217 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/15c033bb274588c43f3f04eed0ac16c5.mp4 a081d37c16a4a9923ddf1d06927b0d23 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/46dcc6251de35840bac8ee51d1bbd54b.pdf 090b85d9244d32e979d5202c9b7b33f5 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Fred Garcia Vietnam War Total Time: 27:58 Childhood and Pre-Enlistment (00:18)     Born in Lansing, MI in 1948 Obtained a Masters Degree from Michigan State University in Administration Father was a World War II Veteran (01:20) Drafted into the Army in 1968 Training (01:48)    Attended Basic Training at Fort Knox, KY (01:55) Took Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Polk, LA. (02:02) He was selected at Fort Polk for a special unit. To be selected, they had to score very well on both the IQ and PT tests. There were 30 men in this unit. They had special training while they were at Fort Polk. Active Duty (04:40)     He was sent to Fort Meyers, VA to work a desk clerk job and training ASA troops for night missions and duty. (05:38) He was then sent to the DMZ in Vietnam, but was then shortly sent to the DMZ in Korea. (08:02) He was involved in some brief firefights while in Korea. (09:10) They had some dog handlers in his unit. Post-Service (11:05)   He went to college after coming back from Korea, and worked as a teacher after he graduated. He has two sons. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Garcia, Fred (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, Fred Description An account of the resource Fred Garcia was born in 1948 and served in the Army during the Vietnam War. Fred was drafted into the Army in 1968, and was trained as an infantryman. He spent his time on active duty as a desk clerk, training troops, and in the Demilitarized Zones in both Korea and Vietnam. After his time in the service, he worked as a teacher. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Collins Sr., Charles E. (Interviewer) Collins, Carol (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-06-16 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GarciaF1130V Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/05a87f633060d2abbd4f474b2ff87876.pdf bd0765158afa9cb800bee85cf70127cd PDF Text Text April 02, 2020 I think it is safe to assume that most people I know feel like the month of march actually had 62 days. COVID-19 has taken the lives of many and the disease is only spreading. Governor Whitmer has more or less kept the health of the population in mind and as a result there have been many changes. As a result of these state changes, education has been affected at all levels. Universities are still running, but have transitioned to online coursework. Many students have been asked to leave the university dormitories. To my understanding, people are allowed to stay if they have nowhere to go back home to. My wife Nikita and I have fortunately not been affected too much by this aspect as we live off campus in Grand Rapids, MI. This means that I did not have to worry about relocating last minute, however I know some of my friends have had to do so. Some of them literally left the state as their homes were elsewhere, such as Illinois, and other states. I’m starting to miss them a bit. Initially I thought it would be great to just stay home and work on my academics. However not soon after the public schools also closed down and as a result my 3 children have been at home since then. What this means is that Nikita and I are now online college students, parents, and novice homeschool teachers. This has been quite a challenge and i’ve had to learn that as much as I would like, I can’t do it all. As a result I’m sure my kids get less learning time than they did before at school in an effort to give every aspect of my life right now a fair amount of attention. I’ve reduced my sleep hours(to a reasonable 6 hours) in order to do as much as I can while awake. I do end up taking a nap in the middle of the day which more or less equates to the same amount of total sleeping hours. However at least this way I have some time after the kids go to bed when I am still awake and able to work without disruptions. There have been some good things that have come about this change. I have been able to slip in some more spanish into my kids vocabulary. I have also learned how to take productive breaks. In practice this means I do some sort of non academic activity with the kids in order to clear my mind and well, be a halfway decent parent. Nikita is an early childhood development major so I often feel like I'm not good enough. She’s never specifically made me feel this way, but because of all of the things she learns, I sometimes feel guilty and maybe set the bar too high on myself on what a good parent should be. It can get stressful at times, especially now that we are home a lot! There are only so many rooms that I can use to try to destress. People ask things like “Can your in-laws help take care of the kids?”. Which, ok fine. It’s a good question to ask just to consider it as a possibility. The reality is that my parents live in California primarily. Nikita’s biological mom now lives in Holland, MI, and her step-mom lives in Gladwin, MI. It requires some traveling to get to either one of them and it is not anywhere ideal to go to them every day for help watching the kids. However, even if for some reason financially traveling that much made sense, we are not the only grandchildren that would be asking for help and as a result we minimize the amount of time they visit. Today is one day where Nikita took the kids over to my mother-in-law in Holland and we will soon start to paint some of the walls in the house. We have been putting this off as it is difficult to do so with the 1 year old at home. �� 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_2020-04-02_GarciaJ Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, José Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-02 Title A name given to the resource José Garcia COVID-19 Journal 1 Description An account of the resource Journal entry of GVSU student José Garcia relating his experiences as a student and parent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/87427424f58d7b3ba826d8ad5cdc5b68.pdf 3fdf7ebcf150975cc4053999cefaaf64 PDF Text Text April 3, 2020 Yesterday Nikita took the kids over to grandma’s house in Holland, MI and when she got home we decided we were going to finish painting the kitchen and living room. We have been putting this off so long because it is difficult to do when you have a 1 year old running around. This was in the afternoon, so we accomplished painting the walls and got halfway done with the trim in the room when we decided that it would be good to call it a night. It was relaxing, and since the kids were not home it was like going on a date. I was actually able to talk and say more than one sentence at a time where normally I would get interrupted by a kid. Once we did that we played some videogames together. It feels like years since we were last able to do that. It was nice, we played Mario Party 9 on the Nintendo Wii. I’m pretty sure we stayed up till about 2am this morning, which is also not typical for us. Currently I have an assignment that I need to complete as soon as possible, or at least my part of it. It is a mathematical modeling scenario on COVID-19. We are more or less taking the mathematical model that was formulated for SARS-Cov and trying to see if we can fit it to the current COVID-19 data. I’ve been able to approximate an infection rate of COVID-19 using Python but I’m not sure how accurate it is, seeing how I’m not an epidemiologist. When we made the transition to online classes, it was a bit stressful. This was not because I was not used to independent study, but because the kids are always at home and it’s difficult to get things done when the limited 24 hour day has to get shared. To date however I’ve received reaffirming messages from professors telling me that I’m doing enough and that I shouldn’t worry too much. I know some of my classmates are falling behind. Hopefully those professors are being reasonable with exact deadlines like mine are. I know Nikita is also struggling a bit. She is an early childhood development major, and most of her assignments are related to what she would actually do in a classroom. As a result she has had to transition to teaching online, but instead of having children as her audience, she has her professors. As a result she has been required to use software she is not accustomed to. For example, she’s had to use Powtoon and we had to work together to figure out how to do anything on it. I believe the key thing is that we have to remember that we are all people and as long as we communicate with each other the other party is most likely going to be understanding and responsive. I don’t know how people see their professors, but I hold mine in good regard. They remind me that not everything is work, and that I should not feel guilty to tend to other parts of my life. Family is important to me, and sometimes I feel guilty when I’m not working to spend time with them. So it’s nice to have them on my side. I hope that other professors are doing similar things with the students they communicate with. Everyone has something outside of academia/work they consider important. One of my professors Dr. Ortiz-Robinson has children and sometimes during class sessions I can hear their faint sounds in the background and it makes me feel better because there are people out there that understand my predicament. I have to admit though, I miss seeing them in person. There is nothing like walking into a professor's office hours, and talking about mathematics. On the other hand I’m grateful that more people are learning to use video call software. It makes ‘meeting’ people that are say in a graduate school you want to attend easier when you may not travel there. I’ve been able to meet Dr. Janet �Vassilev, Dr. Jacob Schroder, and Dr. Alexandru Buium at The University of New Mexico and learned a lot of new things. � 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_2020-04-03_GarciaJ Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, José Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-03 Title A name given to the resource José Garcia COVID-19 Journal 2 Description An account of the resource Journal entry of GVSU student José Garcia relating his experiences as a student and parent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b6146f791309273c7693477ac6c05ff3.pdf 11f99149150ddfc9e8596355e4d0c73f PDF Text Text April 6, 2020 Monday, morning. There seems to be some sort of routine going on now. Elena Is still at her grandma’s house in Holland, MI. Elise is watching cartoons and Elarik is running around the house. There are some different things though. Nikita was still able to get surgery for her carpal tunnel on Saturday, so she’s recovering now. It should help her be able to do more with her hands once she recovers. I know she’s been having a difficult time writing for more than a few a minute. Most of my activities have revolved around work and school, at least up to last week when I found out on Friday that I was laid off from my employment at Grand Rapids Community College. My other activities have been just the usual chores at home, and trying to learn some new things. I’ve been on a website named codeacademy and started learning about the terminal and bash scripting. There are many different types of computer operating systems, but the ones that seem to get quite a bit of attention are; Windows, OSX, and Linux Distributions. OSX and Linux are both UNIX based systems and as a result are similar to each other. I was interested in learning how to interact with the terminal for these operating systems, well specifically Linux terminal, or BASH programming. I learned a little bit on looping structures and conditional statements. I also learned some commands I didn’t know about before. One of them was the touch command which can be used to create empty files. Pipe operator that allows you to redirect output from one command to input to a different command. I learned how to use nano a bit, which is a text editor that is run in the terminal. I’ve also tried to learn a little bit of italian. It is really close to spanish and is a phonetic language. I bought a book of short stories to see if I could go through it. So far I'm still on the first short story, and fully understand the first paragraph. What this means is that most of my hobbies, other than biking, hiking, and camping are mainly solo activities. What this means is that I wasn’t a big participant of student organizations, sports or clubs at GVSU when the school was still in normal session. As a result this Quarantine has not affected me as much as others who were actively involved in sports, clubs, and student organizations. I’ve been especially focused on finishing off the semester strong. This means I’ve been paying extra attention to my class assignments, their presentation, and thoroughness. Electronic Student Scholars Day is coming up on the 8th of this month and the lead up to submitting our presentations was a bit stressful. Particularly because I didn’t know if I was going to have enough time to finish. Fortunately I was able to pull through! It was difficult, but I didn’t give myself enough credit. � 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_2020-04-06_GarciaJ Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, José Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-06 Title A name given to the resource José Garcia COVID-19 Journal 3 Description An account of the resource Journal entry of GVSU student José Garcia relating his experiences as a student and parent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/af5dac9bc122b1cb77d8a7b8a196ce3f.pdf d1a35ae20b5ebf62d75023993b53d946 PDF Text Text April 7, 2020 It is currently 5:30 AM EST and I plan on trying out a new routine today, hopefully this will allow me to get some work done early on before the kids get overly energized and need my attention. I know both Nikita and I have been stressing for time, and so hopefully this way when she needs to work on her academics, I can focus on the kids and not skip a beat with my work either. I have to admit however, I’ve been ‘neglecting’ my work a bit by visiting my parents. They are in town as well, as of almost two weeks ago at least. Usually they are in their home in Michoacan, MX, or in California with my older brother. They bought their flights a while back and decided not to try to reschedule. They are the kind of people who are more or less thinking, ‘i’m old and have lived a good life, so why not’. I know that right now it’s a big taboo, but I have been visiting them. They are currently over at my sister Nancy’s place. When I first moved to Michigan from California, I had not seen them for several years, and even after that, the most I ever got to see them was maybe once a year. I know that Nikita has fears about going out at all, but I think we both agree that for the super high benefit of the kids getting to see their abuelito and abuelita it is worth it. Because of my university experience, I don’t have very many friends that share my culture, or language. As a result my kids don’t get very much exposure to my culture and spanish other than when I visit my family. As far as home life, as bilinguals and multilinguals, we tend to communicate in the language that gets a message across quickly. This means that I usually end up talking in english because Nikita is very well versed in it. One thing that I’ve tried to do is to get the kids to watch cartoons in spanish. Elena, the oldest; is now finally starting to be ok with it, and actually requested it last night. Elise gets really upset when I try to do it. I suspect that the only reason she doesn’t like it is because the voiceovers are really bad. Elarik is only 20 months and hasn’t yet started talking in sentences, so he doesn’t usually mind what we watch. However I suspect that he notices the difference in voices from original english to voiced over spanish. The funny thing is that I grew up on voiceovers because my parents naturally just watched tv shows and movies in spanish. I even remember watching ‘old movies’ that were broadcast live on Telefutura and hearing the announcer say ‘Nuevo Estreno’ (New Premiere) even though the movie was released a few years back and nothing new. Nikita has also been visiting her biological mom who now lives in Holland, MI. I think she really misses most times. The girls definitely miss being able to visit her house frequently, which is something they were able to do when they still lived in Grand Rapids, MI. She also uses this trip as a time to stop at the grocery store for our needed items both food and sanitary essentials. Last week we ran out of toilet paper and had to use paper towels, which is fine, it just took us a while to locate some toilet paper. She was able to secure some yesterday. We have not been able to visit her step-mom as that drive is a little longer and as a result Nikita feels that it is more risky. Fortunately, her step-mom is tech savvy enough so that they can have video calls and they communicate in that way. My siblings have been doing well. My brother in law Alfredo recently came back to the states after years of going through the legal process of becoming a US citizen. The funny thing is that �most american’s think that it's like any other application process where you apply and within weeks you are good to go. So when they hear that a person has to go back to mexico and do it back legally it will be a short stay, almost like a vacation and then they come back a few weeks later. This is not farther from the truth as the individual still has to have some sort of income for their time there, to live and to pay all the required fees. Irma is definitely happier now, or at least it appears to be so. My sister Veronica has had a difficult time with Eddie now that he’s been home more. I can tell because he needs a lot of attention and since she is still working, she probably feels like every waking hour she is at home she needs to tend to him. He is a great child, but also has special needs, and that can be stressful. Heck, my children have no special needs, and they can get very overwhelming. Nancy is doing well, she has married recently and is living a wonderful life here in michigan. She moved here last year. Her and ‘Lobo’ (Fransisco) met 2 summers ago when my family came to visit. It was definitely a difficult move for my niece and nephew however. I suspect it’s because they had to leave friends behind, probably even a girlfriend or boyfriend. � 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_2020-04-07_GarciaJ Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, José Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 