening statistic, courtesy of my colleague Alexis C. Madrigal, is a quantitative summary of the horror story already unfolding. Nationwide, beds are filling. So are body bags. Health-care workers are scared. “It keeps rising and rising, and we’re all running on fear,” one told Ed Yong. A change is coming; vaccines look promising. But relief appears to be at least another season away. In the meantime, our writers have some practical advice for Americans. • Lock yourself down now. “It’s time to buckle up and lock ourselves down again, and to do so with fresh vigilance,” Zeynep Tufekci writes. • Cancel Thanksgiving. “Telling people not to gather for a holiday is, of course, an unpopular message,” James Hamblin writes. “So I’m doing it.” • The golden rule of pandemic winter safety is simple, Rachel Gutman explains: Don’t spend time indoors with people outside your household. Two vaccines are barreling towards the finish line - which is fantastic - but the distribution to communities may take months. So remember the simple rule: mask up! The Atlantic One question, answered: First Pfizer. Now Moderna. Should news of a second company's promising vaccine-trial data change our expectations? I asked our staff writer Sarah Zhang, who covers vaccines, to put this latest development in context: It’s more good news! Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines work in very similar ways, so it’s not surprising that they are similarly effective. I’m also relieved because Moderna’s vaccine does not require ultracold storage like Pfizer’s, meaning it will be a lot easier to distribute in rural communities. Both companies are manufacturing vaccines as we speak, and this second success means more doses to go around in the initial scarcity phase. We just have to wait and get through this winter. Washington Post: �While the coronavirus pandemic is positively exploding across the country — we’re now averaging more than 150,000 new cases and a thousand deaths per day — Trump’s administration has stopped even pretending it cares. At the current pace, by the time Trump leaves office, more than 300,000 Americans will have died of covid-19. And even after he departs, every day more will die because Trump politicized simple public health measures, convincing his supporters that refusing to wear a mask to protect yourself and those around you is a great way to own the libs. Yesterday Governor Whitmer sent out a video with Governor Andy Beshaer (Kentucky), Governor Mike DeWine (Ohio), Governor Tony Evers (Wisconsin), Governor Eric Holcomb (Indiana), Governor JB Pritzker (Illinois), and Governor Tim Waltz (Minnesota), called Mask Up. Its a great video to watch, all the governors were asking the citizens of their states to Mask Up. In the comments under Governor Whitmer’s post there were the usual cries of impeachment and other derogatory words. I can only suppose �these citizens of Michigan didn’t actually watch the video in which the other governors spoke just as much as Gretchen. I grieve for my state of Michigan. Such hatred. Such selfishness. And such despair. In other embarrassing national (and possibly international) news, two Republicans initially refused to certify the results of the election in Michigan, because - and this is an educated guess here - the results confirmed Joe Biden winning the state. After a slew of breaking news stories, the two abruptly reversed and voted to confirm the results. This and other well broadcast egregious actions gives the saying ‘Only in Michigan’, a truly embarrassing meaning. And this says it all for me: �On to the other topic of the day - Trump’s refusal to concede or at least agree to a smooth transition. Here’s what Barack Obama had to say: �The Atlantic 1. On Donald Trump as a phenomenon: I will say that I’m not surprised that somebody like Trump could get traction in our political life. He’s a symptom as much as an accelerant. But if we were going to have a right-wing populist in this country, I would have expected somebody a little more appealing. 2. On Republicans refusing to stand up to him: Donald Trump’s character and behavior haven’t surprised me … I didn’t expect him to significantly change. 3. I did not believe how easily the Republican establishment, people who had been in Washington for a long time and had professed a belief in certain institutional values and norms, would just cave. 4. On misinformation: If we do not have the capacity to distinguish what’s true from what’s false, then by definition the marketplace of ideas doesn’t work. And by definition our democracy doesn’t work. We are entering into an epistemological crisis. ��Here’s Oliver! Is he about to bite the lemon? I can’t be sure. ��US coronavirus: yesterday there were 159, 508 new cases. We are racing upwards with a new total of 11.4M cases. There were another 1,583 deaths to bring the total to 248K. In Kent County we had 709 new cases which gives us a new total of 25,703 cases altogether. We had 3 new deaths making the total of deaths 257. Remember, these numbers are just from yesterday. ��Here is a sunrise taken from my birthday twin, Mary Alice’s balcony, looking across Reeds Lake. She sent it to me this morning to lift my spirits on my birthday, so I’m sharing it with you. Whatever else happens, a new day always dawns. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-18_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-252 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-18 Title A name given to the resource Day 252 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/ea034d6dfe605cd416ae8332f32c717c.pdf 8d4170c26e04539dbe80f205a0937ea4 PDF Text Text Day 251 by windoworks I literally don’t know where to start. Senator Lindsey Graham (R) called Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Secretary of State who is in charge of the hand recount in Georgia and ‘suggested’ if there was one incorrect ballot in a county’s ballot total - throw the whole county’s ballots out. Of course he later denied it. Raffensperger and his family have 24 hour security because of the death threats they have received, eg. If you don’t declare Georgia a win for President Trump, we are coming to kill you and your family. Yesterday Dr Atlas, a neuroradiologist - a what Pamela? Neuroradiology is the medical subspecialty that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of brain, spinal cord, head and neck, and vascular lesions using xrays, magnetic fields, radio waves, and ultrasound. Anyway , in the tradition of appointing totally inept and unqualified people to really important positions within the White House and beyond, Trump appointed Dr Atlas as the White House advisor to the Covid Task Force, because as we all know, a man who studies X-rays, CAT scans and MRIs knows exactly how Covid works and what is the best prevention method going forward. I doubt he’s even set foot inside an ER at this time. So yesterday he told Michiganders to ‘rise up’ and refuse to follow the restrictions mandated by the Michigan State Health Department because we all need to gather with friends and family for Thanksgiving, which may possibly be the last one every family is present at. Washington Post The governors of Michigan and Washington appealed to the federal government to step in with more help for struggling businesses in light of the new restrictions. In response, White House coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas urged people to reject their states’ public health guidelines. “The only way this stops is if people rise up,” Atlas said in a tweet Sunday night. A wide array of groups from the retail, tourism and hospitality industries are trying to battle new restrictions to preserve their ability to continue to operate. At the same time, some major retailers are buckling down with precautions that echo those they took early in the pandemic. Kroger has temporarily reverted to limiting purchases on items such as hand sanitizer, toilet paper and disinfecting wipes. Walmart stores are metering customers by only allowing a certain number inside at a time. Now I’m assuming that if you are reading this blog, that you believe in Science and indisputable facts and figures. That you understand that it takes an average of 12 years and thousands of dollars in student debt to become a doctor of medicine. That each doctor is asked to take a Hippocratic Oath. This is quite a long and detailed oath which is mainly saying the patients needs outweigh everything and in one section says “and I will do no harm or injustice to them”. Them being the patients. New York Times “With the level of community spread we have in Michigan and that many other states are now facing, the �only way to bring Covid down is state action — or a