220-04-07 Title A name given to the resource José Garcia COVID-19 Journal 4 Description An account of the resource Journal entry of GVSU student José Garcia relating his experiences as a student and parent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0fd11be48db42c7e32e4abd7b96e8926.pdf bdbbc794314b798fc834385c4c08a833 PDF Text Text April 8, 2020 Today is Elena’s birthday! Nikita and I put some decorations for the house together since we can’t have people over. My sister made her a cake that had an LOL doll theme to it. We took pictures and took the cake over to her grandma's house to eat. We realize this is a ‘big no no’ but honestly, you can only isolate yourself so much. There’s no point in isolation if at the end of it all you wont get to see your loved ones. I fully realize this is a flawed statement but that’s how we feel. To be fair however, we do take precautionary measures and use hand sanitizer and other sanitary methods. Grandma (Melissa), or specifically Nikita’s biological mom lives out in the country and as a result social distancing is not too difficult even within her house, as it is pretty large. As of right now we don’t know of anyone that is sick with the coronavirus. I know one of my friends Michael is currently sick with a cold, but to his knowledge it is not COVID-19. I don’t believe he is getting tested. I want to say that a week or two before classes were closed, I myself had a really bad illness. I was treated for Influenza. However, I was not actually tested to confirm that this was the case. The illness more or less had the symptoms of COVID-19. Shortness of breath, a constant fever, fatigue, however I didn't have severe coughs, so maybe it wasn’t. I’m pretty sure the kids brought it home from school. The youngest two started with constant fevers and I started staying home with them, around the same time Nikita started showing symptoms, and I followed right after. It took us all just over a week to feel decent. During this time I’ve been wanting to learn new things on top of school work, and then realized that I’m trying to do too much. So I've been looking at things to do for the summer. However, I’m not sure that will even happen especially now that I’ve been laid off from my employment at grcc. My Alayont Fellowship funding will end at the end of the semester, so I need to really start looking for a job. It will probably end up being full time employment somewhere, or an internship? I honestly don't know right now. My F-GAP advisor suggested some places to start looking into, so I really need to get my resume updated asap. I don’t have this ready right now just because most of my professional documents have been geared toward graduate school applications. As a result I have poured lot’s of energy into my CV. I did find some places on an initial search that might actually hire me, but I won't know until I update my resume, and start networking. There will be many people that will be out there looking for jobs. I hope that I get lucky with at least one, especially since I’m really only looking for a temporary position during the summer months. It’s a shame that I won't be able to spend the summer doing mathematics like I had planned. But again like my advisor mentioned, this is an opportunity. I need to capitalize on my current skill set and offer that to the society that I am a part of. The job might not end up being mathematics, but I should be able to find a position that utilizes my talents. � 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_2020-04-08_GarciaJ Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, José Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-08 Title A name given to the resource José Garcia COVID-19 Journal 5 Description An account of the resource Journal entry of GVSU student José Garcia relating his experiences as a student and parent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/28f092ab813ad5f234a08e97c952334a.pdf f31e37739f3ed3797663e4b72ca71c8d PDF Text Text April 9, 2020 Another day! We are still alive, and healthy. We have not resorted to domestic abuse, which apparently is on the rise, not surprising. Likewise my wife and I havent resorted to alcoholism either, but apparently that is also on the rise, which I suppose is not surprising either. I can’t confirm these claims on the increase of domestic violence and alcoholism in the general public through any data. My statements are based purely on a small sample size and their opinions, so who knows how accurate this is. Anyways, I’ve been able to make some progress in my classes and manuscripts for both my Alayont Fellowship research and my Capstone Class. Without going into two much detail my Alayont Fellowship involves research in Algorithms, while my research in my Capstone class involves research in generalizing results in Euclidean Geometry to Spherical and Hyperbolic Geometries. There is so much more I could do with either one, but sadly time is running out and I must finish compiling my results soon. This is the nature of research, you feel like there is alway something more you can prove, but also remember that at some point you need to write up your results. Elena ended her day very well on her birthday. She got plenty of gifts both in the form of cool ‘LOL’ clothing, to a bicycle. We spent the day at her grandma's house (Nikitas bio mom) and ate cake with them. During that time she was able to have a video call with her Elementary school classroom and during the call they all did a scavenger hunt. Some kids were very quick on the draw. Although she was not at home, she probably didn’t know where to look for things, so Nikita helped her out a bit. She was a good sport and was not too frustrated with losing. She normally is very hard on herself when she doesn’t win at something. I recently started playing Mario Party 9 with her. At first she would get very mad when losing a minigame, over time however, I think she started realizing that just because you don’t win every single mini game, it does not mean you will lose the whole game. I think this has helped her overcome her inability to cut herself slack when things don’t go the way she would like. As a plus I get to play video games while teaching my kid a life lesson. So I suppose that is a good thing that’s come out of COVID 19. Although it makes me wonder, maybe I should be doing a lot more(less?) even when there is not a pandemic going on. On the other hand my middle child is having a really rough time. She is a very social kid, and is very much missing the interaction she used to get with her friends and teachers. She is currently in Pre-K so most of what she does is activity based learning. So when she can’t get that level of continuous attention at home, it really puts her in a depression and sometimes she cries. She will say things like “No one wants to play with me”, or “No one pays attention to me”. It saddens Nikita and I, especially since we are trying to divide our time reasonably between school work and family life. I suppose the ideal thing would be if we had minimal school and work requirements so that we could provide each other more family attention. Maybe… I’m by no means an expert in this topic. However it does make me think, how did people back in the day do it? How much time was devoted towards child rearing and what was truly important? During the time that I do commit to family, should I spend it doing academic things, non academic, or a mixture of both? What are some realistic goals and expectations? There is no handbook for this, and if it was I’m sure it would have been in my email inbox a long time ago just waiting for me to �read it because I find that most suggestions come from a privilege point of view, where money and resources in general is not an issue. I recently read an article written by a father and the struggle him and his wife are facing with having to work from home. The main theme was “parents are not ok”. I most definitely agree with this. I’m tired of telling people, and sometimes myself that we are doing ok, that I’m doing ok. I am not doing ok, I am stressed, I feel like I’m not doing enough, and I feel ashamed. I feel ashamed because it seems like in our culture we are supposed to be good parents all the time. We are suppose to be ok with the stress of having and raising children. We are supposed to not have feelings of depression when our kids overwhelm us. I feel ashamed because I have these feelings. I know Nikita does as well, but we manage. We put our happy faces on and tell the world we are ok, because it is custom to say you are ok. Maybe this is also the conditioning that our culture has given us, but who really cares about what we are going through? When being asked how are you it’s just a formality to start a conversation? I see my wife’s struggles, and she sees mine. Maybe that is the reason why we never ask each other directly how we are doing, because it reminds us of the same questions that we feel people only ask out of an obligation to our societal conditioning. I don’t know, and if someone said they knew, I would be hesitant to believe them. On a side note, this morning I talked to a graduate student at The University of New Mexico, and learned a little bit more about the university. He was able to provide me with some advice on how best to prepare for graduate school qualifying exams. Maybe that is what I will do this upcoming summer; applying for jobs or working and studying on qualifying exams. � 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_2020-04-09_GarciaJ Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, José Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-09 Title A name given to the resource José Garcia COVID-19 Journal 6 Description An account of the resource Journal entry of GVSU student José Garcia relating his experiences as a student and parent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ae201790da14b57b053bc451fcb4e8b8.pdf 70140cf9a62ea8fc0db3f846525184f9 PDF Text Text April 10, 2020 Yesterday I was definitely feeling some strong emotions, especially about parenting. Fortunately as the day progressed it started getting better. I played mario party 9 with the kids. Played outside and even got caught up in a mini snow shower(strange). I would have thought it was hail, the way it suddenly came down. We quickly came back inside, we didn’t bother to check the temperature. After dinner we went back outside and played for a few minutes, but the wind chill was uncomfortable enough to where the kids didn’t want to be out for long. Then I played with balloons with Elise and Nikita. They had still been out from Elena's birthday for the kids to play with. Elarik accidentally(purposefully?) popped one of them by accident, he looked shocked but ultimately let out a laughter that only he can put out. On a work note, I had some time after the kids went to bed to look into my research a bit more. I was able to identify three conjectures for future research. I’m almost convinced that they are true and have an outline on how to prove each one. I also was able to look at a strategy for online searching games or adaptive searching games. This is really exciting! I might continue this in the summer if things work out. Also one of my friends gave me a link to a COVID-19 relief fund application so that was nice, because that led me into a hunt for scholarship money for the fall semester. I have a fellowship lined up, however, it would be nice to have some emergency funds. The fellowship I'm sure is nice for an individual, but not as substantial for a family of 5. I was able to identify two scholarships that I qualify for, so that was nice. I started doing some preliminary research on what time of materials are needed. Today I need to file for unemployment, I’ve been putting it off because I don’t like the idea of having to do it, but I know it's necessary right now. I heard that recently the UIA’s web based system has been revamped and as a result is more usable than in past years. I don’t really know how that is all going to play out, but it’s the next thing on my to do list. I also have a phone call to make for a possible employment opportunity, but that won't start until July. So that’s unfortunate. Also it’s not even guaranteed since it’s tutoring, and if GRCC decides to close in person instruction all summer, then there goes my job again as well. Somehow I signed myself up for a coding competition that starts next week and I haven’t even bothered to look and practice for it, so I better get on it. My thinking was that it is algorithm based and so it would be a good way to look at new problems and find strategies that can be proven successful through the power of mathematics. The main issue I have right now is that I'm not too familiar with python’s standard functions for working with stdin, stdout, and stderr, and how to flush the output. Anyways it doesn’t seem like it would be too bad, I just haven’t done it. Not much to report on today, I spent a good deal of time playing and working yesterday. I also had a good laugh with peers from around the country on topics related to the history of mathematics. I definitely appreciate them. Also, I received two books in the mail recently, one on topology on the other on Algebra. I intend on using the this summer to prepare for qualifying exams at the University of New Mexico. � 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_2020-04-10_GarciaJ Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, José Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-10 Title A name given to the resource José Garcia COVID-19 Journal 7 Description An account of the resource Journal entry of GVSU student José Garcia relating his experiences as a student and parent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/aefaf8c9f35aab961e632c2b8e8820d5.pdf b50cb6e94e8cf121474d54a16fa70a58 PDF Text Text April 15, 2020 Another day has come and gone. I’ve been able to make some much needed edits to my final paper for my capstone course. However, in the process I’ve discovered that there is an issue that I have not addressed. What this means is that I have plenty of work ahead of me. However, the paper in its entirety is more or less coming together nicely. Today I did the unthinkable again and we visited my sister for my nephew’s birthday. I still feel guilty about it, but it’s not stopping me. I guess you could say it’s a guilty pleasure. The kids had a great time with their cousins. We had some posole for dinner, and Isaac ate some really awesome cake that my sister made. We went outside to play for a while too. The kids were cold so we had to bust out the winter clothing that we thought we wouldn’t need anymore. We were definitely wrong about that one. Not much to talk about today. I still have lots of things to do but there never seems to be enough time anymore. On the bright side, lots of people including myself received their “Stimulus Check Today”. Many are happy as it will allow them to pay their bills. Some are more or less waiting until the pandemic passes and they can go out to spend it. Me? I’m definitely saving it for unforeseen costs related to moving cross country to attend the University of New Mexico. I did also get to talk to Page, she’s a cool friend. We agreed that once a week we would video call and do some math together. We will most likely be looking at “An Analysis Sketchbook”, it is a text that was written by Dr. Hodge, one of the professors at GVSU. I’m kind of excited about this, we are starting next week on Thursday. I hope she doesn’t back out as this would be a good opportunity to do some studying in Analysis. I haven’t been watching netflix and other streaming services as much as my friends. However, I did start watching Boruto with Nikita today. I also started rewatching Dragon Ball Z en italiano, in an attempt to learn some italian. It’s very similar to spanish phonetically. This aspect combined with the fact that I’ve already watched all of Dragon Ball Z allowed me to decipher some of the words in Italiano that I didn’t know. � 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_2020-04-15_GarciaJ Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, José Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-15 Title A name given to the resource José Garcia COVID-19 Journal 8 Description An account of the resource Journal entry of GVSU student José Garcia relating his experiences as a student and parent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bf62eb8ed73a406340bfe340bba6c5c7.pdf 7d69d76637459d5c0581c9d7ab9d4fb5 PDF Text Text April 17, 2020 Yesterday I didn’t write either. Oh well, I can’t seem to be able to keep a consistent schedule. At least I’m not as stressed out as I have been. Yesterday I got an email from David about an avenue of research to tackle. I did a little work on that, but not too much. I have a problem that I can try to tackle and I’m ready to try it. However today I decided not to do it, or really much work besides meeting with my MTH 305 final project team. We went over what we had and I was able to finish the code part of the project. This would allow Mike to generate any charts we would need for the paper write up. Once this project is done with, and I write the peer evaluation form, that would complete all the requirements for mth 305. That would leave me with just my edited version of my paper for my capstone. Will sent me edit suggestions yesterday, but I have not looked at them in detail. I will probably look at that tomorrow. It was a really interesting result, however It would have been nice to have solved the problem I was looking at on the hyperbolic plane. I’m graduating soon, and it feels great! There has been so much work that has been put towards this and here I am. I won an award from the math department. I’m supposed to get it in the mail soon, and at some point also get a book in the mail as well. So that’s cool, no ceremony though. The same for my McNair Scholars graduation, nothing celebration. It is very much unfortunate! The office asked for our mail addresses today, I’m guessing they will be mailing the awards and medallions as well. To top it all off, we recently received an email telling graduating students when the graduation ceremony will be. It’s scheduled for October! Seriously!? I’ll be in New Mexico by then! We were also told that if we could not make it to the october graduation, that we could attend the normally scheduled December Graduation which i suppose would be doable, but still! The point is that I would have to travel from New Mexico to Grand Rapids just so I can attend my Graduation. There’s so many things to be upset about but I have to admit there are plenty of good things going on right now. I’ve been practicing my programming and even signed myself for a coding competition tomorrow. I believe it lasts 3 hours. So that should be fun! Maybe, haha I have no formal CIS training. So I’ve been learning about data structures on the go. I tried some practice problems. I was able to get one problem pretty easily once I figured out how input from stdin works with python. The second one was very challenging for me to solve, and I never actually figured out the optimal way to do so. But I did figure out the brute force way to do it, so that was cool. I didn’t get a chance to try a 3rd problem as I had so many other things going on as well with school that it didn’t feel productive. On a random note, I bought a really cool fountain pen that writes like a dream. I can’t stop using it. It just glides over your paper. It is so easy to write with and the ink looks great too! I had Nikita try it, and she loved it, so I bought her one too, it should be in the mail by next week. She will have her finals and then, hopefully… She can start her internship at grcc, which will be paid. I really hope it does not get cancelled, but the way it’s seeming now, it should run even if it starts later in the summer. � 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_2020-04-17_GarciaJ Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, José Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-17 Title A name given to the resource José Garcia COVID-19 Journal 9 Description An account of the resource Journal entry of GVSU student José Garcia relating his experiences as a student and parent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8e7ca91f6ca68baea6d565c1ef5bb8f0.pdf 913144375c1964fc71d3ce7dedb7ed33 PDF Text Text April 18, 2020 Today should be an interesting day. I have a coding competition scheduled from 7 to 10 pm. I did some practice, but really nothing substantial enough to be considered a good amount of practice. I’m excited about this. The COVID-19 quarantine has allowed me to practice my python programming a little bit. I think that it’s more or less my hobby, even though I occasionally have to use it for my projects. It’s allowed me to start forming ideas of my research with searching games. David has continued to help me with my questions which I am very much so grateful for. Anyways, it’s the weekend and I’m sure Nikita will want to do things with the kids, either outside or indoors. If it ends up being indoors, maybe we could play a board game or something. Elena has also been wanting me to do yoga with her. There is this person on youtube who does yoga for kids, and she really enjoys it. Although we don’t really have that much floor space. Yesterday ended on an interesting note. Nikita made some hamburgers and fries; that was super bomb. We watched Boruto together, and actually we watched a good 3 episodes. This is more or less a triumph of parenthood. I mean most of the time the kids just want to climb on their mom and we hardly get to talk, let alone sit next to each other for more than a few minutes at a time. Also, someone (probably Elarik) cracked one of the iPad’s screen. It was kind of frustrating, but it is what it is. Especially since we didn’t buy a screen protector for it. It only had a case. I suspect the case kept it going as long as possible, so it did it’s job. Nikita overheard elise and elena talking, and more or less saying they have no clue what happened to the tablet. They usually tell the truth about things that happen. So it’s quite possible they told the truth when we asked them what happened. I could get the screen fixed, but with the current quarantine, I haven’t bothered to check if Genius is open, which I'm assuming that it’s not since it does not seem like it would be an essential business. Anyways, I just got distracted and started looking at their website, and it appears that they are still open for business. I will try calling at 10am, It’s possible they haven’t updated their website. If it’s open I’ll probably get it checked out. Hopefully it’s not too much to get it fixed! Anyways, today should be another interesting day. I think i’m going to go make some coffee in a bit and start my day. Although I think I’ll try to hang out with Nikita again after the baby gets his morning snuggles in. He sure does love being held by his momma in the morning when he wakes up. He wont have it with anyone else. I’m currently sitting next to elena as it’s a bit quieter in this room. She’s still sleeping and probably will be for a minute, she went to bed a little later than usual yesterday, but It’s fine. � 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_2020-04-18_GarciaJ Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, José Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-18 Title A name given to the resource José Garcia COVID-19 Journal 10 Description An account of the resource Journal entry of GVSU student José Garcia relating his experiences as a student and parent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f48e68f10ff724277af794c37c6952de.pdf 667f09d261a36e2321447c2e9b1e4c6f PDF Text Text April 19, 2020 What a wild night yesterday. So I had signed myself up for a coding competition, which I then proceeded to forget about. Then about 1 hour into the competition, I remembered and signed on as fast as I could. Anyways, the competition is 3 hours long, so I logged in with less than 2 hours left. I completed one(out of 4) problems in the first 30 minutes. Then I went on to the second problem, I finished coding my solution and hit submit, only to realize after some frustration that I had read the prompt totally wrong. Anyways, the competition ended and I as not able to type my solution in on time. Either way, I knew I had a solution, so I kept working and what happened was that even though I had a solution it didn’t meet the memory allocation requirements set in the competition, so that was kind of a bummer. As I was getting ready to transition into a video call with a group of peers, I hear 5’ish loud bangs outside. When I asked Nikita what happened, she said she saw two vehicles dash in opposite directions after the gun shots. She proceeded to call 911 and reported what had happened. It turns out that two people were shot and injured, but nothing life threatening, at least that’s what Nikita was told last night when she provided the police with information. I will probably do a search on the internet later to see if more details have been released to the public, but wow that was wild. The shooting happened literally within 30 feet of my house! On a high note however, one of my friends asked for help in her analysis studies. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to help as much as I thought. However, I felt confident that I know what I did and not what I didn’t. It’s strange, when you are in different math modes. One mode could be, “I have no idea what to do”, another is “I think I know what needs to happen” (and your wrong), or “I think I know what needs to happen” (and you know your wrong), or “I think i know what needs to happen” (you are sure you are right). When I was helping, I made it clear to say when I felt I was right about a process but the details were wrong. That is a very neat feeling, because it tells me I know enough about math to know that I am probably wrong about a detail, and also enough to know that I’m going in the right general direction. Also, Nikita and I were able to watch some more Boruto yesterday. It was only like 2 episodes, but that is way better than nothing. The show is getting really good, although we both admit that it’s not as good as Naruto, but maybe we are just biased. I started scoping out the new Digimon show that recently started airing. I remember watching the original series as a kid. I think I want to watch it again, maybe big girl Elena might find it interesting. I used to think it was the coolest thing ever as a kid. My dad even took me to watch “Digimon The Movie”, it was pretty epic if you ask me. I’m looking forward to the day. It is currently 7:30am and I’m ready to start. I plan on cleaning up the house a little more or I guess I should say that is the focus for today. Nikita has committed herself to doing the laundry while I did the same for dishes that get used through the day and I’ll probably end up cooking dinner and doing some other things as 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_2020-04-19_GarciaJ Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, José Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-19 Title A name given to the resource José Garcia COVID-19 Journal 11 Description An account of the resource Journal entry of GVSU student José Garcia relating his experiences as a student and parent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/860345d46bc8e0b9db6b2a638c0be934.pdf 3b44ffa0ed22a827c12ecc22d5b2e49d PDF Text Text April 21, 2020 Another morning. There are some parts about being more or less allowed to just be at home that I am enjoying. I’ve been able to work on things a little more efficiently now that I know what times of the day that the kids need attention and I can use the rest of the time for whatever work I want to get done. Yesterday we went for a walk down two blocks. It was interesting to ‘rediscover’ our neighborhood. There were not many people around, but there were some that stepped outside to have some fresh air. I also learned recently that the McDonalds that is right down the road has partnered with GRPD in an attempt to promote less crime in the neighborhood, so we shall see what happens with that as time goes on. I won’t be around to see the long term change, but I sure hope that it happens because the neighborhood kids need that stability so they can focus on what is important in life. That is family, education and their interests and not drugs and money. That reminds me, at some point we will need to start packing to go to New Mexico. I hear talk that ‘the economy’ will open back up soon. I honestly would rather that it didn’t. Maybe wait until sometime in late May? Perhaps this way it is most likely the case that I can move to New Mexico and start my graduate school studies. I’ve been starting to study material for the exams. Specifically I started going through the Hungerford text on Algebra, the Apostol book on Analysis and the Gamelin,Green book on Topology. It has been interesting, but it has also shown me how much I still have to learn to be successful. I’ve been still working on my research on and off and was able to prove a thing. Specifically if we have a searching game with two unknowns, the ideal first question would be to ask about the first n/3 questions. This forces the responder to respond with ‘There is exactly 1 of the secret numbers in your question’. This is because a response of 0 would leave ceiling(n/3) choose 2 possibility pairs as possible solutions, a response of 1 would leave (ceiling(n/3))*(floor(2n/3)) possibility pairs, and a response of 2 would leave (floor(2n/3)) choose 2 possibility pairs left as possible solutions. I was able to prove this with mathematical induction. My goal is to write this up soon and then ask David what he thinks, and maybe get an idea of how to proceed from here. What would be good would be to guarantee that on question two the responder would respond with 0 or 2, preferably in general. Then the idea would be to alternate between questions on forcing the responder to respond with 1 and then 0 or 2, and repeat. The response of 0 or 2 reduces the search space, and the response of 1 splits the search space. But then again, maybe it's actually ideal to force the responder to respond with 1’s all the time? I believe this would have the effect of continuously splitting the search space where the intersection of each question would narrow down what the two numbers would have to be. I finally got around to filing the PUI form, this was yesterday. I had been denied for unemployment benefits since I had not made enough money for the time frame they required information. So we shall see what happens with that. Assuming I get it, it’s not much money but considering how little we’re traveling and how we get food stamps, It should prevent us having to use our savings. � 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_2020-04-21_GarciaJ Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, José Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-21 Title A name given to the resource José Garcia COVID-19 Journal 12 Description An account of the resource Journal entry of GVSU student José Garcia relating his experiences as a student and parent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6bfa1ad730f6f401bc9e8b545c1253bf.pdf 73bbd4022a1190542f6a51a8bc52d663 PDF Text Text April 22, 2020 Another day in quarantine. Oh well, it is what it is. The governor is doing what she can do to help us all stay safe by extending this quarantine based on current numbers. At this point it feels like I'm losing touch with reality and people outside. I don’t really know how to feel about that. I can only imagine how people in true isolation must feel. There must be a lot of depression and hatred towards the world. I’m willing to bet that there are people out there that are getting ready to break down mentally. It’s saddening that this is a possibility. The worst part is that it’s possible that some have already committed suicide, killed someone else, or convinced someone else to kill. I don’t really know that this is real, but I remember hearing once, that ‘everything that you can think of is a thing’. I understand that staying quarantined will save many lives by slowing the spread of the virus and as a result hospitals would have plenty of space for ill patients. However, if my comment is true, how many people are dying due to severed depression, isolation, and all those things? Having people quarantined would save a lot of lives, I agree. However keeping people quarantined might also leave them severely depressed. So much so that it’s possible people are dying either through suicide, or assasination. Just last weekend there was a shooting right outside my house. It would be unjust to say let's just proceed with life like normal so that people that are easily depressed can get away from home because then COVID-19 spread would rise. Likewise I don’t think it’s a good idea to just continue quarantine like there is nothing wrong. I suppose the ideal situation would slowly reopen the world in a way that minimizes the amount of deaths due to both covid 19, depression (and maybe even other factors?). An argument like that however would never fly with public opinion. It is like saying some lives don’t matter and even though we try to minimize deaths, there will still be some, and we would be saying we are ok with that. This brings up one of the biggest topics, life. I think it’s safe to say that most people wouldn’t want others to die from illness. If we could prevent someone from dying from illness we should do what we can. If we can’t then we should try to find a solution, or at least that is how most people see the situation. It is painful to lose people you love and care about. As a result, a big part of human life is to preserve it by all means. Life is so difficult, or maybe we make it difficult? Our society seems to believe that no one should die. However, some believe there are too many people in the world, and others believe that it doesn't matter. If we could cure all people from disease and injuries, the world would quickly have a large population of humans. Maybe even to the point that the earth could no longer sustain us, then what? Perhaps move to other habitable planets? Suppose that in each planet the population got to a point where only natural death was the cause of death, well then these planets would not be able to sustain the population, and an endless repetition of rehabilitating planets would ensue. If space is infinite and there exists an infinite number of habitable planets then I suppose this would not be an issue. But, what if there are only a finite universe and as a result a finite number of habitable planets? Then what? I have no idea, I’m not a physicist. I don't know if the universe is finite or infinite. I don’t know if there are a finite or infinite number of planets. I don’t even know if humans would as a society agree and also accomplish riding the population of disease either in the form of bacteria or virus or other. It almost seems as if dying of old age is �the only acceptable death in our society. Dying of a virus or bacteria is highly not accepted even if technically they are both natural causes. If Joe died of a virus and his friend Mark was ok with this death people would jump at the chance to more or less tell Joe that he is insensitive, didn’t care about Mark and wasn’t really his friend. So it seems that the need to save people from death is more rooted in people’s emotional attachment to them and not so much if someone should live or die. If COVID-19 happened in some isolated island and a large number of people died, it’s possible that no one here or really outside of the island would care or even consider if those people should have been saved. No one would close their economy. � 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_2020-04-22_GarciaJ Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, José Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-22 Title A name given to the resource José Garcia COVID-19 Journal 13 Description An account of the resource Journal entry of GVSU student José Garcia relating his experiences as a student and parent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/dfbf04d8c173da04620e22dadb9757f0.pdf cbad287375eed9fd694ca902ee3f817f PDF Text Text Tuesday March 17, 2020 It is definitely weird to be journaling online and for a class, but here we are. A lot has happened in the past week, and I am left jobless, not yet hurting financially but may be soon. I’ve been dealing with the stress of online classes and the constant shutdowns well enough. I am fortunate enough to have a paid internship which will not stop paying me, but my main source of income is now gone as I am a host at Anna’s House and cannot be scheduled now. I understand the necessity for all of this, but as a senior I am immensely frustrated at having to take online courses (and having professors require synchronous classes/uploading videos) when my wifi is fairly unreliable. It works well enough for uploading documents or doing anything that does not require streaming, but my apartment complex had college students do the wiring for the internet so it’s definitely not good. I had been planning on going to the library since it was still open, but now all libraries are shut down. While I’ve seen many have resources surrounding certain internet providers give free internet, I’m not sure I can do so with my apartment. I also have ADD, and it’s bad when I don’t have a space outside of my apartment to study in, or the structure of