terrible loss of life,” Robert Gordon, the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said yesterday. The Trumpers Over 70M Americans believe the twaddle perpetrated by Trump implicitly. So much so, that stories are now surfacing from states such as Montana where the seriously ill nonbelievers are screaming (yes, screaming) at the nursing staff. They are demanding the special drug that Trump got and they are raging at the staff for wearing layers of PPE. They only stop screaming when the ventilator tube is inserted down their throats and some die still believing this is a hoax. You know I just wrote that paragraph and even I feel it is just too hard to believe. If this was a movie I would say: ‘Oh I’m not watching this. Its too fantastic. This would never happen’. And yet it is. Day after f****** day. Because Trump persists in fostering a belief that the election was rigged and he truly won it, and because he won it, the incoming President-Elect and his team are denied access to daily security briefings (you know, the ones which inform the President of the threats facing America etc - which Trump never attends anyway). Biden’s team is managing to establish their White House team through back channels, because no one on Trump’s side will begin the transition process. �So here we are. Living in a country where the virus is raging with no way of containing it and experts are predicting 400,000 American deaths by the new year. Vaccines are in development and doing well, but even with the best planning, it will take months to vaccinate all those willing to be vaccinated. Two days ago Trump wanted to bomb Iran because it seemed like a good day to bomb something. Someone talked him out of it. (Thank you, whoever you are). The joint chiefs of staff have tried to stand apart from this insanity because any action they take would be construed as a coup. Trump tweets all night long (definitely imbibing some sort of amphetamines) and then plays golf every day! Biden and his team are in the dark, so I ask myself (in a quavering voice) who is actually in charge here? Yesterday, my neighbor TJ, who is a gifted builder, found out that his scheduled hip replacement operation was postponed indefinitely because although they had the bed and the operating theater, they didn’t have the nursing staff or anesthesiologist because they’ve either been exposed to the virus or they’ve tested positive. He is self employed and in terrible pain every day. He had quarantined in preparation for his surgery and now he doesn’t know what to do. And this is the same for every state. In Ohio, the hospital system is down 1000 staff members, again, either infected or quarantined. The day before yesterday, South Australia, a state in Australia, discovered 1 positive case. The next day, alarmingly to them, there were 17 more people who tested positive through community spread. The state health department swung into immediate action. All the systems they put in place are working like a well oiled machine. 17 cases. Guess how many we had here over Sunday and Monday in Kent County? 1,365 new cases. Craig receives and average of 6 emails a day from students, each one more upsetting than the last. Last night a young, sensible man informed Craig he had checked himself into an emergency mental �care facility as he couldn’t get his anxiety levels under control. Craig was gobsmacked. He worries about his 59 students daily. Sometimes I think he is their only rock to hold on to. ��Here is Oliver, pacifier in his mouth, playing with water. He is reluctant to give up the pacifier during the day. I think the gastro virus hit him hard. Here’s another handy chart about pods: Yesterday this was posted on FB and I think we’re all going to participate. Perhaps you might too, wherever you live. Pot and pans work if you haven’t got a bell and it really doesn’t matter if you celebrate Christmas or not. �Imagine someone reading this blog in 2120. Would they believe it? I don’t think I would. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-17_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-251 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-17 Title A name given to the resource Day 251 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/83c106b5240194b199e5ea8208bb2173.pdf 29a36802d0f4abe3e8dad0de749412af PDF Text Text Day 250 – even I’m surprised by that number of posts. by windoworks Here is the day’s first breaking news: CNN The US surpassed 11 million coronavirus infections over the weekend, and states are rushing to set up restrictions as hospitalizations grow. Just six days ago, there were 10 million cases nationwide. I want to emphasize: 6 days between 10M cases and 11M cases. What will the next 6 days or less bring? This has reached unimaginable numbers. To give perspective: New York City currently has 18.8M residents, so 11M cases is more than half the population of New York. Meanwhile, CNN: Health experts are calling the pandemic a "humanitarian" crisis and pleading with President Trump to allow transition talks between his health officials and aides of President-elect Joe Biden. The incoming White House chief of staff said their team has not talked to current top health officials about the pandemic because of Trump's refusal to trigger ascertainment — the formal process of opening a transition to a new administration. Instead, Biden's team is getting up to speed on the pandemic response by back-channeling with governors, members of the private sector and the medical community. I want to add here that Trump hasn’t attended a Coronavirus Task Force meeting in 5 months. 5 months! Can you feel the anger building across the US? I can. Trump lost the election and I can’t understand why someone doesn’t march in and physically remove him from the White House. Pence is just as weird really, you’re the Vice President of the United States and you can’t be alone in a restaurant or meeting with any other woman except your wife? And 71% of voting Americans voted for this pair. I can’t wait to see what happens on Jan 20. And all the while Mitch McConnell is aiding and abetting Trump. Can we indict him too? Do any of these people think about their future generations - not the public - their grandchildren and great grandchildren - and the legacy they will leave behind? The taint that will be attached to their family name. Imagine, in years to come: ‘oh McConnell. Any relation to that Mitch McConnell?’ Yesterday at 6pm, Governor Whitmer addressed the state. I knew this would not be good. She talked about how we crushed the curve in summer and then she said that they had warned us for some time that this fall/winter would be hard. Then she handed off to Dr Khaldun, our Chief Medical Officer for the �state. Dr J began by telling us that she was an Emergency Room Physician and that in her work, her face was often that last one Covid patients saw as she put them on a respirator. Her face was often the last one they saw before they died. After that sobering news, she then explained the restrictions the Michigan State Health Department were putting in place, beginning at midnight on Wednesday November 18 - 2 days from today. Then the Director of Health and Human Services spoke and talked in hard terms about selfishness. He said: ‘think how guilty you would feel for the rest of your life, if your selfish attitude led to the death of a family member or friend’. Even before Governor Whitmer had finished speaking, the State Republicans members were tweeting that it was another overstep by the governor. But if they actually watched the whole event, they would know (and I’m sure they do) that the Health Department is issuing these restrictions. Dear God, will it ever stop? Here are the restrictions for the state of Michigan for the next 3 weeks: ��This is the clearest and most disturbing diagram of contagion. You think you have a bubble of 4 persons, while in fact, you have a bubble of at least 31 - and uh oh, one or more of those 31 persons are contagious. �Well that says it all, doesn’t it? We are 10 days out from Thanksgiving. People take this virus so lightly it is unbelievable. One parent told their child after visiting the grandmother: ‘oh I forgot to tell you. I tested positive’. Way to go, Mom. �So here we are. These restrictions will stay in effect until December 9 and you know they’re going to extend them over Christmas. Christmas is another worrying opportunity for mass infection. Meanwhile, Trump is blocking Biden’s path to the presidency for as long as he can. Mitch McConnell is refusing to discuss another emergency funding round for Americans and Trump is fleecing his rabid supporters of even more money - to pay off some of his massive debt, of course. They, in