being in a classroom. I was starting to really understand my CIS class, and now that I’m not in a classroom I fear that the understanding I had will slip and go away. GV did the right thing in closing, as did Governor Whitmer, but I can’t help but feel worried for my future and when this whole thing will blow over. 45 said that it will likely last until July, and while he is a constant liar, he is president and the likelihood of that happening is terrifying. I was hoping the virus would be under control by the end of April, I’m not sure I’d be able to make it financially past that. I know some places are being lenient with rent, but the loss of income is truly scary. I had friends mention filing for unemployment, but the website is down and has been since yesterday. I realize that this entry is a lot of complaining, but I feel like there isn’t an ability to complain right now. Many people feel like if you are anxious, it’s because you’re inconsiderate of people who are at risk, and I’m not. I have many friends who are severely at risk right now, I’m worried about family and grandparents. My dad has diabetes, and so he is also at risk. He’s a driver for the Rapid, and for some reason they are refusing to allow drivers to wear masks so that the public isn’t fearful. I just feel unsure of the future. I heard a rumor that people are trying to get classes to be considered credit/no credit this semester, and honestly, I could see that being an option. I’m considering doing so for my two classes which involve more synchronous activity/video uploading activity since I’m not sure my wifi has the capability to do so. On the bright side (because this has been overwhelmingly negative) my therapist offered to provide counseling over the phone free of charge, or cancel my copay due to losing my job if I were to come in. I’ve had two professors I am close with reach out to me to offer support, two of whom offered to hire me on as a research assistant. I am unsure of how quickly I would be able to work/get paid, but I hope to be able to do so soon! My mentor in charge of my senior thesis is incredibly understanding and has been pushing me to take advantage of Replenish (although I’m not sure if this is still open). She also sent me many texts asking me if I had essential items in the event I were to get sick (it turns out, I don’t, because I usually do not get the flu, but I am planning on going out to get supplies today, hopefully…). �I have been spending a lot of time with my girlfriend, because we’re basically in selfquarantine at this point, and luckily I love my roommate, because we’ve all been together in Allendale. I have stacks on stacks of books I’ve been meaning to read, and I utilized my Schuler’s gift card from Christmas to buy Mary Fulbrook’s Reckonings! I’ve had my eye on it for a while and it looks to be promising, I’ve read quite a few of her books, so I’m eager to dive in. This book deals with a lot of the reconciliation with the Holocaust in Germany, so it’s a topic I’m very interested in generally, the idea of memory and national identity. I am also doing okay with food. I have a lot of chicken, pasta, ribs, beans, and rice to last a while. We’re making bok choy and ginger chicken soup tonight for dinner. Perhaps this is the time to get a bit fancy and experiment with new dishes? I just keep hearing my mom’s voice reassuring me that I should only worry about what I can control. I can’t do anything about classes being online/closing down of my job. But I can worry about planning out meals, budgeting, and ensuring all of my assignments get done to the best of my ability. I can be a self-advocate and communicate with those who care about me about what I need, and try my best to have a positive outlook on everything. I can focus on my relationships with other people, which I think is the primary thing keeping everyone sane at the moment. I think I’ll call one of my friends later today. Update: Looking like no graduation for me...but on the bright side Anna’s House will be paying us for the two weeks that we’re unable to work! I might bleach and dye my hair bright purple? Who knows what I will do while social distancing. Wednesday March 18, 2020 Today I had various over the phone meetings, I filed for unemployment (which I’m sure I messed up and don’t know what the next steps are), I did laundry, and I went grocery shopping. I am experiencing a bit of panic today, I started off relatively calm. I woke up, did some reading of Ozick, said goodbye to my roommate, had some meetings, and washed the dishes. But once I went grocery shopping I started thinking about the possibility of a recession and what I’m going to do if I don’t get into graduate school next year. Overall, I am fairly confident in my ability to survive and keep going, but it was still scary to suddenly have a wash of panic come over me. Thursday March 19, 2020 I finished reading Ozick today, and I hated it. I greatly dislike anytime someone tries to imagine themselves in oppressive environments they’ve never experienced. I once had someone in my Dirty Wars in Latin America class say that had they been faced with death squads, they would’ve fought before the military could have killed his children. It’s not usually a stance I’ve seen in classes on the Holocaust, thankfully. But this book bothered me in the same way. There is no way for us to know how we would’ve responded under those circumstances. Whether we would have complied, resisted, or collaborated. There is just no way to know, we have hopes that we would have resisted, that we would’ve put ourselves in harms way to protect others, the more vulnerable. But we simply cannot know. Because of this, I find The Shawl unsettling. I do not like the idea that we are creating fiction which claims even one experience of a survivor, of any �sort, to feel one way. She can’t know, even if she were to research and interview survivors, she has no way of ever truly knowing. I created this line to differentiate from my discussion of Ozick, I’ve already written my response paper. I went to pick up tacos, and my girlfriend Chloe and I watched a documentary on cults. Despite being raised in one, they still fascinate me. Friday March 20, 2020 I woke up today feeling worse. I’ve had a cough for the past two days, but it wasn’t concerning, it’s gotten worse, but I think it’s just a cold. I’ve been monitoring my symptoms and I just have a cough. Nothing else, plus I’ve barely been out, and if I have it’s been with little contact with others. I did visit my family yesterday briefly, but they’ve also been in quarantine. My dad has a sinus infection, and so he asked me not to hug him. I stood far away from him once he told me, and left shortly after, making sure to tell my mom to disinfect the door handles I touched. I’m worried it’s something more, or it will turn into a more serious situation given that he has diabetes and that puts him more at risk for the coronavirus. Hopefully he gets better. This is giving everyone massive anxiety at the moment, and for good reason. It’s ridiculous how some are not giving this the attention it needs. I decided to remove someone from my Facebook feed because she kept posting things about how the coronavirus wasn’t that serious and that the media was blowing it out of proportion to take away our rights. I just don’t understand how people could blow this off. I was supposed to pick up my tip share today from Anna’s House and I didn’t because I have a cough and didn’t want to risk anyone else who might be there at the same time as me getting ill. Aside from all the usual anxiety surrounding the coronavirus, I’ve been doing good. I’ve gotten all the work I needed to get done, aside from my computer science class, out of the way for the week. I also contacted my advisor to get him to send an email about taking my Spanish class and CIS class as credit/no credit. Both classes have more requirements online (video calling, Blackboard collaborate, programming, etc.) which I find more difficult to do given my internet access. I’m feeling good about my level of productivity to be honest. It’s been rough, and I’ve definitely had moments of panic thinking about an impending recession as I graduate college, but I can’t predict the future. I can only try my best to adequately prepare myself for what I can do. I did get accepted to present my research at the Latina/o Studies Association at Notre Dame! With that added to my CV I will have presented at the Great Lakes History Conference twice, the Michigan Sociological Association, and the Phi Alpha Theta conference in San Antonio in addition to the many times I’ve presented at Student Scholar’s Day. At the moment I am alone, Chloe went out to meet her dad, she’s finally getting her phone fixed. She ran it over when she returned from Tennessee because she was desperately trying to leave her dad’s driveway at 2 a.m., her brother had hit a neighbor’s car and so there was a lot of tension in the air. I’m relieved, for the past two weeks she hasn’t been able to use her phone, and so she’s been hard to contact. Luckily she doesn’t have work right now, but it’s crazy how convenient having a phone is, and what it’s like when you suddenly don’t have one. She has group work and people were trying to form a group chat, which she can’t really do. Now that �she’s out of the apartment, I am planning on cleaning my room and vacuuming. I am normally a very neat person, but she’s like a tornado. She makes messes wherever she goes. That’s all for now. I’m off to vacuum. Tuesday March 24, 2020 The past few days have been strange. I’m finally over my cold. My nose is slightly stuffy but I am no longer having trouble with a sore throat and cough. Despite Governor Whitmer’s order, my apartment complex, Trio (do not ever live there), decided to give us a brand new roommate. I am stressed about having to continue self-quarantine for three more weeks, because I miss being outside. The order said we could still exercise so I’m thinking of going to a nearby park (that usually doesn’t have many people) and going for a walk and doing some reading. I am going insane not being able to be outside, especially with seasonal depression. It’s being prolonged. I understand, but I greatly need some exercise and fresh air. I’ve been practicing my makeup again. Being so sick I was barely able to do anything, and doing my makeup despite not being able to go out makes me feel prepared for the day. Wednesday March 25, 2020 Today was a day of deep cleaning. I spent the day doing laundry, cleaning the bathroom, washing my makeup brushes, and spring cleaning my room. I threw out quite a bit, and I completely reorganized everything. My desk is clear, I have all of my rocks and seashells on my window pane, in addition to my two small cacti. I have two succulents, but I need to get a smaller pot for one of them because it’s too large to fit comfortably on my small bookshelf. All of my plants are doing well, it makes me quite happy. Thursday March 26, 2020 Journaling and planning out my weeks is the only way I am able to keep track of my days, because it feels like everything is a bit of a blur. I’m sure I downplayed how sick I was last week, but thinking back on it, and given how sore my nose is from blowing it, it was pretty bad. I FaceTimed one of my friends yesterday, Laura. They attend Harvard, and so seeing their apartment is always insane, given the amount of money the institution has. Unfortunately, the connection wasn’t great, so it was difficult to hear them, even with me using my phone’s data. I haven’t seen them in person since last June when we were at a summer program at the University of Michigan together, and it’s a shame. I miss them. MY EAR WON’T POP AND I’M IRRITATED. IT’S BEEN STUCK LIKE THIS FOR DAYS. I HATE BEING SICK/RECOVERING FROM SICKNESS. I just found out my unemployment claim was denied. So, that’s fucking fantastic. I’ve been on hold to chat with a representative for the past twenty minutes which is also just amazing. �Update: I was on hold for two hours, got off hold, asked a question, and then was disconnected. I am extremely upset and angry. Friday March 27, 2020 I had a call with Dr. McKee and went over the next steps for my senior project. All seems to be going well. I took a shower and it made my ear worsen, which is frustrating. Chloe thinks it’s an ear infection, but I really hope not, given that there is little option to go to the doctor right now. Not that I would normally, with how expensive it is, but especially now. Anna’s House had a conference call today, and the update provided is slightly confusing, but it seems like they’ll be paying us for two more weeks. So, ultimately, they have decided to provide us with a full month’s worth of wages. I really did not expect this from them, given what I know about other donations/business practices, but it’s really surprised me and made me relieved to see the attitude those in management have towards their workers. Sunday March 29, 2020 I had a call yesterday with Dr McKee, she had mentioned nominating me for an award based off of my senior project. While exciting, I am scared of disappointing her. I need to ensure I write much more this upcoming week, but I also just realized I have a ton of big assignments coming down the pipeline. I feel like I am struggling to survive with the expectations some professors continue to have while I am unsure of when I will be able to return to work. It’s looking to be the end of April/beginning of May at the earliest? I don’t know what I can do. I am supposed to provide Michigan State with an answer about where I will be attending by the 15th of April, and while I was fully expecting to reject the offer, the impending recession/depression has me second-guessing my decision. While I want to get started on my Ph.D., if there’s a depression coming down the pipeline, it really is in my best interest to apply and attend a university that has a better reputation for Latin American history. MSU’s program isn’t particularly strong outside of the African diaspora, and I want to ensure I have the proper tools to thrive as a Mexicanist. On the other hand, it’s an ensured job/path to my future. I’m hoping I’ll find something in the meantime, I always figure it out. Whether it’s continuing to work at Anna’s House part-time with an additional job on the side, or finding more meaningful work, I will survive until I get into another graduate program I can envision myself in. Monday March 30, 2020 I received an email today informing me that I was accepted into the Ph.D. program at Indiana University in Bloomington! I’ll be moving there in August. Wednesday April 1, 2020 I’ve been spending some time trying to figure out housing in Bloomington, which is insane and scary given that I can’t visit the city where I will be spending the next 7 or so years of my life. I won’t be able to meet professors in person, see the library, or interrogate History Ph.D. �students about the culture of the department. I know I have a good funding package, but I’d have liked to be able to go down and see the apartment I’d be living in. Ride the bus to the building I’ll be in on campus. Figure out where I’ll be going to get food and how to get there from where I live. That’s all postponed and will be happening virtually, which I’m not a fan of. Additionally, I feel like finishing the semester online is catching up to me. We have a few weeks left, and final projects are coming on quickly. I’m not sure how I’ll be able to do all of this with no ability to go to a library, meet with classmates, or have access to a printer and be able to have physical copies of books I request from the library. Never before have I realized how reliant I am on the library. It’s truly an incredible space, and I am lucky to be able to utilize it and have figured out how to do interlibrary loans. I barely bought any books this semester, and now that the end of the semester is here, it’s become very frustrating to try to get access to books the library has physical copies of, that I cannot pick up. I’m a very tactile person, I need to be able to physically do a lot. Highlight the copies of chapters I have, or use sticky notes to mark important points for my papers. I miss being able to sit down in the library and spend a long evening combing through books I’ve gathered and jotting down notes. It’s a very mundane part of college, but it’s one of my favorites. Chloe and I love going to the library with snacks and a small blanket and really finding a great spot to spend hours as we work on history papers together. It’s that sense of community that I miss. As we continue living in lock down, I hope it’s an aspect of life I can return to soon. Friday April 3, 2020 I spoke to a graduate student at IU over Skype today! I’m glad I did. Margarita was really nice and easy to talk to. We have similar interests in research, and she told me about a paper someone had done where they revealed a revelation that Emiliano Zapata had been gay! I’m hoping that she’s able to send me this grad student’s work, because it’s immensely interesting and I’d love to see their argument/resources. She also offered to help me look for an apartment and gave me quite a bit of advice on life as a first year graduate student at IU. I’m planning on sending her a few apartments I’ve checked out. I'm still unsure of whether or not I should find roommates or live by myself for the first year. Bloomington isn’t too expensive, and is actually a much cheaper place to live without a roommate than Grand Rapids, but it does give me anxiety to try to do so in a city I’m unfamiliar with. I also had the opportunity to call a scholar Dr. McKee had put me in contact with. That was slightly awkward, but it was still really insightful. She was blunt, and I appreciated it. Margarita was a lot more positive about IU, which is good, but I also needed to hear about what’s going to be a challenge. I think at the forefront of what I need to consider is my mental health and finding community. Both are aspects of life I struggle with now, and I anticipate it continuing to be difficult, especially in a graduate program, and one which is five hours away. It’s strange. I still need to finish out this school year but I’ve lost my motivation to do so. I can’t find it within myself to complete the work expected of me in my internship, and while I’ve been keeping up with all of my classes, there are definitely two that have fallen through the cracks. I was denied unemployment, and while my job has continued to pay me, they are trying to encourage us to deny payment and accept unemployment as it’ll provide us with more funds. I’m seriously stressed, and the expansion of the time we will be spending in quarantine is bound �to drive me crazy. I’m sure that part of my procrastination has to do with the fact that I have a plan for the upcoming school year. I don’t need to worry about finding a job post-graduation anymore, and I have a set income. A good one, definitely more than I would have gotten through MSU. It’s like I’m dedicating my time and resources to what I can control, which is planning for a future outside of COVID-19. Tomorrow I have the opportunity to call another graduate student, which will be exciting. For now, I’m off to work on homework and final projects... Saturday April 4, 2020 Today I brought my dad lunch, he is still driving for the Rapid and was in Allendale doing the 50/85 route. He’s upset he hasn’t been laid off, primarily because he’s highly fearful of getting the virus. It's understandable, my mom is highly cautious at the moment, Chloe and I went shopping with her the other day, because she has a Sam’s Club card. Chloe’s laptop broke down and it was one of the only places we were able to go to get a new one. When we met in the parking lot, she brought out hand sanitizer for us to use, gave us gloves and masks, and only then she hugged me hello. I’m glad I saw my dad...moving to Bloomington has riddled me with anxiety and I’m super scared to have to do so. I’ve been riddled with anxiety, but it was nice to see him for a bit. He rattled off a list of things we need to replace in my car before I move in August. Sunday April 5, 2020 Oy. I’ve been apartment hunting today as well. It seems like the more I research the more I’m scared I won’t find a place. There are so many complexes and landlords which people are warning me against on the internet, which is spooky, as they’re usually the ones I was strongly considering until people retell their horror stories. I was planning on getting roommates in order to counter costs, but quite a few people have ghosted me, and now I’m unsure of whether or not I’d be able to find anyone to live with. The problem is, I’m sure others would be more open to helping me out if I’d had the opportunity to go visit the program in person. Monday April 6, 2020 I just finished speaking to Isabel on the phone, and she was so insanely nice. I was blown away by her personality, and her frankness. It was really refreshing to have someone tell me straight out who I should be more wary of. Overall the day was good, my internet keeps cutting out though, which was annoying. I’m trying to do homework, work, and just attempting to prepare for my move. Skyping and chatting with people is getting to be really hard, especially since it’ll freeze after about an hour and makes it nearly impossible to continue. Wednesday April 8, 2020 �I had the opportunity to speak to Dr. Krista Benson today, which was very helpful. They raised quite a bit of important points which I should be considering when speaking to Dr. Guardino in regards to graduate school and the department. Specifically, whether or not my stipend is pre or post tax, if I am expected to use all of my research summer funding in archives in Mexico, or would I be able to utilize it for conferences. What conference funding looks like, how many students finish in five years, and what funding is available for those who are past year five. Additionally, they wanted me to inquire about whether teaching appointments are 50 percent, and if so whether or not we can take a higher percentage in order to earn more. I also have to ask how those positions are assigned. After speaking with Dr. Benson, I spoke to Casey through Zoom, and miraculously the internet did not cut out after an hour (it cut out two times while I was chatting with Dr. Benson). He was insanely nice and easy to talk to. I really appreciated how welcoming he was, how excited he was about me joining and about the department in general. He gave me a lot of good advice, and he also offered to go check out apartments for me and reach out to graduate students who may be looking for roommates. Every time I speak to a grad student at IU I find myself really excited to attend. I did not anticipate that I’d be so thrilled about the environment I’d be in, but the prospect of being in Bloomington is promising, although daunting. I’m scared, but I’m also excited to be in an environment where everyone is as passionate about history as I am. I can’t wait to be surrounded by intellectual conversations about neoliberalism, colonialism, and gender and sexuality all situated within a Latin American history context. I’m worried about being apart from Chloe, but am confident that we can do this. Thursday April 9, 2020 I had my first anxiety attack of the quarantine yet, it’s been almost a month, and it’s getting to me. I hate being at home, and feeling bombarded by work, but with no motivation to do it all. It’s difficult for me to have a separation between relaxation and work. I don’t know how to do it. Usually when I need to get things done, I spend a day at a coffee shop, or at the library, and I get things done! I feel like I’m going back and forth on productivity, one day I’m super productive, I get the work I need to get done finished, and I feel great, and then the next I feel lethargic, anxious, and I do work, I research IU and try to gather information, talk to potential roommates, etc. But I’m not getting vital things for my coursework or work done! I can work from home, but not all the time! Things are falling through the cracks, really falling. It’s bad. I feel like I’m letting people down and I hate to do that. I just want to be able to go outside and not feel scared about it. I want to be able to go to a bookstore and browse the shelves! I want to be able to go to the park, and not care if someone gets near me. I miss human connection! I even want to go to work, and I hate going to work most of the time! I just hate being cooped up, I want to go to a movie theater, to go on dates. I want to be able to hang out with my friends. As of right now the governor has extended it to May 1st, and I really hope it ends there. I need to make money, I need to save for my move. I was denied unemployment, we’re waiting on those checks from the government but I don’t even know for sure that I’m getting one! I feel like the world is falling apart and I am here trying my best to stand my ground. It’s scaring me. �Growing up, I was a Jehovah’s Witness. We were constantly told stories about the end of the world, Armageddon. If we weren’t good enough, we wouldn’t make it to an eternal paradise. We would die, alongside the rest of the non-Jehovah’s Witnesses. I had nightmares about it. Me, a little girl (at the time) who felt out of place as a girl, and who didn’t know that I was queer. For reference, these were the images I grew up seeing in my “Book of Bible Stories” and other JW publications: Jehovah’s Witnesses everywhere are convinced that the world is currently coming to an end, that this is the “beginning of the system of things.” While I no longer am part of the religion, I realized today that I am reliving the trauma of having grown up with these beliefs. I started to have trouble breathing as I cried, and I found myself asking Chloe if this was the end. It’s an inherent feeling that I am being punished, which is, of course, absurd. This cannot be happening only to me, and it's not happening because I have sinned against god. But yet I’ve been programmed to think so. In times like these, where I find myself reverting back to old ways of thinking, I have to tell myself that everyone is going through this right now. Everyone is struggling. There is not one person who is (not absurdly rich) that is thriving under these circumstances. And while bleak, it helps. No other time in history (that I know of, and I’m a history major) has the entire world stood still and ordered everyone to stay home. It’s a crazy thing to be living through, and I’m not sure why, but that brings me some level of comfort. Undoubtedly, this will be a well studied time period in the future by historians. They will look back and study how people dealt with the quarantine. Someone on twitter made a joke about how in a few years we’re going to be seeing articles on “queering the quarantine: towards radical forms of queer isolation,” (I can’t find the original tweet otherwise I’d include it here, but someone did already go ahead and make a spotify playlist named this. Can be found here). In that I take comfort, that I am taking part, however passively, in history. Friday April 10, 2020 �Another day where my main thing to look forward to was a meeting. I had a meeting with Dr. McKee to discuss some slight revisions on my senior thesis. Nothing too major, it was primarily focused on me providing more detail in my earlier sections. In the interest of giving some insight into what my senior thesis is, I will provide some context for what it is I’m working on. I am essentially discussing Guatemalan adoption to families in the United States, but I’m also taking into account how Guatemala came to be such a big sending nation to the U.S. in terms of children. Guatemala has a long-standing history of U.S. intervention into economic interests in the nation, namely with the United Fruit Company which owned a large portion of land in the nation and controlled a lot of governmental decisions undertaken. What resulted was an impoverished and exploited indigenous population. U.S. overthrowal of a democratically elected president, who prioritized Guatemalan economic interests led to a series of strongmen being in power, and a thirty year civil war ensued. In the midst of this civil war, children were being taken from families considered subversive, and once the country’s civil war “ended” children began to be trafficked into adoption agencies who would send them to the United States. Now this ended in 2008, when Guatemala gained international attention for the horrendous practices at play, but with separations at the border which began to take place, Americans who desired to adopt children easily had a newfound access point. I am so excited to be working on this project, I find it invigorating academically, and it fills me with anger and yet curiosity to understand the operations at play. A lot of my edits have to do with ensuring I am engaging properly with a lot of adoption scholars, as Dr. McKee knows of who I should be engaging with, and finding access to them, as well as time to read all of it. She wants to turn it into an article, which I am excited about, and hope to do, as I’m sure it will make me far more marketable and competitive for funding once I am at IU. I also spoke to Dr. Guardino today, which was great. I am once again excited beyond belief to join the history department at Indiana University. He was excellent in explaining the town and (lack of) diversity in the area. He really reassured me that there are ample opportunities past the fifth year to continue getting funding, it would just be without my fellowship. I did have some questions he wasn’t able to answer, mainly about taxes, but overall it was instrumental to understanding how I will be able to build a relationship with him as my advisor. He discussed individuals leaving the program as a positive thing, saying that he didn’t like to say people “dropped out” because it wasn’t negative, they had found their path. I’m sure it’s definitely going to be very tough, the first year always is, according to everyone I’ve spoken to, but the prospect of a new beginning is enthralling. Saturday April 11, 2020 I found a potential roommate! Her name is Sarah and she lives at Sassafras Hill Apartments, I’m excited, she seemed really nice and we set up a time to Zoom, which was intensely awkward but good. It’d be a financial relief for sure to room with someone else, but it does give me anxiety to go in somewhat blind in terms of apartments and roommates. What excites me about the possibility of living with Sarah is that she’s a four year grad student and has been living in Bloomington much longer than I have. But at the same time, Chloe is planning on moving to Bloomington after her graduation a year from now, and I’d like for us to be reunited as soon as possible, especially after living in different states for 9 months and I wouldn’t want anyone to feel it sprung upon them, that I would like to live with my partner while they were �expecting me to stick around. Today was a day of ups and downs for sure. While I felt relieved about finding a potential roommate, I also have to do a group project for my Soviet History class and had to deal with a very hostile groupmate. I had tried setting up a method of communication which would be effective for everyone (group chat) and it was denied, and then I tried providing suggestions for the project and one guy in particular, who had sent me an annoyed email about the group chat, also emailed me a very rude email about how he didn’t want to do my idea because it wasn’t convenient for him. Finishing the email with, “please let me know when you receive this email as I have things I need to do.” The entire language of the email caused me to cry out of frustration, I’m obviously not going to include the email, but it was intensely rude and hostile. I ended up emailing my professor to ask to complete the assignment alone, and luckily it was granted. I really don’t need the stress of trying to find a place to live in another state, filing for unemployment, applying for jobs, and dealing with an egotistical group member. Sunday April 12, 2020 Chlo and I have begun watching a bit of Naked and Afraid, one of her dad’s students, a GVSU alum (!), was on the show and so we watched the season he was on. It was definitely interesting to be able to share this show with her, it’s one my family would sit around and watch together. It’s really interesting to watch, given that they’re such dangerous situations and you get to see real depictions of how people react to dehydration, extreme fatigue, and finding food in the wild. I’ve done a lot of sharing different shows I grew up watching with her, in addition to showing her iconic movies she never saw growing up. Well, as wholesome as watching fun shows with my girlfriend is, I am going to rant about what just happened to me at Meijer. Chloe and I were leaving Meijer, having stocked up on a good amount of groceries for the upcoming two-ish weeks and gotten Starbucks, when the alarm at the door went off. Now, I always say hello to the Meijer greeters, so I had said hello to her when I walked in, and we had done the self-checkout near her, as well as gotten the Starbucks near her. She had seen us pay, I know she had because we had made eye contact. At Starbucks, I threw away my receipt. I explained this to her when I was leaving, and she made me go back and get my receipt out of the garbage. She didn’t ask Chloe, my white girlfriend, for her receipt, she didn’t even look at her when the beeping started, she looked at me and told me to go get it out of the trash. I did, I wish I hadn’t, I wish I had spoken to the woman working who had helped me at the self check out to prove I had bought it, or pulled up my bank info or something, but I dug through the trash and got my receipt. When Chlo and I got to the car I broke down crying. People have been showing how they really feel about people of color a lot of more nowadays, whether they realize it or not. Older white people have been rude to me in the aisles, gotten way too close and shoved me, I’ve gotten more dirty looks than ever while shopping with Chloe. We’re taking precautions, keeping our distance, yet I am being treated in a worse way than I normally experience. So I had an anxiety attack, I’ve had more anxiety attacks in my time at home than I have had in the past year. I’m sick of all of this. �Monday April 13, 2020 I had a Zoom call with a student in the Gender Studies department, and that was so awkward. It was honestly kind of awful, Margarita introduced me to him through email, and so I figured I’d give him a call. He didn’t know why I was calling and I didn’t know what to discuss since he was a very quiet person. I did ask some basic questions about queer identity and Bloomington in general, which provided a lot of interesting information around parking in the area. I definitely will be more careful with who I contact in the future, since it was pretty painful to have the video call quite honestly. Tuesday April 14, 2020 Chloe and I went to Grand Haven today and found a spot on the beach to sit and enjoy the waves. They were huge, and I love having the opportunity to sit in nature. We made sure to sit at a distance from anyone else, there were mainly people parked sitting in cars staring at the waves. It was pretty cold but there were some people surfing on the waves, and it was so fun to watch. I’m not sure why, but I find myself mesmerized whenever I am in nature. It’s like it revives me. It could be me sitting outside on a lawn, feeling the grass between my fingers, in a forest, looking at the sun peaking through the treetops, or just watching the waves and thinking about how incredible and dangerous the water can be. Whenever I’m having a bad day I like to go for walks or just sit outside, so it was so nice to feel the wind on my face and be able to sit in the sand. I just feel revived. I’m so happy. Wednesday April 15, 2020 I received my stimulus check from the government today and paid off my Discover credit card! There goes over 1,100 of debt! I am so extremely happy and proud of myself to have paid off so much debt this year. This year thus far I have completely cleared 2,000 in debt that I had accrued from: getting kicked out when I came out, getting surgery, getting glasses, and medical expenses for my dog. I still have to pay off my laptop, but I’m hoping that’ll be something I can try to clear up as much as possible this summer and next. Being in debt and racked by monthly payments is a feeling I wouldn’t wish on anyone, it’s nerve wracking and anxiety inducing to not know if you’ll be able to make the monthly payments, and feeling like it’s a never-ending task to pay them off. I had also used my tax return to pay off one of the accounts completely, I’m just really proud of myself for the financial decisions I made this year so far. I was so excited to get out from under debt and to improve myself, and while this pandemic has set me back I’m still hopeful I’ll get there someday. Saturday April 18, 2020 We went to the park today! There’s a park out here in Allendale where Chloe and I took our dinner and sat on a bench and just enjoyed the sun setting. In the middle of us sitting and eating a group of girls pulled up in two different vehicles. There was a bathroom nearby so it was �somewhat blocking our view of what was happening but we could see two big groups of girls trying to swing at each other and screaming. One called the other girl the n-word (all were white), and after about five minutes both groups got into their cars and left. It was so strange, and irritating because they presumably don’t all live together and