turn, are continuing to threaten Biden supporters lives and spew vitriol and hate at every opportunity. I think the name should be the Ununited States of America - oh I think I heard that someone in Mississippi was talking about seseeding (I think they meant seceding: withdraw formally from membership of a federal union, an alliance.). Just a word here, to secede from a country, you need to have a solid source of income for your state to survive. The main source of incoming for Mississippi is agriculture. I’m not sure they’d financially survive. �Sorry this is such a gloomy post. In good news, there’s another company who’s close to vaccine production: Washington Post: Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine found to be nearly 95 percent effective in early analysis. The biotechnology firm announced Monday that in addition to the high rate of disease prevention overall, the shot reduced severe cases of illness — a striking initial result. The finding comes a week after Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, reported their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90 percent effective and means the United States could have two vaccines available on a limited basis by the end of this year. In Michigan the Health Department is already planning distribution. So that’s some good news. It must be time for Oliver. ��Now if that doesn’t make you smile - nothing will. Flashback: our next stop was Goa. Panaji is the state's capital, while Vasco da Gama is its largest city. The historic city of Margao still exhibits the cultural influence of the Portuguese, who first landed in the early 16th century as merchants and conquered it soon thereafter. Goa was a former state of the Portuguese Empire. The Portuguese overseas territory of Portuguese India existed for about 450 years until it was annexed by India in 1961.Its majority and official language is Konkani. Goa is visited by large numbers of international and domestic tourists each year for its white sand beaches, nightlife, places of worship and World Heritage-listed architecture. It has rich flora and fauna, owing to its location on the Western Ghats range, a biodiversity hotspot. ������From the top: our welcome at the wharf; first stop, a Durga temple complex (Durga is depicted in the Hindu pantheon as a goddess riding a lion or tiger, with many arms each carrying a weapon, often defeating Mahishasura (lit. buffalo demon). The three principal forms of Durga worshipped are Maha Durga, Chandika and Aparajita. Wikipedia); walking from the bus to our next stop, a Spice Farm; walking across the wetlands entrance; ants dueling on a log. The Spice Farm was fantastic. We toured the grounds first and saw every spice you could think of, growing in their natural state. Then we went back to the main pavilion and ate a wonderful Indian lunch of several curries, both meat and vegetarian, ranging from sort of mild to extremely hot. Delicious! There was time to buy some spices before returning to the ship. ��Say it with me: I promise to wear my mask outside the house, wash my hands, don’t touch my face and remember to safely distance from everyone. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-16_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-250 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-16 Title A name given to the resource Day 250 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/493b252eaa87c4729e0d3b6d1182e44e.pdf 266dd72c6c45503ac0bc7209ae331366 PDF Text Text New post on Stuff Day 249. by windoworks It’s Sunday. Craig has gone out early to Trader Joe’s to be among the first in line when the store opens. Remember? He’s our designated shopper. There are 66 painful days left until the Inauguration of President-Elect Joe Biden. I say painful because at a very fraught moment in the history of the United States, we have a competent man twiddling his thumbs waiting to start the smooth transition between one president and the next. Meanwhile, that dangerous fool in the White House has amused himself by playing golf endlessly and stirring up his base. Yesterday there was a demonstration in Washington D.C. which featured MAGA believers, Proud Boys, Antifa, and others. Of course, eventually it went from hurling insults to hurling actual objects, and then people got injured and some were arrested. Trump stoked the fires by driving through the demonstration, because thats what losers do. �Aaah the virus. If we had a national emergency siren it would be blaring ‘Danger! Danger! Danger!’ Right across America, everyone who has decided that they want to be with their family and friends for Thanksgiving are trying desperately to get tested for the virus. Testing posts, laboratories and contact tracers are utterly overwhelmed. Results are taking 3 - 5 days or longer. And then (and pay attention to this), that hoped for negative result is only good for that hour and that day. Experts are predicting a massive surge in cases after Thanksgiving. As we can see how well it is working out for the hospitals right now, I can’t imagine what a new surge will look like. NPR news Here are some of the big takeaways from the week in COVID-19: 1. Hospitals have never been so full 2. Parts of Midwest and the West are 'at the breaking point' 3. States tiptoe toward new restrictions, but gaping holes remain 4. New mask mandates — kinda? 5. After a long plateau, deaths are now going up 6. Even East and West coast states, that had kept cases low, are heading into trouble 7. Rural and suburban counties outpace metro counties in per capita infections 8. Long-term care facilities are getting hammered again �Apparently people in my age group are much more resilient - that is we behave ourselves, stay home when asked, distance ourselves from others, wash our hands and wear a mask. Here’s something that says it all: Craig’s students are struggling. Some have given up and moved home and are logging into lectures etc from there. Some can’t go home for Thanksgiving because they have Covid, or they’re quarantining and waiting for their test results, or their family has Covid cases and they don’t. Everyone in 2 of his classes either knows someone who is sick, is sick or is waiting to find out if they’re about to be sick. Craig spends a lot of the class time listening and reassuring and out of class time, the stream of emails from students is never ending. �On our block we are all hunkering down. We are sustained by memories of Thanksgivings past. Here are some words to live by: NPR We may not be able to defeat, overwhelm, or kick the coronavirus in the backside - more metaphors that now fall flat. But each day, we can help each other, and rise above fatigue and despair. We can wear masks, stay a social distance apart, avoid big gatherings, look for chances to make each other laugh, and help each other keep going, until that time when the masks we wear today can become souvenirs, instead of survival gear. Here’s the daily Oliver ��Helping to make damper. Damper is a traditional Australian soda bread, historically prepared by early Australians, swagmen, drovers, stockmen and other travellers. … Damper is a dough of wheat-flour-based bread and water, with some butter if available, lightly kneaded and baked in the coals of a campfire in a camp oven. Wikipedia Our next stop was Cochin (Kochi). Called the "Queen of the Arabian Sea", Kochi was an important spice trading centre on the west coast of India from the 14th century onward, and maintained a trade network with Arab merchants from the pre-Islamic era. Occupied by the Portuguese in 1503, Kochi was the first of the European colonies in colonial India. It remained the main seat of Portuguese India until 1530, when Goa was chosen instead. The city was later occupied by the Dutch and the British, with the Kingdom of Cochin becoming a princely state. Kochi ranks first in the total number of international and domestic tourist arrivals in Kerala. ��The market on the wharf. ��A stop for shopping and sightseeing Fishing nets - unique design. �The Jewish Quarter. ���A beautifully decorated Catholic Church. Here’s this to make you laugh: You know the drill. See you tomorrow. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-15_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-249 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-15 Title A name given to the resource Day 249 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/ebb410f97c1d73cbc64bcbfac6b2959f.pdf 06197856f1237b87cf73012d03aaf747 PDF Text Text Day 248. Saturday November 14. by windoworks 9 months. We’ve been doing this for 9 months. I cannot see how much longer this will continue. There is at least one vaccine in the end trials and all the experts keep saying it will be available and there will be enough to get everyone vaccinated and then life will resume some form of normalcy. It sounds a bit pie in the sky to me - you can see it, but its just out of reach. You can tell I’m a bit overwhelmed this morning. It has been a couple of unrelenting days. The numbers are horrific and increasingly hard to comprehend. Here they are for today: US - 181,194 new cases and 1,389 new deaths. Michigan - 9,099 new cases and 125 new deaths. Kent County - 896 new cases and 13 new deaths. And no, I don’t think we’ve reached the peak. There are 12 days until Thanksgiving and everyone, doctors, chief medical officers, governors, mayors etc., are pleading with Americans to have a carefully controlled Thanksgiving. If you plan to gather with family, you should have been quarantining for 2 days already. Its too late to start now. Here’s the situation in West Michigan. West Michigan’s hospitals are once again being forced to postpone surgeries and other inpatient medical procedures as the number of people infected with the coronavirus continues to skyrocket in the region. Spectrum Health, the largest health care system in the region, also will no longer allow visitors in its hospitals and will only administer COVID-19 tests to people who show symptoms of the virus. They are running out of PPE, ventilators and test kits, but more alarmingly, staff. Even if they established a field hospital in DeVos Convention Center, they wouldn’t have the capacity to staff it. And unlike March/April, the staff shortage is right across the States. The ONLY preventative we have is masks. Physical distancing, avoidance of crowds and hand washing all help, but masks are essential for containing the spread. �I cannot truly express my anger at Donald Trump. Not only did he politicize the extent of the virus, he ridiculed mask wearing. Even now his followers don’t believe in the virus. I read an account from a nurse at a hospital in mid Michigan. She said that often, moments before they ventilate a patient, the person will say: I didn’t believe the virus was real and so I didn’t wear a mask. I wish I had. I have absolutely no words. Here’s an edited account of our situation: Dr. Sanjay Gupta: The pandemic has become a humanitarian disaster in the United States 12:49 PM EST November 13, 2020 In my 20 years as a journalist, I've experienced crises and devastation around the world first-hand. As this pandemic unfolds in the United States, I now count it among the worst humanitarian disasters I've �covered. I don't say this lightly. Having spent two decades traveling to the most devastated places on the planet, I have seen the awful ingredients of a humanitarian crisis: a singular event or a series of events that overwhelms the medical resources leading to unimaginable death, many of which are preventable. This week, our country passed the 10 million mark for Covid-19 cases. Nearly 250,000 Americans have died so far. A quarter million. More than all the wars, since Vietnam. It is the equivalent of 625 planes crashing this year -- nearly two every single day so far. It is friends of mine who have died, and the tearsoaked conversations I have late at night with their spouses and children. They counted on me as their friend, the doctor -- Mr Fix It -- and my stomach aches because I can't help but feel like I failed them. In my memory, they live among the 220,000 killed in the Haiti earthquake and its aftermath; among the 228,000 dead from the tsunami; among the 260,000 who perished during the Somali famine. On Thursday, the United States had a record breaking 153,496 new cases, with more than 67,000 people currently hospitalized. Hospitals all over the US are starting to be overwhelmed again, with cases rising as fast as we've seen since March. ICU capacity is shrinking in many states and staffing shortages are adding to the strain. By the beginning of next year, the number of people hospitalized, struggling to breathe, isolated from their loved ones is expected to double. There are no corners that we are rounding, we are just riding a rocket ship pointed at the stars. By March 1, 439,000 lives could be lost, according to a forecast from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine. And that, of course, is only a piece of the humanitarian disaster of Covid-19. The economic toll exacted on our society -- in jobs lost, in households pushed beyond their limits, in the shrinkage and decimation of complete sectors of our economy, in mental health deterioration, in educational losses among our school children -- has yet to play itself out, let alone be calculated and addressed. According to the United Nations, a humanitarian disaster is defined as "a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope with using its own resources." The pandemic and its impact on the US so far fits the bill. Again, forecast models predict that if we don't change our behavior, by the end of the year, we're going to have more than 300,000 people becoming infected every day. And total hospitalizations could hit 128,000 -- almost double what we have now -- by mid-January. Michael Osterholm said earlier this week on CNBC "What America has to understand is we are about to enter Covid hell. It is happening," �We've been living like the fabled frog in a pot of tepid water. At first it doesn't feel the heat, doesn't perceive the danger. But gradually the temperature goes up until the water is close to boiling, and by then, for the frog, it's too late. And all the while, Trump and his devoted followers and dazzled politicians continue to call fraud in the election. There are absolutely no cases of fraud, this was one of the most well run election processes and even now as the last votes are counted, Biden is still conclusively ahead and still the incoming president. As I write this, Biden has 306 electoral college votes to Trumps 232. Biden has 36 more votes than he needed to win. There is another scandal to follow the 2 outbreaks at the White House after 2 ill advised and poorly judged maskless, crowded events. This time it is the more than 130 Secret Service officers who protect both the White House and the president when he travels - remember the frenetic pace of campaign rallies in the last days before the election? I’m beginning to think Trump may actually be a version of Typhoid Mary, shedding the virus wherever he goes. I am sorry my blogpost has turned into a litany of disasters. It is my continuing chronicle of life in the worsening pandemic. For a while I stopped adding a flashback at the end as I felt it was too frivolous at this time. Now I think we need all the frivolity we can get, or we’ll sink under the onslaught of despair. So first, Oliver. Yesterday Oliver showed Zoe that he had caught the gastro virus plaguing daycare. At 5:30am he stood up in his cot and projectile vomited all over the room and his mother. Oh, I remember those occasions - and if you’re a mother reading this, I can see you nodding your head in sympathy. Luckily, Drew and Bernie drove over the bridge to Balmain, and suddenly there were 2 extra hands helping with the cleanup and with Oliver. Later he slept for 3 hours straight (most unusual) and then had a quiet, low energy day watching family movies on TV. ��When in doubt, pop in a pacifier. Its such a comfort. Flashback: So to refresh your memory, we were traveling towards Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, our next stop. ��Sailing across the ocean. ������Second and third photos: the amazing central market -really fragrant with all the spices for sale. The fourth photo - the busy streets of downtown Colombo. The fifth photo - a striped mosque next door to a Christian church. And the last photo - Craig lecturing onboard the ship. Our next stop is Cochin in southern India. Today, I’ll leave you with this. It captures all the anger I’m feeling. This is the fence surrounding the White House. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-14_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-248 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-14 Title A name given to the resource Day 248 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/309cc13f2aa4918d53f319d96ed3ea81.pdf 1d695494139cdf36089ff6c00b3d4562 PDF Text Text Day 247 by windoworks As of this morning, President-Elect Joe Biden has 290 Electoral College votes and Donald Trump has 217. Biden needed 270 votes to take the presidency. Anyway you look at this, Trump has lost. �Crooked Media. Five days after news networks called the election for Biden, some Republicans have begun to come around to the possibility that perhaps, and this is still just a theory, Biden may have won the election. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said that he would “step in” if Biden didn’t start receiving intelligence briefings by the end of the week. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and John Thune (R-SD) have agreed that Biden should have access to classified briefings, just in case President Trump’s very valid and reasonable fraud lawsuits don’t pan out. Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) went so far as to call Biden the president-elect. �• Trump’s ongoing Coup Lite aside, all it would take for the transition to proceed normally is for one lady at the General Services Administration to sign a piece of paper. Democrats in Congress wrote this lady a letter demanding an explanation for why she hadn’t done so, to be received by Wednesday. An answer, shockingly, never came. Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-VA) has said Democrats will now consider “next steps” to ramp up the pressure. Those steps could and should include hearings and subpoenas. While Republicans maintain their blind obedience to Trump, world leaders have begun reaching out to President-Elect Biden. Weekly update from a FB newsletter • Sighs of relief rippled through capitals of longtime U.S. allies around the world after Joe Biden became president-elect on Saturday. • Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven congratulated Biden and mentioned the need for "multilateralism" �— something the Trump administration has explicitly shunned.”My warmest congratulations to @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. Looking forward to strengthening excellent US-Swedish relations and to work jointly for multilateralism, democracy and global security. Together, we can lead a green transition creating jobs for the future”. • New Zealand Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern — lauded for her response to the coronavirus pandemic and the March 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks that killed 51 people — celebrated Biden's victory before saying there were "so many issues facing the international community." • French President Emmanuel Macron also noted the international challenges piling up on the presidentelect's desk.”The Americans have chosen their President. Congratulations Joe Biden and Kamala Harris! We have a lot to do to overcome today’s challenges. Let's work together!” • German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom Trump has publicly criticized, congratulated Biden after he was named president-elect Saturday. On Monday, she spoke warmly of the former vice president in a speech. "I sincerely congratulate Joe Biden to his election as the 46th President of the United States of America. Joe Biden brings the experience of decades in domestic and foreign policy with him. He knows Germany and Europe well. I fondly remember meetings and conversations with him," she said. • Ireland's prime minister, Micheál Martin, offered his congratulations via Twitter. “Biden is one of the 30 million Americans who identify as Irish — his great-great grandfather emigrated from County Mayo to the U.S. in 1850. I want to congratulate the new President Elect of the USA Joe Biden has been a true friend of this nation throughout his life and I look forward to working with him in the years ahead. I also look forward to welcoming him back home when the circumstances allow!” • On the other side of the globe, Australia, an important U.S. ally and a partner in managing its relations with China, welcomed Biden's win."I particularly look forward to this with President-elect Biden because he comes to this relationship with a deep experience and a deep history," Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters Sunday. And: "I know Joe Biden as a strong supporter of our alliance," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote. "A strong NATO is good for both North America and Europe." And now for something completely different: Crooked Media: Five passengers on the first cruise in the Caribbean since March have tested positive for coronavirus. At least absolutely no one could have seen this coming, or warned vehemently against it. So, the virus. Yesterday Governor Whitmer, Dr Joneigh Khaldun and another Chief Medical Officer for Lansing, spoke to Michiganders at great length about the escalating virus. They asked us to not hold any Thanksgiving dinners unless all parties attending quarantine for 14 beforehand, starting yesterday. This is not a concern for Craig and I as we will be celebrating by ourselves. They also asked us to send just one �person to the grocery store, so our designated shopper is Craig. Our grocery store of choice is Trader Joe’s. This is because 1) you have to line up 6 feet apart outside (whatever the weather). 2)They wipe down the carts thoroughly as each cart returns. 3) They only allow 1 person in as 1 person exits. 4) You must wear a mask and 5) There is a limit of 25 shoppers in the store at one time. If we shop together, we can be in and out in 15 minutes, which is the maximum time recommended inside a busy building. If Craig shops on his own, he can do it in 10 minutes. Obviously Trader Joe’s does not have all the items we need - but those I can buy in bulk online and they are delivered to the door. Here are the 6 mistakes that Michiganders are making with the virus: Attending small gatherings (its the small lunches and dinner parties that are the culprit); Not quarantining for 14 days after exposure; Getting tested too soon after exposure (you would have to check this with your doctor); Assuming that because something is allowed, it’s safe; Assuming taking one precaution will keep you safe (all three needed - hand washing, distancing and masks); and, Assuming friends and family are as careful as you are. Something to think about - make no assumptions. Yesterday, as instructed, I downloaded MI Covid Alert app. It will notify me if I have been in contact with anyone who has tested positive. So far I have not been exposed. I know my children have similar apps on their phones in Australia and New Zealand. Our app is free and protects your privacy. Check it out. There might be an app in your state or country. I thought the virus figures I told you yesterday were alarming. Its like watching a burning building - you don’t want to look and yet you can’t tear your eyes away. US: yesterday there were 163,405 new cases and 1,171 new deaths. US totals: 10.6M cases and 243K deaths. Closer to home, Michigan had 7,474 new cases and 50 new deaths. Michigan totals: 259K cases and 8,187 deaths. And at home, Kent County had 725 new cases and 2 new deaths. Kent County totals: 22,024 cases and 230 deaths. I can’t imagine what the numbers will look like tomorrow. Now I know this is happening right across the world. The Canadian and Mexican borders are closed. Many European countries have closed their borders. Australia may not allow overseas travel for Australians until the end of 2021. New Zealand has much the same restrictions. A safe travel bubble has opened up between New Zealand and Australia, but not to all Australian states and I think New Zealanders have to quarantine when they return home. At this point both New Zealanders and Australians can only fly home from other countries by repatriation. I believe there is a backlog of people overseas all waiting to be allowed to fly. The restriction is due to the limit of quarantine facilities. And the flights are 6x the normal price for economy. Way to recoup your losses, airlines! So, to help alleviate your anxious mood, here’s Oliver. ���Is that walking like a duck? And in the Is That Hope category, from Washington Post: Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), a moderate Republican who won a tough reelection bid last week, said Biden needs to be briefed on classified intelligence — calling that process the “most important part of the transition” and one that can take place even as Trump contests the results in court. “Like any apparent winner, he should have access to office space, federal employees, materials, supplies, whatever, but the standard assistance that the apparent winner receives,” Collins told reporters on Thursday. “That doesn’t in any way preclude President Trump from pursuing his legal remedies if he believes there are irregularities, but it should not delay the transition, because we want the president-elect — assuming he prevails — to be ready on day one.” Remember; no assumptions; all 3 safety measures all the time; plan a Zoom Thanksgiving meal and watch entertaining TV - something that doesn’t need you to think. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-13_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-247 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-13 Title A name given to the resource Day 247 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/313efa070f6e3daf6486a6400c2de76c.pdf 6cdf408b0e6290278f8842eca920a843 PDF Text Text Day 246. by windoworks I don’t know what to say. Never for one moment did I think I would be living in a country where the defeated President would not only refuse to concede but would begin a series of assaults and attacks on the country’s democracy. Crooked Media A full week after Election Day, the Trump administration has continued to flip the bird at a peaceful transfer of power, top Republicans are hoping to ride that delusion to a Senate majority, and the jaws of a nation have reluctantly re-clenched. It was nice while it lasted! On Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was asked whether he would cooperate with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team, and smirkingly replied, “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.” A casual declaration of a coup? A lighthearted fascism goof, in complete alignment with what Trump has been saying in earnest? Each interpretation is more delightful than the last! At the same time, the White House has told agencies across the government to obstruct the transition (with potentially harmful national security implications), and to proceed with Trump’s budget plan for the 2022 fiscal year. If Republicans were willing to follow Trump to the brink of institutional collapse to install some rightwing judges, they’re certainly willing to go a step further to maintain their vulnerable Senate majority. Trump has even used it as a cudgel against Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and David Perdue (R-GA), by pressuring them to call for the resignation of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and help him undermine the state’s election, lest he fuck them over in their January runoffs. Perdue’s spokesman denied that either campaign had any contact with the White House, if the word of a couple of senators who did coronavirus-related insider trading means anything to you. �And there it is. Its not about what happens now - its about the precedent that is being set. During his run for President in 2016, Trump said, and I more or less quote: you know I could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and they (his followers) would still love me. Was I the only person the world who thought, at that moment - this is not Presidential material? It is a terrible thing to see democracy being destroyed for one individual’s base needs. He wants to stay in the White House, because where else will he go? �And to look at these events from a different perspective: New York Times The political scientist Brendan Nyhan has often responded to events during the Trump presidency by asking a question: What would you say if you saw it in another country? Let’s try that exercise now. Imagine that a president of another country lost an election and refused to concede defeat. Instead, he lied about the vote count. He then filed lawsuits to have ballots thrown out, put pressure on other officials to back him up and used the power of government to prevent a transition of power from starting. How would you describe this behavior? It’s certainly anti-democratic. It is an attempt to overrule the will �of the people, ignore a country’s laws and illegitimately grab political power. President Trump’s efforts will probably fail, but they are unlike anything that living Americans have experienced. “What we have seen in the last week from the president more closely resembles the tactics of the kind of authoritarian leaders we follow,” Michael Abramowitz, the president of Freedom House, which tracks democracy, told The Times. “I never would have imagined seeing something like this in America.”It is “one of the gravest threats to democracy” the country has faced, Ryan Enos, a Harvard social scientist, wrote yesterday. He added in an email, “The result is crystal clear and, yet, the incumbent is creating ambiguity by baseless claims.” Years ago, Craig and I visited the town of Berchtesgaden in Bavaria , to see the mountain top resort of Kehlsteinhaus or Eagles Nest, which was built as a birthday present for Adolf Hitler. This was our first visit and at that time, the parking lot (you have to ascend in a bus to the elevator which takes you to the top) was not well signposted and we had to ask a woman working in a cafe nearby. She regarded us with great suspicion and asked why we wanted to visit it. After we explained we were tourists, she gave us directions. On our second visit some years later, the directions were clear and the bus driver told us as we drove past vacant lots further up from the town, that this had been where all Hitler’s top aides had had their holiday houses - but all destroyed and no trace left. The Germans wanted no shrines built to Hitler, Himmler and the others. Why am I telling you this? Well, I want all Trump Towers renamed and Mar-A-Lago destroyed. No shrines to Trump or his family. This has (and continues to be) a shameful period in American History. And history will not be kind to Trump and his followers. His entire career will be laid bare with every little crime and misdemeanor there for future generations to see. It will be a black period in our history. At this point I’m not sure our democracy will survive it. Remember that virus that was just going to disappear because we were rounding the corner? Here’s the Stats (read them and weep). US: 142,856 new cases yesterday. Case total stands at 10.5M. Weren’t we under 10M a week ago? Deaths now number 242K with 1,431 new deaths yesterday. Are the deaths increasing faster or is it just me? Here in Michigan: 6,494 new cases to bring our total to 251K. Deaths now number 8,137 with 42 new deaths yesterday. And this is not just happening around Detroit on the east side of the state, no, part of it is here in Kent County: 429 new cases yesterday to bring the total to 21,219 cases. Total deaths are 228 with 1 new death yesterday. Washington Post A spike in coronavirus patients in some states is straining hospital resources ― not just beds and protective equipment, but now staff members who are coming down with covid-19 themselves after catching it in their communities. �In a step that illustrates how dire the staffing situation has become, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) announced Monday that health-care workers who have asymptomatic cases can stay on duty. And in Ohio, hospital executives said they will need to at least delay some care if staffing shortages continue and possibly turn people away. Officials urged the public to wear masks and distance themselves to control the outbreaks in their states. Andy Thomas, chief clinical officer at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, noted that he was concerned about people who need non-covid care ― those who get into car accidents or have heart attacks ― for whom they might not have capacity in the coming weeks if current trends continue. “We do need to make sure people are aware of how serious this is,” Thomas said. Some Governors are desperately issuing statewide mask mandates. Some are shutting sections of their state down. And some are hoping for herd immunity and that when their next reelection comes around, their constituents (those still standing) will either have forgotten or forgiven. Meanwhile, there’s this to consider: Washington Post A new study based on data from millions of Americans’ habits amid the pandemic shows that restaurants, places of worship, gyms and coffee shops rank high among the places where the virus is most likely to spread. The study didn't account for things like whether the space has good ventilation, or whether people are distancing and wearing masks, but it's a clear indication that a lot of the transmission outside homes is happening within a small category of venues. But in heartening news this morning the CDC says that research has proved that wearing a mask to stop yourself from infecting others, has the double advantage of protecting you from being infected! Is there any good news? You anxiously ask. There’s this: �And of course, we always have Oliver. ��To explain: Oliver has seen the crocodile in the Spot book and he is saying Gah! As he snaps his hands together, because that’s the noise the crocodile makes as he snaps his jaws shut. And: ��On tippy toes to reach the green ball. And all the while, President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris keep working and getting ready for the White House. My favorite moment for Joe Biden - when asked a difficult question recently, he replied: how can I answer that tactfully? Let me think. Remember tact? How nice to see it again. Well, wear your damn mask and stay far, far away from me. Thank you. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-12_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-246 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-12 Title A name given to the resource Day 246 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/11cbe6e892f5dca8737bd25be0952d48.pdf 3df763f6479c63956d6245bb6695ec48 PDF Text Text Day 245 by windoworks We'll meet again Don't know where Don't know when But I know we'll meet again some sunny day Keep smiling through Just like you always do Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away Smiling through. Hmmm. Here’s where we are: in limbo. Because Trump refuses to concede the election, President-Elect Biden doesn’t have access to the daily security briefings that the incoming President should be having, and at the same time, rumor has it that Trump doesn’t attend briefings and doesn’t care. So who’s in charge of the country Pamela? I hear you ask. No bloody idea. This is what Catastrophic looks like. This is the chickens coming home to roost moment. If more reasonable people had bothered to vote in 2016, Hillary Clinton would have won the electoral college vote as well as the overwhelming number of popular votes. At this moment in time, the United States would have had a proactive leader guiding us all through the pandemic. We would (of course) be wearing masks, carefully distancing, washing our hands and doing our best to help bring the numbers down. Two very applicable sayings: careful what you wish for, and may you live in interesting times. The second one is a Chinese curse. Well this is as interesting a time as I never wanted to live in. This morning I gave up on eating my breakfast. My stomach simply refused to accept the food. My wonderful, calm, pragmatic husband admitted to feeling sick every morning this week listening to NPR as he prepared breakfast. And he’s angry. Craig doesn’t really do angry, unlike me. I seem to live in a cocktail of anger and despair. I read your messages of love and hope from countries far away and I smile but I know they have no place here. Joe Biden is continuing on as if the transition of power is a normal one, and every little bit of me hopes that somehow it will be all right in the end - it just isn’t the end yet. You know that is the hardest part. After all the responsible (and irresponsible - think Fox News) news outlets called the election for Joe Biden on Saturday, we enjoyed one day, Sunday, of burgeoning hope. And then Monday dawned and all that hope drained away. This morning I watched a video of Senator Chris Murphy (D - Connecticut) speaking on the Senate floor. He described in accurate terms what Trump and the Republican Party are trying to do - completely destroy both the �United States of America and democracy itself. They are doing it by constantly lying to the American people. In this election where the votes are still being counted, Trump and his despicable enablers are telling the American public that the steadily increasing numbers of votes for Joe Biden are a fraud. They are illegal. Donald Trump won this election and anything else is a lie. From NBC News: Neither the Constitution nor federal law requires losing candidates to concede presidential elections. So why, besides civility, does this matter? Although not legally necessary for a new president to take power, a concession remains useful for two main reasons: It begins a smooth transition of power across the executive branch, and it makes it clear that losing candidates won't encourage their followers to seek to achieve through violence what they couldn't achieve at the polls. And if you’re wondering. Here’s this: ��And there it is. In the middle of a catastrophic pandemic completely out of control. The graph I use is showing Michigan has a total of 245K cases. Yesterday’s increase was 6,869. In Kent County we had 912 new cases, and 12 new deaths. Soon we’ll be at 1,000 cases a day just in Kent County, and Governor Whitmer will introduce a second lockdown - of wait, that’s right, the State republicans got the Michigan Supreme Court to take away her executive shutdown powers. At the same time, Republican lawyers across the country are mounting lawsuits to overturn the election results - BECAUSE THEY’RE NOT THE RESULTS THEY WANTED. There is no other reason. Equity, reason, kindness, understanding, compromise, unity, have all disappeared, incinerated on the bonfire of Trump’s vanities. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — Look, I didn’t write this stuff - its in the opening Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America: the rules by which this country is governed. Now you may not agree with all of the rules and amendments, but these are the only rules we have. We have to follow them, especially at this moment. These rules can be changed by popular vote but not in the middle of a life threatening pandemic. At this moment it needs all hands onboard to get this pandemic under control and Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Advisory Board is the best first step. With Trump it really will be herd immunity. And just so you know, herd immunity means the larger percentage of the population (I’ve heard the figure 75-80%) need to have contracted the virus in order for natural herd immunity to occur. The US has an approximate population of 350M. If I have done the numbers correctly, in order to achieve natural herd immunity 280M Americans would have to catch the virus. At this moment in time, 10.3M virus cases have been confirmed, over 8 months. Do the rest of the calculations for yourself. I can’t write anymore today. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband, a sweet dog, a beautiful, comfortable, warm house and so on. I also have at least a season and a half of a compelling fantasy series to watch, which every afternoon takes me far far away from all this. Oh its a Vera Lynn song from the Second World War. It seemed appropriate. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-11_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-245 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-11 Title A name given to the resource Day 245 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/dc837541c22695fc6fbb564c411ad949.pdf bc39ebd4bf65f93ea8c5437b83e821f6 PDF Text Text Day 244. 8 months exactly since we began sheltering in place. by windoworks Every morning Craig asks me: what are you going to write about today? And the truth is - I never know until I begin to write. Some days there are so many saved quotes and memes that some things just never make the cut. On other days the fact file is thin and then the blog becomes more personal. Today it is mostly about the virus. This morning we were talking about the beginning of the virus. I often forget that Craig is an historian and this colors his thinking. I am not an historian much the same as I am not a musician like Craig (although I cannot count the number of times I have been asked both those questions). So, for me and my friends, the realization of the possible length of the virus and its consequences dawned on us slowly. I remember telling my daughter in March (I think) that I would not be able to visit her at that time. Then we all realized that the family vacation we had all planned for Christmas, traveling in the South Island of New Zealand, was not going to happen either. After that we have become much more cautious in our planning. Of course Craig realized the probable length of the pandemic, because of his research on ancient pandemics and the 1918 flu pandemic. Now we all understand the probable length and outcome, but even so, the new daily numbers are harder and harder to digest. Washington Post: It took only 10 days for the country to move from 9 million cases to what is expected to be its 10 millionth case Monday. By comparison, it took more than three months for the country to go from no cases to 1 million in late April. As I write this, I note we have moved over 10M cases and are on our way to 10.5M cases. Also from Washington Post: Public health officials issued dire warnings: “Down this current path lies [a] continued rapid rise in cases,” Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, wrote in a Twitter thread. “More people on ventilators. Higher numbers of people dying. More survivors with long term consequences. Hospitals under pressure until they can’t provide care for everyone anymore.” Yesterday President-Elect Joe Biden issued this plea: Please wear a mask. For yourself and for your neighbor. At least half of America isn’t listening. And just in case you were ignoring the news, here’s these tidbits: • Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) declared a state of emergency and announced a statewide mask mandate on Sunday night after months of resistance. “Our hospitals are full,” he said. “We cannot afford to debate this issue any longer.” (Antonia Farzan) • Nursing home covid-19 cases rose four-fold in surge states. (AP) • For the second weekend in a row, St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center, one of Idaho’s largest hospitals, was unable to admit any new patients because its staff was overwhelmed with a high volume of �cases. (Farzan) • Cruise ships will not return to U.S. waters with passengers onboard until 2021. (Shannon McMahon) • Thousands of screaming, cheering college students stormed the field after Notre Dame defeated topranked Clemson in football on Saturday night, a jubilant moment that soon drew criticism in light of the campus’s recent surge in cases. (Farzan) There is news of a successful vaccine trial by Pfizer, but before you rip off your mask and dance in the streets - it still needs more trials and ratification and then sorting out distribution (looks like UPS and FedEx at this point). And then who gets it first? �So now we’ve got that straight, here’s the respected doctors and scientists already working on PresidentElect Biden’s Covid-19 Advisory Board: 1. Luciana Borio was director for medical and biodefense preparedness on Trump’s National Security Council until she left last year before the pandemic. She is now vice president of the technical staff at In-Q-Tel, the Central Intelligence Agency’s investment arm, and a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. 2. Rick Bright, an immunologist and vaccine researcher, who was ousted by Trump political appointees in April as the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. 3. David Kessler, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who served as commissioner of the FDA from 1990 to 1997, under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton 4. Vivek Murthy, who as surgeon general during the final three years of Barack Obama’s administration commanded 6,600 public health officers during the Ebola and Zika outbreaks 5. Marcella Nunez-Smith, the associate dean for Health Equity Research at Yale medical school. Murthy and Kessler have been regularly advising Biden for months. 6. Zeke Emanuel, an oncologist, chairs the medical ethics department and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania, where he’s also vice provost. 7. Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, teaches at Harvard’s medical school. The prolific author founded Ariadne Labs, a health systems innovation center between the hospital where he practices and Harvard’s School of Public Health 8. Celine Gounder cares for patients at Bellevue Hospital Center and teaches at New York University’s medical school. While on the faculty at Johns Hopkins, she directed delivery efforts for the Gates Foundation-funded Consortium to Respond Effectively to the AIDS/TB Epidemic. 9. Michael Osterholm directs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, where he chairs the Department of Public Health. 10. Julie Morita, who served as the city of Chicago’s health commissioner for two decades, is executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 11. Loyce Pace is executive director and president of the Global Health Council. She has worked with Physicians for Human Rights and Catholic Relief Services. 12. Robert Rodriguez is a professor of emergency medicine at UCSF medical school, where he practices in the emergency department and intensive care unit of two major trauma centers in the Bay Area. The Harvard medical school graduate has authored papers on the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of frontline providers. In July, he volunteered to help with a critical surge of coronavirus patients in the ICU in his hometown of Brownsville, Tex. �13. Eric Goosby, also a professor at UCSF medical school, was the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator during the Obama administration. Later, he was appointed by the United Nations Secretary General as a special envoy for TB. During the Clinton administration, he was founding director of the Ryan White CARE Act, the largest federally funded HIV-AIDS program, and the interim Director of the White House’s Office of National AIDS Policy. Rebecca Katz, the director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University Medical Center, and Beth Cameron, director for global health security and biodefense on the White House National Security Council during the Obama administration, are serving as advisers to the transition task force. And in more from Washington Post: Biden plans to call Republican and Democratic governors to ask for their help in developing a consistent message from federal and state leaders,” Yasmeen Abutaleb reports. “He will urge governors to adopt statewide mask mandates and to provide clear public health guidance to their constituents, including about social distancing and limiting large gatherings. It’s Tuesday and the stats are in. In the US we had 130,553 new cases on Monday. And we had 745 deaths. In Michigan we had 9,051 new cases (there is no indication that this is anything else except a one day count). Michigan’s deaths have now reached 8,008. And here in Kent County (and this is for Sunday and �Monday) 985 new cases - almost 500 new cases a day. We had 10 new deaths. Total cases: 19,978 and total deaths: 219. If you look at the curve for Kent County, its pointing between 12:30 and 1pm. Kent County’s positivity rate seems to be at about 15%. I can remember Dr London (Chief Medical Officer for Kent County Health Dept) saying a few weeks ago, we don’t want our positivity rate to go over 4%. From New York Times: Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s public health school: “We are entering the hardest days of the pandemic”. In the meantime, insanity (and another virus outbreak) reigns at the White House. The Guardian The Republicans might need him for the January run-offs in Georgia, but he could be considered a liability. If he’s acting like a crazy person, senators are going to keep their distance. People will move away from him if there’s nothing in it for them any more. It’s not like he has any friends, anyway. It’s grim for him. Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric also know their relationship with their father is both conditional and transactional. I have been saying since 2016 that I was going to have to change my name. I think they’re going to have to change theirs. As for saying he’ll run in 2024, that’s just a face-saving exercise. It’s a way of distracting him from the fact that he’s probably going to prison. But the worst thing Donald’s looking at isn’t financial difficulties or the prospect of jail. It’s becoming irrelevant. I don’t think he would ever recover from that. Mary Trump is a psychologist and author of Too Much and Never Enough Authors note: Mary Trump is Donald Trump’s niece. I think her most telling sentence is - people will move away from him if there’s nothing in it for them anymore. But just to make you laugh in these fraught days: �And �I like this next one a lot. �So here we are. 8 months later, a sitting President and his henchmen refusing to acknowledge the election is over and Donald lost (Jim Carey as Biden and the Loser joke - will I ever stop laughing?). As the days pass the focus has shifted to the President-Elect and his Vice President-Elect as they begin appointing their teams and start to outline the first priorities on Day One. And just in case you’ve forgotten - Donald didn’t have any priorities EVER that were proactive. His priorities have always been destruction coupled with ‘what’s in it for me?’ Today I’ll end with Oliver who always looks at me as I answer FaceTime smiles and says either ‘car,car’ or ‘birdie bird’. He never stops talking. He’s obviously in the right family. If you’re not paying attention, he raises his voice to be heard. Definitely a Benjamin. ��Its NAIDOC week in Australia. National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance. It was initially a day celebrated in July, but is now extended to a week and was moved to November during the pandemic. Its a fuzzy photo but at daycare the carer painted the soles of his feet yellow, black and red and he’s ‘painting’ the paper with his feet. Stay vigilant, stay careful, stayed masked and stay far far away. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-11-10_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-244 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-11-10 Title A name given to the resource Day 244 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