are clearly breaking social distancing but it was definitely a spicy occurence in an overall chill and slightly dull day. Tuesday April 21, 2020 I bit the bullet and signed a lease today. There goes $775 of my savings. I applied for the unemployment pandemic thing but who knows if I’ll get anything, there’s a group on Facebook filled with people who haven’t gotten any money despite being approved and those who’ve been denied and have been on the phone everyday for hours on end for weeks trying to make sense of it all. I’m anxious because the rent is so high and that means that I’ll owe $675 on the first of August in Bloomington without actually needing to be there until the 24th but hopefully it’ll be okay. My plan is to work two jobs this summer before August so that I can afford the move and save some money before the stipend kicks in. This is all intensely stressful and it’s also exam week so...that’s great. I did start applying to jobs this weekend and got a call back from Biggby and scheduled a job interview for Saturday. Wednesday April 22, 2020 I was approved for the pandemic assistance! I hope I actually get it, oh my god. I am so happy. I also had emailed Dr. Guardino and asked about when I would receive my stipend and he offered to loan me the money for the apartment so that I am able to secure my first month in Bloomington! I am so intensely happy and thankful. If I’m able to secure the assistance (and actually receive it) I won’t have to borrow money from him and my first month will be covered. I’m not sure that will happen given how much trouble everyone else has had but hopefully I’m all set once I certify. I’ve never looked down on anyone who had to file for unemployment, but I truly did not realize just how awful it is, the system is ridiculous and impossible to navigate. I didn’t even receive an email notifying me that I had been approved, I had to check today and even then, when I login, it doesn’t say I’ve been approved. I had to go to a completely different part of the site to see it. All that has been proved to me over and over again throughout this pandemic is that our country is broken. People are not willing to listen to our governor, who is trying to save their lives, and are willing to put themselves and others at jeopardy to protest when they are the same people who will argue for violence against black and brown people who protest police brutality. Once again the nation is bailing out big businesses while they are failing those who are most vulnerable. These are all things I already knew, but to see them highlighted on a massive scale finally feels like most individuals who were content to sit back and watch are having a realization of the devastation which is caused. But, per usual, nothing will happen. Come November I will be forced to vote for Joe Biden, who is not a progressive in any way, and who has had allegations of sexual misconduct �against him, in order to get Trump out of office. All that has been highlighted is my utter disgust of the current administration, something I had tried to engage with at a bare minimum, enough to be engaged but not enough to give me an aneurysm on a daily basis. I am just disheartened, it makes me want to not vote, it won’t accomplish anything, my not voting, but it just disgusts me to have to vote for Joe Biden. I’m not confident in his ability to win, nor in who he is. What has happened is this: this pandemic has forced me to sit and think. I have nothing but time to think about my life, what is important to me, my values, my goals for my life, what has happened to me to shape the person I am today. I have come to many conclusions. 1. I do not want to live a life where I am constantly worried about money and where one small instance can cripple me. (I guess I really shouldn’t have chosen to go into the humanities but…) 2. I want to use my life to benefit those who are less fortunate than I am. Despite not having an easy upbringing, I can recognize that if it weren’t for quite a few mentors in my life, I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I did. The myth of meritocracy is alive and well but I do not believe in it. 3. Activism is vital. I want to figure out how to support it and be involved while maintaining my mental health. 4. I value people. I did not realize just how hurt I would be to be restricted from human connection, and to see so many suffering. I broke down crying at the protests because of the complete disregard for the safety of others. I would like to find a way to use my love of people to make a difference. Thursday April 23, 2020 I certified for my week's unemployment, but am super scared I’ll end up messing up or accidentally doing something wrong because I don’t understand the system. I just have massive anxiety that I'll accidentally perjure myself somehow. I was actually super productive this week, which was nice. I got a lot of work for Cook Leadership Academy done! Update: I just realized my last date of employment was the 18th although I stopped working on the 11th, and I already forfeited my potential earnings, so I won’t be in danger of perjuring myself (or shouldn’t be, I’m still scared). Hopefully I’ll get the earnings in time? Friday April 24, 2020 I graduated? I submitted my final exams but it just didn’t feel monumental. I’m the first person in my family to have gone to university, and while I wasn’t sure about whether I was going to walk, I still wanted to have the option to do so. I’m unsure of whether or not I’ll be attending the makeup graduation in October since I’ll already be in graduate school in Bloomington. It just feels fruitless to do so, especially when I have another graduation so far down the line, and a far more important one. I’m hoping to catch up on some reading and relax. Probably try to do some more networking with people in Bloomington, read some articles from the faculty I’d like to work with, and relax. Get back into some hobbies like painting, journaling, and making crafts. � 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_2020-04-25_GarciaKendra Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, Kendra Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-25 Title A name given to the resource Kendra Garcia Journal Description An account of the resource Journal of GVSU student Kendra Garcia, detailing their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/efd329056a2d621fe299fa4b31f687d6.pdf 63ecfa7a9093025250a1168931aa2e80 PDF Text Text Young Lords In Lincoln Park Interviewee: Laura Garcia Interviewers: Jose “Cha Cha” Jimenez Location: Grand Valley State University Special Collections Date: 8/25/2012 Biography and Description Laura Garcia was raised in an immigrant farmworker family. She was a member of MECha, the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, in the struggle to build the United Farmworkers Union, and joined the Teatro de las Chicanas, a theatre troupe started by Felicitas Nuñez and Delia Ravelo, in the 1970s. She recently co-edited, with Sandra M. Gutierrez and Ms. Nuñez a collection of memoirs by members of Teatro Chicanas called Teatro Chicana (2008). Their most recent play is “Madres por Justicia,” which was first performed at the MALCS Conference in Los Angeles, August 2011. Ms. Garcia’s work as a journalist has gained international acclaim. She has reported on poverty and women’s conferences and electoral campaigns in Mexico, China, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and the United States, among others. She currently edits the Tribuno del Pueblo, a bilingual newspaper that is distributed to readers across the United States. The paper focuses on giving voice to the poor and on a range of immigrants’s issues. A strong advocate for women’s rights, Ms. Garcia has also authored a bilingual pamphlet, “Who is Killing the Women of Juárez?” It raises awareness about the disappearances and murders of hundreds of women in Mexico’s Ciudad Juárez which is just across the Rio Grande River, from El Paso, Texas and is home to a number of American drug manufacturers. She reports on the �failure of Mexican and U.S. authorities to investigate the crimes and stop the killings. In 2004, Ms. Garcia was part of a delegation which visited Ciudad Juárez to report on the crisis. �Transcript JOSE JIMENEZ: So, if you can give me your full name, your date of birth, when you were born, and where you were born. LAURA GARCIA: Okay. My name is Laura [Elena Cortez?] Garcia. And I was born in Mexico -- I’m from Mazatlán, Sinaloa -- in the year 1953. But my family -- I’m talking about the whole family. They have been in the United States since the 1920s. But like every Mexican family, we go back and forth between the United States and Mexico. So, I would say half of my family were born here and half of my family was born in Mexico. My mother happened to be born in Yuma, Arizona in the 1920s. And then, they were deported, you know, the great repatriation that they call it when the -JJ: Even though she was born -- LG: Yeah, because her parents were undocumented. [00:01:00] So, the parents were undocumented but the children were U.S. citizens. But at that time, there was a witchhunt to get rid of all the communists and all the labor unions and also because the economic crisis, the Great Depression and so forth, they deported the family even though the kids were U.S. citizens. It’s similar to what’s happening today where the children are U.S. citizens but the parents are not. And then, you have the option of leaving the children alone in this country or taking them with you to Mexico or to whatever country they are. So, that happened to my parents. And then, my -- we were very poor. Agricultural people working the land. And so, after my mother [00:02:00] separated from my 1 �husband [sic] and after I was born and my sister was born, she came back to the U.S. in the 1950s. And she ended up in Brawley, which happens to be were Felicitas is. And Brawley is an agricultural town in southern California. And there, my mother was a housemaid for about 13, 14 years. And eventually she was able to bring my sister and myself to the U.S. in the 1960s. But it took her about 11, 12 years to save enough money and to fix the papers even though when she started fixing the papers there was nothing to fix because her being a U.S. citizen, we automatically get the U.S. citizenship. So, had she known that then, she [00:03:00] probably would have brought us sooner. I lived in -JJ: What was your mom’s name? LG: My mother’s name is [Marrubio?]. But she lived in this house, and it easier to say [Nelly?] than Marrubio. So, her name was changed to Nelly, officially too. My mother, up until the day she side, she signed with Nelly, even though her name was Marrubio. JJ: And your dad? What was his name? LG: My dad’s name is -- JJ: Did you call him dad? LG: Yeah no, my dad’s -- I don’t call him dad. JJ: Okay. What do you call him? LG: He’s my -- my paternal family comes from China, and they migrated in about 1980s. There was a great famine in China. And my grandfather migrated. He was a kid. He was about 15, 16 years old. And everyone was coming to the Americas. It didn’t matter -- [00:04:00] not everybody ended up in San 2 �Francisco. My grandfather ended up in Baja, California and worked in Santa Rosalia in the copper mines. But eventually he crossed the Sea of Cortez into Sonora and then eventually -JJ: What was his name? Do you know? LG: My Chinese name is [Lian?]. JJ: And your father’s name was -- what? LG: My father’s name is [Raul Leon?] because he Mexicanized his name. So, the last name is Lian, and then, Leon as closest as far as the Spanish. So, his name is Raul Leon. But I -- JJ: What type of work was he doing? LG: I think he did a lot of number of jobs. He worked in Sonora in the railroads, building the railroads. JJ: Oh, so, he’s in Mexico. LG: In Mexico. He never came to the U.S. He was born in Mexico. And he [00:05:00] -- that’s where he died. But he worked in the railroad. What he told me is that he was the leader of the communist unit. And because of the political work that he was doing, he was blackballed and he wasn’t able to get any more. And he was fired. So, he was practically ran out of the town and the state of Sonora. And Sinaloa is south of Sonora. So, he ended up in Sinaloa. But in Sinaloa, he was a tailor by profession. In fact, that’s how my mother and he met. My mother started working with him because my mother was 23 years old. And she was an old maid. So, she could no longer stay with her parents because she had to survive, make her own living. So, she -- from the time until she went to 3 �that town and found work -- and she found [00:06:00] work with my father, and then, it all became. I’m a flower child or a love child. JJ: And were there any other children? LG: He had five others from another woman, I guess, wife. And he had two with my mother. JJ: Do you know their names? LG: No. I never wanted to find out. JJ: What about the ones that he had with your mom? LG: Oh, yeah. My sister. It’s only two. (Spanish) [00:06:31] JJ: (Spanish) [00:06:33] LG: (Spanish) [00:06:35] She looks more Chinese than me. But that’s our feud, our fight. Carmen says I look more Chinese. And I say, “No, you look more Chinese.” Being Chinese in Mexico was not a very popular thing or whatever. There was a lot of prejudism [sic] against the Chinese [00:07:00] in Mexico. And so, we grew up, I guess, used to but not liking it, the fact that we were different than other people. And it was always pointed out, no matter -- when we went to the mercado or we went to -- wherever we were with my grandfather. It always happened that someone stopped us or stopped him and asked him, “Oh, what are they? Chinitas or japonesas?” And my grandfather, being such a Mexican nationalist, he would always say, “Son Mexicanas. Don’t forget that. Son Mexicanas.” Of course, Carmen and I would say, “Why does he get so mad? Of course we’re Mexican. What else can we be?” We actually didn’t know that my father was Chinese until much later because people kept asking us and we 4 �started asking. And then, my mother told us, “Yeah, [00:08:00] your father is half Chinese, half Mexican.” JJ: Is this after you grew up? LG: Yeah. My mother and him didn’t separate on very good terms. So, I did not see - my mother has never -- my mother came to the U.S. and she never went back to her hometown in Mexico. And she never wanted to. I think her memories are not very good, for whatever reason. I don’t know if it’s the relationship with my father or whatever. But she never went back. But she remarried. And after my stepfather died -- his name is [Salome?]. He’s from Durango. After my -- the best, the greatest person I’ve ever met in my life. He was the kindest -- JJ: Your stepfather? LG: Yeah, my stepfather. He was just an outstanding human being. So, after he passed away, that’s when my sister and I decided to go back to Mexico and hook up with my father and find out more of our history because we didn’t know [00:09:00] where we were -- I mean, one side of us, we knew where we were, Mexican side. But the Chinese side, we didn’t have any idea. So, after my stepfather passed away, then we went back and looked for -- well, we didn’t look for him. We knew where he was. And we had a little short meeting. And he told us. JJ: What did you find out? LG: That he was a motherfucker. (laughter) I’m sorry. You can erase it. No, he -- no, I shouldn’t say that. I think he was a man of his times. And in Mexico, you always have a casa grande and a casa chica. Casa grande is where you have 5 �your marriage, your legal family, you know, your children and your legitimate children. Casa chica is where you have your other woman and the children, illegitimate children. I happen to be from [00:10:00] casa chica. So, when I asked my father why -JJ: We called her coteja. LG: Pardon me? JJ: Did he have a coteja, another woman on the side that you have to raise. LG: Yes. JJ: Yeah, they still take care of her but -- LG: Yeah. And they -- JJ: And that doesn’t exist as much now. But used to exist there. LG: And the -- JJ: So, what do you call it there? LG: Casa chica. And the rule is that if a man has enough money, he could have as many casa chicas as he wants to because he can provide for them. So, I know I was one of the casa chicas. I don’t know if he had other casa chicas. So, my mother was advised but her godmother that, especially after we were born, it was best for her to leave. It wasn’t so much for her [00:11:00] but it was for Carmen and I because we really did not have any future in my town. It was very small. And either we were either going to be always (Spanish) [00:11:11], illegitimate children and we’re always going to be singled out, pointed at, and so forth. So, she didn’t think there was much future for us if we stayed in Mexico. So, that’s why my mother left. And because my mother left -- he was about 27 years old. It 6 �took a lot of courage for her to do that. But when my mother left, my father was mad. He got very upset because -- I asked him, “Why have a casa chica? Why have a casa grande.” He says, “Because I had the money.” So, that shut me up. And then, I said, “Well, after my mother left, why didn’t you look for us or take care of us and provide for us,” not that we needed it or anything. But we certainly needed, I think, [00:12:00] his affection. He said, “Because once your mother left, I had no responsibility whatsoever towards you, towards her or the children because she had everything here. I had a house for her. You guys were well taken care of.” So, that’s what he said. So, that’s why I say -- I didn’t want to say he was an MF. But it was just he was a man of his times. JJ: So, a man of his time -- you meant -- so, he was disowning you because -- LG: Disowning us, yeah. JJ: Your mom left. LG: So, once my mother left -- JJ: And he thought he was correct in what he was doing. LG: Oh, yeah. JJ: He was a man of his times. LG: That was the surprise and astonishment that when I’m asking him questions, he’s (Spanish) [00:12:53], you know, straight and not ashamed or anything. It was like he was just telling things as a matter of fact. That’s the way things [00:13:00] -- in fact, he did tell me, “Oh, this is the way things are in Mexico.” So, I happened to find out later that it was not just in Mexico but in almost all -- every country, many places. But anyway, coming back to the United States, we -- I had 7 �the opportunity when I -- one of the things that happens when you immigrate her and you start -- want to go to school is at that time -- they don’t do it anymore. But the school system -- they put you three or four years behind because you don’t know the language. So, I was supposed to be in sixth grade, and they put me back in third grade. So, that was like three years behind. And so, as I went through school, I started realizing [00:14:00] when I went into my high school, my freshman year, that I was going to graduate when I was 20 years old. And the thought of being that old -- and also, I was 11 years old. I had my period. And there I was with kids that were seven years old or eight years old. And it was embarrassing, the whole experience and very humiliating to be able to go to school at that age. JJ: What school was this? LG: Brawley. And what was the name of the school? [Ruth?]? FELICITAS NUÑEZ:(inaudible) LG: No, I went to Ruth -- (Spanish) [00:14:43] I can’t remember. But it was in the borderline of the Mexican side and the other side, the white side or [dónde vivían los rancheros]. And that’s because of the kind of work my mother did. She cleaned houses. JJ: Are you talking about the country of Mexico? LG: No, I’m talking about Brawley, the town [00:15:00] of Brawley here in the United States. JJ: Okay. So, there was a dividing line in Brawley? LG: Yeah. 8 �JJ: So, it was segregated. LG: Yeah. It wasn’t legal segregation. But there was a Mexican side of town and then there was the other side. JJ: A white side. Okay. So, like (overlapping dialogue; inaudible). LG: And it was because of the line of work that my mother did too that we lived kind of in the border, in the edge of both. JJ: Because she was not in the fields. LG: She was cleaning. Yeah. She wasn’t working in the fields. Mostly everyone that lived in the Mexican side of town worked in the fields, did agricultural work. My mother was cleaning houses. So, she was closer to the houses that she was cleaning or to that señoras so that we happened to go to that school. But anyway, just the other thing -- and it’s just -- they really don’t want you to speak Spanish or they didn’t. You had to speak English. JJ: In Brawley? LG: Yeah. Well, that [00:16:00] was in any school in that time. You were punished when you spoke Spanish. And I happened to be punished. One time I couldn’t play one recess because they overheard me speak Spanish. JJ: You couldn’t play what? LG: I couldn’t go and play during recess because they overheard me speak Spanish. So, the teacher punished me. They told me to stand by a tree while other kids were playing. But I have to tell you that I had a great teacher. My third-grade teacher was the first teacher here in the U.S. And her name is [Mrs. Satin?]. And she was so kind and a real teacher in the sense of she knew that I didn’t 9 �speak Spanish. I think I was the only one in the classroom. But she made sure that everything -- I would understand everything that was going on. She had an - there was [00:17:00] a classmate. Her name was [Lourdes?]. And she was my translator, my interpreter. And she would -- after she would explain what we have to do, then Mrs. Satin says, “You come to where my desk is and then Lourdes will come to me.” And then, she would explain to me what the lesson was and so forth. So, she was really, really good. I mean, I think because of that experience -JJ: And you said you didn’t speaking. What did you mean -- LG: I mean, I didn’t speak English. I’m sorry. I didn’t speak English. But because of the experience that I had with Mrs. Satin, I think that’s why I loved school. I mean, was a very good student with very high grades. Anyway, then I -- at 17, that was my freshman year, I decided -- JJ: Freshman year where? LG: High school, Brawley -- FN: Union High School. LG: Brawley Union High School. We all went to the same high school. Different years. [00:18:00] I decided I couldn’t wait to graduate until I was 20 years old. So, there was a program that I found out. It was a high school equivalency program. And it was a program for high school dropouts that work in the field, in the campo, for children of the farm workers in California. And so, the program was in San Diego State. And so, I applied for it. JJ: This is before you left school? You were already thinking of dropping out? 10 �LG: I was already of thinking of dropping out. JJ: But you had a plan. LG: And I was still in school. In fact, I left on a Sunday, and my last day in school was Friday. But I was already thinking that I was going to drop out anyway. But I wasn’t going to drop out into nothing. I was going to continue with my education. And that was the only reason I could leave the house at 17 because I was going somewhere. [00:19:00] So, my mother -- there was problems about me leaving, not so bad, but my mother wanted me to go. She thought that I should continue my education. She felt that she didn’t want us to end up cleaning toilets like she did. I mean, it’s an honorable job. But she aspired for us to do more. I mean, that’s the reason she was here in the United States. So, she really was backing me up to go. My stepfather was not. He was very scared. He was very scared because I was 17. To him, I was very naïve. He had a (Spanish) [00:19:46] kind of -- didn’t know where things were. And so, it was 1969, and it was the -- the schools were up in arms in the campuses. There was the Black Panthers on TV. [00:20:00] There was the peace movement against the Vietnam War. And the country wasn’t that stable for him to send his daughter to college away even though it was only like 90 miles from Brawley. JJ: But did he mention this or you’re just recollecting? LG: Yeah. JJ: But he specifically mentioned Black Panthers and all those - LG: My stepfather was an atheist and also -- JJ: What’s his name? Did we get his name? 11 �LG: [Salome Coral?]. He was an atheist. And also, he -- I found out later -- oh, one time when I came from school, he were doing a report on the Soviet Union. And he always checked our work and discussed our homework with us which was very strange [00:21:00] for that time too because -- that’s why I’m saying he was a wonderful man. So, I had written this whole report about the Soviet Union, how awful it was because there was no democracy and how great the United States was and I loved it and this and that. And he said, “Well, how do you know that they don’t have democracy in the Soviet Union?” And I go, “My teacher told me. It’s in the books.” And he says, “You read one book and you heard one person say that. And you’re just going to believe them?” And I go, “Well, why not? It’s my teacher.” And he says, “No, you have to ask, you have to think, you have to read. And then, you make your opinion.” And I was saying, “Are you a communist or what?” And he said, “No, but I want you to be a thinker and not just take for granted what people are saying as the truth.” And he says, “Find out for yourself.” And I think that was the best [00:22:00] advice he gave me. Find out. Don’t just swallow all the stuff (inaudible) and just do whatever. JJ: So, he was familiar with all these schools? LG: So, he was -- yeah, we watched the -- if there was something I didn’t like about my stepfather it was that he watched the news. He watched the five o’clock news, the seven o’clock news, and the ten o’clock news. No matter what programs there were, whatever, we had -- and he made us watch the news. And I would get so mad at him because I would tell him, “It’s the same news. What they said at five o’clock, it’s the same thing they’re saying at seven, and it’s the 12 �same thing they’re saying at 10.” Of course there was no Internet, no nothing. Right? So, it was the same news. And he kept saying, “Things might change in a couple of hours. You don’t know. You have to be informed.” And so, that’s how he knew about what was going on in the world, watching TV. [00:23:00] He always read the paper every day. I mean, even though the Brawley news didn’t have much. But he did with the paper -- and so, he forced us to watch the news. So, we were aware of what was going on. And so, he was afraid for us or for me that here I was, going into this world, and someone was going to influence me into doing something that was not the best for me. Of course, it didn’t happen the way he said it. But being in San Diego away from home in the height of the Chicano movement, of course I was going to be influenced by what was happening there, the movement for civil rights for Mexicanos and Chicanos. And even though at first I didn’t see myself as a Chicana because I was born in Mexico, it was later that I called myself as a Chicana because being a Chicana [00:24:00] meant that you were for the rights of your people, of Mexican Americans and people that were living here in the United States. And so, of course I was for those rights. So, I called myself as a Chicana. And everybody around me -- I lived in San Diego and every Chicano or Chicano that you saw -they were involved in they movement. They talked about the movement. And they always wanted the HEP students -- it was 40 of us that were going through that program. JJ: Everybody is -- oh, in the program. You were all taking about -- 13 �LG: Well, we were from that ranchitos from around California. And then, the students -- there were already students going to San Diego that were also from the ranchitos. But they were already politicized. And so, they were talking about the movement. And introducing [00:25:00] the new ones like us from HEP into the Chicano movement. JJ: They HEP? So, what do you mean the HEP? LG: It’s high school equivalency program. We were HEP students. JJ: You were ahead of the time. LG: And the Chicano students were [hepeada?], la hepeada, you know? JJ: Okay. Hepeana now from (overlapping dialogue; inaudible). LG: No, no, no, HEP, from the initials of the program. And so, whenever there was going to be march that the MECha students were organizing or the Chicanas wanted to do this or whatever, they always said, “For this, ask the hepeada,” because there were 40 of us that we can go in the bus and we could make a big rally and scream with our posters and whatever. So, that’s how I was introduced into the Chicano movement, not intellectually but mainly through the people that I knew, the students that I knew in San Diego State at the university and [00:26:00] talking to them, dialoguing. And little bit little -- and going to the marches, you know, going to the marches for -- at the border of Tijuana and San Isidro. JJ: Oh, there were marches right at the border? LG: Yeah, yeah. JJ: What was that representing? What were they trying to do? 14 �LG: The marches at the border were for the better treatment of indocumentados, people that were here in the border. JJ: At that time. LG: Yeah. Or that were -- better working conditions. Yeah, at that time. So, there were a couple in there. And then, we also -- the governor -- Reagan was the governor at that time, around that time. There were always demonstrations against him, that the students -- that we had for what he represented. JJ: They didn’t like him then? (laughter) LG: Oh gosh, no. They hated him. Well, not everyone in California because he won two terms. No? [00:27:00] But certainly the students did not like him at all. And then, there were just conferences that we had to go to. There were student conferences MECha would organize to introduce high school students into a college environment. JJ: So, this group of about 40 was always active in something, in some kind of a -- LG: Yes. Some of them joined the Brown Berets. Some of them joined the Chicanas, like I did, and the Teatro. Some of the guy -- some of the other guys joined Teatro Mestizo. We were very active. And a group of us, after we got our high school diploma -- then we enrolled into San Diego state and started going to San Diego State. JJ: Okay. So, this wasn’t San Diego State. This was the high school or -- LG: No, it was San Diego State University. They called it San Diego State University. JJ: Oh, but you studied even before you went to San Diego State University. [00:28:00] 15 �LG: Yeah. But the HEB program was in San Diego State, was part of that campus. JJ: I see. So, part of it was to try to get students into -- LG: Yeah, interested into high education. So, it wasn’t -- I think I met Felicitas in 1970s, I think. It was before the Chicana organized the tea for our mothers. So, 1970. I would hear about this woman Felicitas that was real -- JJ: What did you hear about her? LG: (Spanish) [00:28:37]. (laughs) A very brave and courageous woman that all the women, all the Chicanas loved and respected and all the guys fears. (laughter) So, she was a very militant person. [00:29:00] JJ: What would the guys fear her? LG: Because there was a lot of machismo in our student organization. And she did not stand for that kind of ideology that said that men were better than the women. And so, in a way -- well, it was fighting for women’s rights and that equality in the movement, in the Chicano movement. And that’s sort of what inspired the forming of Teatro de las Chicanas in 1971 by both Felicitas and Delia Ravelo that we -- I mean, we started -- they started out by doing a skit for the mothers, for their mothers to come into the campus so that they could relate to them what it was to go to college, the problems that they were facing, the issues [00:30:00] of drugs, sex, and the machismo so that they could be that kind of understanding between mothers and daughters. I was not a student at San Diego State at that time. I was at HEB getting my high school diploma. But as a HEB student -some of the HEB students attended that. And it was at that time at that conference that I realized that I kind of changed by thinking about being 16 �Mexicana and being a Chicana. I think the conference, that gathering was very educational for the mothers but also for the new students that were coming into San Diego State and into the Chicano movement to understand what we were all about. So, after that skit that they did [00:31:00] -- what was the name of the skit? “Chicano Goes to College.” That the Teatro stayed. Delia and Felicitas -that the Teatro stayed. And the recruit women students and Chicanas into the Teatro. And the main focus of the Teatro, of the skits at the beginning back in ’71, ’72 was fighting against the ideology of the machismo, the male supremacy and all of that. All of our skits were against that. And that was sort of our continuity from -JJ: So then, what did you show on your skit? I mean, what (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)? LG: [Speaking 00:31:44 Pues, te voy a decir.] We had a very famous skit (Spanish) [00:31:50]. JJ: Yeah. Tell me about that. I don’t know remember. LG: But you say, “Bronca, bronca, bronca, bronca.” So say it like that and it really ends up being cabron. [00:32:00] And so, cabron is -- what -- FN: It’s like a goat. LG: It’s like an asshole. Cabron, he’s being an asshole. And so, that’s what -- I think people remember us more for that skit that was like five minutes long than all the stuff that we did. I mean, we did actos that were half an hour or longer. FN: Right. “La Madre.” 17 �LG: “The Mother” was almost an hour. But everyone remembers “Bronca.” Everyone remembers “Bronca” because -- and it wasn’t very popular with the men or with the women. The women that that we were too much -- you know, too blunt and that there were better ways of talking to the guys about their male supremacy. And then, the guys -- of course, they didn’t like [00:33:00] us. They didn’t like iot because we were calling them assholes in public. So, it was like calling them out to fight with us or that we were ready to fight them. And one of the -- some of the lines are, “Why do you think (Spanish) [00:33:16]?” You know, do you see pots and pans hanging from me? Every time we’re discussing the conference and who’s going to take care of the food, all the guys look at the women to see who’s going to volunteer. You know, it’s not just the job of women but of men. And then, we would say “bronca.” It’s like, “Come on.” Let’s duke it out. And of course, they didn’t like it. The funny thing -- and I think it’s very funny because in politics and the movement, there’s always love, relationships. There was the Teatro de Chicanas, all women, and then there was Teatro Mestizo, which was men and women. [00:34:00] And Felicitas and myself -- were we the only ones? There were other women, but they were not part of the Teatro de Chicanas. Felicitas and I belonged to both teatros. So, we toured together. There was a spot they would get -- or if there was a spot that we would get at a university, the two teatros would go together. And so, the Teatro Mestizo would perform and then the Teatro de Chicanas would perform. JJ: What was the difference? 18 �LG: Teatro Mestizo did all the plays that were written by Teatro Campesino, by Luis Valdez or that supposedly were written by Luis Valdez. And there was a organization Teatros Nacionales de Aztlan. And it was a grouping of all the teatros in all the universities throughout the Southwest. It was a very important organization at one time. And the ones that were [00:35:00] heading that organization was Teatro Campesino, Luis Valdez. And so, most of the actos and the skits that were performed in the Chicano movement in the different universities were written by Teatro Campesino and Luis Valdez, like “No Saco Nada de la Escuela,” I don’t get anything from school -- I don’t know -- Soldado Razo, which was an acto against the Vietnam War. But one of the -- so, that was -- the actos -- and they were good. I don’t have any complaint about the message. But there was one thing that they were at fault, and that was the way they portrayed women because women were either virgins not to be touched only to be looked at or prostitutes. FN: Or mothers. LG: Yeah. And that -- loose women [00:36:00] that should not be respected. And that’s not the Chicanas. I mean, we are that, but we’re not. But we’re also a bunch of other stuff. There’s different grades of who the Chicanas are. And for the most part not a recognition that we’re equal just like they were. So, because of that, we wrote our own skits, our own actos that portrayed women as strong women, that dealt with issues of the women such of pregnancies and so forth and looked for solutions that we were looking at at that time not a solution that someone else was telling us to do, whether it be religious institutions or 19 �government or just the culture, our culture, of what we should do. So, the plays were written by the Teatro. It was a collective process in the -JJ: What issues did you [00:37:00] write? LG: We would deal with pregnancy, with -- the one I was telling you, “Bronca,” male supremacy. We dealt with drugs. And we also started dealing with labor issues because it was Teatro de Chicanas, 1971. And after that it became Teatro Laboral. And then, we ended up -- and at the end it was Teatro Raices, which ended up 1985. So, as our thinking changed, our ideology -- we started out with women’s rights, but then it became workers’ rights and it became being inclusive of everyone. And seeing that some of the issues affected everyone whether they were Black or white or Brown. I mean, the issue of drugs is an industry, and it affects everyone. The issue of [00:38:00] working conditions affects everyone. So, we started dealing with that, with working conditions. And the thing that Teatro is known for among us is that something’s happening somewhere where one of the Teatro members is -- one of the stories in the book is [Sandra Gutierrez?] is in Coachella working or living there -- well, she’s from there. And then, she happens to -- the community starts organizing against this teacher that slapped one of the students. And they’re really riled up in the UFW because it was very strong there in Coachella. And they also started also being part -- they organized the community against that. So, Sandra calls the -- I believe Felicitas or Delia and says, “This is what’s happening in Coachella. [00:39:00] They’re having a big meeting tomorrow. Can you guys come down and perform?” (laughs) And that was like (inaudible). So, as they’re driving -- I was not part of 20 �that -- as they’re driving over there, they’re writing the skit. “You’re going to be so-and-so. You’re going to be the teacher. You’re going to be the student. You’re going to be the mother and everything.” And then, everybody’s trying to -we didn’t really write lines at first. It was just this is sort of what you’re supposed to say, like the theme and the message. And then, we would ad lib it. So, that’s how. And then -JJ: What about practice? When would you practice? LG: Forget practice. (laughs) JJ: You didn’t practice. LG: That was one of the things that Teatro Campesino did. They would -- all the time they would criticize our form. And I think it was really -- they were not happy with the content either because they were very cultural and nationalistic and so forth. [00:40:00] And we were like working class. You know? But they always -- they couldn’t say that -- or they never did say it, but they did say, “It’s their form. They don’t know how to act. They’re so embarrassing to see them out there.” But maybe the form wasn’t great, but the message was good. And the audience’s reaction was that they loved it. Then we had a question and answer after each acto. And we would stand there. And whatever questions people wanted to know, we would answer. So, it was part of the educational process, not just doing the skit or the acto but then the Q&A. And then, we’d further the ideas and so forth. So, the Teatro was very effective. I mean, ask me. (laughter) Don’t ask anybody else. 21 �JJ: But it just looks natural. You also involved audience, right? [00:41:00] Or you didn’t. When you did a dinner -- LG: Yes, (Spanish) [00:41:06]. Yeah. We always involved audiences because we never had enough people. Like I said, that trip to Coachella was whoever could take off from work, get a babysitter, or drag the kids with us that were -- if people had kids by then. Well, I mean, we all started having kids kind of young. So, it was that. So, then, if we need someone to play a certain role and we see someone or if (Spanish) [00:41:33], if they come close to us and they’re friendly, we say, “Oh, we need you to do this.” And then, before you know it, she’s acting or he’s acting or whatever. So, yeah, we do try to involve the audience. And in fact now that -- when we started touring about our book Teatro de las Chicanas, we -- people -- some of the woman gravitated to us [00:42:00] from the conference and some of them because part of the Teatro and did perform with us. We have a skit called -- we did one on -- as a tribute to Las Mujeres de Juarez. And then, some of the women that were not in the Teatro back then were performing this time. But going back to 1971 -- I have to tell you a story. Because all of the sudden Nefelez was gone. We were in school. We were in the university. (Spanish) [00:42:34] Nobody knew. But then, a few months later, there she comes. And she comes dressed in her militant -- her uniform after that. It was her jeans, her boots, and the army jacket that you later told me that it was your brother’s from the Vietnam War. And she always wore that and (Spanish) [00:42:55]. So, we asked -- I asked, [00:43:00] “Where were you?” And she started talking about -- she had come to Chicago because she was near. She 22 �had met someone from the Young Lords. And she had come to spend the summer or a few months here in Chicago to help. While she was here she did the murals. She did some murals and stuff like that. But it was the first time that I had heard of the Young Lords. And the first time like, “Oh, okay.” And it was kind of neat because one of the things about the Teatro -- I don’t want to speak for the Chicano movement because it wouldn’t be right because it’s not true -- but the Teatro is that we always looked to connect with different people. No importa what nationality they were and so forth. And that was one of the things that I think in the ’70s that I think [00:44:00] it hurt the movements was the separation of the different movements, the Chicano movement over here, the African Americans over here, the Native Americans, the women’s movement and so forth. Even though there were (inaudible) there was also a lot of efforts to separate us. And I think it was because of the money. There was so much money given to MECha, so much money given to the student body, so much money given to that organization. So, whether we wanted to or not, we were scrambling for the crumbs among ourselves. But one of the things about the Teatro de las Chicanas that I really liked was the internationalism of especially Felicitas and Delia, that openness about it that, “Yeah, we can go and talk to people and share ideas and learn about their struggles and so forth.” [00:45:00] So, that was the first time that I had heard of the Young Lords. And then -- when was it? Here in -JJ: You mentioned a little bit about Delia. LG: Delia? Delia was a beautiful sister that -- (phone ringing) 23 �(break in audio) LG: About Delia Ravelo -- I don’t even know when I met Delia. But I know I met Delia after Felicitas because first I met Felicitas and [Chiba?], [Celia Romero?]. And then, afterwards I met Delia. but Delia -- what can I say about Delia? Delia was just a beautiful soul, beautiful soul, but always had words of encouragement. And I think that’s [00:46:00] one of the things that we needed at that time. You’re 17, you’re 18. You’re doing different things that are out of the norm. You’re breaking with your culture, your -- everything that you’ve been taught. And so, as you step into these new waters, you do need reinforcement. And that’s one of the things that Delia did. “Come on Chinita, (Spanish) [00:46:27], you can do it, Chinita. (Spanish) [00:46:29],” this and that and whatever. And it was -- I kind of really liked that the leadership between -- that both Felicitas and Delia provided because Delia was softspoken with a lot of encouragement. And Felicitas was a little bit more fuerte. And I think you need that. When you’re like, “I don’t know. I’m scared. What are people going to say? I don’t know if I can do it.” You need the soft [00:47:00] voice or leadership that says, “Yes, you can do it.” And then, you need then other one, “Andale,” you know? Because I remember several times that Felicitas had to almost physically push me on the stage (laughs) because I said, “I can’t do it. I have to go to the bathroom. I have to go number two.” And it was like boing, there I am on stage. And then, that happiness that you get, that saying, “Oh my gosh. I really can do it.” And that was what -- Delia 24 �provided that encouragement and so did Felicitas. I remember when I did “Chicana Goes to College,” it wasn’t for our mothers. It was a different time. And [Teresa Oyo?] -- she’s in our book. And she was my mother, and I was a daughter. And I was like shaking because I was talking and saying my lines. And I whispered to Teresa. (Spanish) [00:47:57] You know, my hands are shaking. And she says, “Don’t worry about it. I’m going to told them really tight [00:48:00] so no one can know.” And that was really good. That’s what I needed, you know, someone to hold me (laughter) real tight as I’m talking. But that’s the kind of courage that it took of the women back then and the kind of reassurance that we needed from our sisters to be there when we get weak, for someone to encourage us and to push us forward. And Delia and Felicitas certainly did that. I think her dying in ’95 was really something -- I don’t want to say sad -- but she certainly is missed. She’s a person that filled up the whole room with her personality. And she was -- she had a really good sense of humor. She was always cracking jokes or, “Come on. Let’s do this and let’s do that,” or whatever. [00:49:00] And I also remember that she was -- one of the things I liked about her is that she didn’t care how she looked. This is when I first met her. I think later she might have, or maybe she did -- whatever. But (Spanish) [00:49:16 00:49:27]. And the way I was raised it I had to dress nice like a señorita. When I went to college -- I guess all of us Chicanas (Spanish) [00:49:35] with our little dresses and our -- well, they weren’t using pantyhose -- but our stockings and the garter belt and everything. And it was so stiff. And when you get there and you see this person like -- se va -- there goes the bra. (laughter) And it was great. 25 �It was just really great to be part of that time and having the sisters like Delia around. And not only [00:50:00] Delia, all of the women of Teatro de -- they helped mold us. And we helped mold them and they helped us mold -- it was real reciprocal of encouragement. And (Spanish) [00:50:18] but that’s one of the things. (Spanish) [00:50:21] but then we’ve got to perform. And then, we got to take care of the babies. and then, it’s your turn to take care of the babies. Or I’ll hold the baby while you go and say your line (Spanish) [00:50:32] We were always exchanging and helping each other out. But I left San Diego in ’78 and then moved to San Francisco. JJ: Did you go to school there in San Diego? LG: You know, I’m one of those chicas -- I went to San Diego State up until my third year, and I didn’t graduate. I’m one of the Chicanas that was pregnant. [00:51:00] And I advise everyone to use contraceptives so that doen’t happen. Please. Because you always think (Spanish) [00:51:07] And I think Latinas -well, at that time -- I don’t know now. But I think it’s always worth it to say -- JJ: What was your child’s name? LG: My son -- my first son is [Emilio?]. But then, so, there I was pregnant. And so, my husband and I -- he was 19. I was 20. And so, we decided -- JJ: What was his name? LG: [Jose?]. He’s still my husband. (laughs) So then, we want to have the baby. (Spanish) [00:51:45] And so, there we go. We get into this little car from San Diego State to Yuma -- my parents lived in Yuma -- to tell them that, no, “You’re going to be grandparents, but no wedding.” Of course, little did I know. 26 �[00:52:00] Of course, we get to the house. I tell my mother while my stepfather is talking to Jose. And then, my mother starts screaming, “No.” You know, (Spanish) [00:52:13]. And then, Jose tells me -- he said, “Oh, when I heard your mom screen, the TV went like this. I thought I was going to faint. And then, your stepfather said, (Spanish) [00:52:25]. So then, he came to the bedroom and (Spanish) [00:52:30] -- with the alcohol -- (laughter) [00:52:33] (Spanish) to remind people -- (Spanish) [00:52:37] And then, he says -- my mom revives. He said, (Spanish) [00:52:43]. And she said, [00:52:45] (Spanish). And then, my father says, “Oh well, we knew that was going to happen, being away from home. She’s young and so forth. So, that’s not a big deal. (Spanish) [00:52:56] my mom says, (Spanish) [00:52:58] And then, my father says, “Oh no. She’s going to get married, and she’s not leaving here until she gets married.” I go, “What?” And he says, “Yeah.” And he got the local pages and he got the hospital or something -- clinic to do the blood test because at that time they had to have the blood test. And then, we went to Winter Haven where people go and have short marriages or whatever. And there we walk in barefooted with our jeans and tshirt, going -- walking down the aisle to get married that night. JJ: Jeans and t-shirt, barefooted, hippie style? LG: Yes. (laughs) JJ: Okay. You guys (inaudible). LG: With the hair like this. I don’t know why I thought it was so cool to be barefooted. I think it’s also -- JJ: (laughter) And pregnant. 27 �LG: And pregnant, you know? (Spanish) [00:53:55] You know, that way you didn’t have to buy shoes or something. [00:54:00] But anyway, yes, I can say that I had a shotgun wedding. And yes, tradition still -- I was very liberated. My parents were not. (laughs) And so, I left the house. I got there at four o’clock. I left the house at eight o’clock after I was married to San Diego. So, (Spanish) [00:54:27]. But I don’t know why I was saying that. FN: I think he asked your husband’s name. But you were going to talk a little bit about the reunion of the Young Lords in Grand Rapids. LG: Oh, I know why I talked about that. Because after college we all went different ways. And I happened to go to San Francisco. And then, eventually I ended up here in Chicago in 1981. JJ: Had you been there in Chicago before? [00:55:00] LG: No. Well, I had come in 1974 because (Spanish) [00:55:02] Felicitas got us politically involved and awakened, I joined a -- I became a member of -- JJ: What does that mean? Politically -- LG: Politically awakened. JJ: But I thought you were already political awakened. LG: Yeah. But I took the next step in 1974 to commit myself to an organization. I joined a political party. I joined the Communist Labor Party in ’74. JJ: The Communist Labor Party in San Diego? LG: (Spanish) [00:55:34] in a church that was on Ashland, big church there around Van Buren or whatever. 28 �JJ: Right, right. Panthers -- and we used to have political education classes there at that church. LG: (Spanish) [00:55:48] JJ: That’s where the Communist Labor Party started? LG: In 1974 there was a big meeting. JJ: Nineteen seventy-four? But did you commit to that (inaudible)? LG: Yes. I came to that meeting. [00:56:00] JJ: From San Diego? LG: From San Diego, yeah. JJ: So, how did you get started in San Diego thinking about (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)? LG: I started in San Diego because one of the things -- first, it was getting involved in the Chicano movement for our people’s rights, women’s rights. But then, my vision started expanding to include the working class regardless of color and so forth. JJ: How did your vision start expanding? LG: I think a lot of it -- even though your conditions don’t make you -- don’t change you, they certainly help you. I mentioned before -- I come from a very, very, very poor beginnings (Spanish) [00:56:46] sometimes we would go hungry. And just living in the -- I lived in -- it’s a funny thing. In Sinaloa, I was a healthy child up until seven. Then in order to be closer to my parents, we moved to Mexicali, a border town because California and Mexicali, Baja California. That way my mom could just come over on weekends and see us, her being Hispanic. And so, in 29 �Mexicali, we were very poor. We didn’t have running water. So, I think seeing that poverty and seeing that other people have too much and don’t want to share -- even as a child, even as a young person, you start questioning things. So, I think that -- seeing the injustices, not only socially but economically -JJ: Did you read something? Did you bump into somebody? LG: Well, in Teatro, in Teatro de las Chicanas, we started reading one of the -- and just in study groups. [00:58:00] JJ: The (overlapping dialogues; inaudible) question in study groups? LG: Yes. We read The Women Question. The other thing was in order thing is in order to be part of writing the Teatro, the skits, the actos, we had to read. We had to read the news. We had to read other books about it, some classics on Marx on Engels. JJ: You know, we actually had a Young Lords group in Los Angeles that the Communist Labor Party took over. LG: A Communist Labor Party took over? JJ: They were (inaudible) Labor Party that -- I think it was the group that -- were you in -- did they have a chapter in Los Angeles? LG: Oh yeah, yeah. JJ: They started working with the Young Lords after I left there. LG: Oh, it could be. JJ: And a lot of them became members of that group. And I had also been to San Diego at that time too. 30 �LG: And then, we had a chapter there in San Diego. And then, we also had a chapter in New York. And the chapter in New York was mainly Puerto Rican. [00:59:00] FN: The connection between the Young Lords was [Izzy Chavez?]. Izzy Chavez had joined the chapter you were creating in San Diego. JJ: That’s right. Izzy Chavez -- I’m looking for him. FN: Oh, we know where he’s at. JJ: Oh great (overlapping dialogue; inaudible). FN: So then, what happens is he --- JJ: Izzy Chavez -- I remember him. FN: He’s in Chicago making copies of a newspaper -- I don’t know -- something about some connection to the Young Lords. And he meets Nelson. LG: Oh my gosh. Yeah. Nelson Peery JJ: So, who’s Nelson? LG: Nelson was one of the founders of the Communist Labor Party. JJ: I was underground when they organized that chapter. I was looking for people like Izzy Chavez and then I remembered him. LG: Oh my gosh. Well, we were part of it. JJ: So, that’s what I mean. I thought it was the Communist Labor Party that took over it after I left. LG: Yeah, yeah, most likely, yeah, because they were a grouping of different (Spanish) [00:59:55] and there were different groupings in LA that came together. [01:00:00] JJ: So, he became a member of the Communist -- 31 �LG: What was his name? Do you remember? JJ: Well, you said Izzy Chavez. LG: Oh, Izzy. Oh, (Spanish) [01:00:06]. JJ: Yeah. LG: Oh, okay. Oh, oh, okay. JJ: It’s a small world. FN: And [Mundo Ruiz?]? JJ: Mundo Ruiz. Oh, yeah. (Spanish) [01:00:19] -- I was under when I was organizing the Young Lords chapter. And we were trying to find these people to include them in this project. LG: Oh yeah. We know where Izzy is. We know. And Mundo, I don’t know. FN: I saw him last week. JJ: So, I definitely (overlapping dialogue; inaudible). LG: And then, Nelson lives here in Chicago. JJ: Explain a little bit about Izzy. You know anything (inaudible)? LG: Israel, Izzy. (Spanish) [01:00:41] I have to pronounce the zetas, and it’s hard for me. Izzy, Izzy. (Spanish) [01:00:51] (laughter) So, he used to tell me, “Israel.” I met Israel [01:01:00] back in 1975. He came back from Chicago. He was here in Chicago with his with [Marta?]. And they came back to San Diego to organize a chapter of the Communist Labor Party in San Diego and that’s how I met Izzy because he was in charge of that chapter in San Diego. And his wife -- that’s how I started with the Tribuno del Pueblo. The Tribuno del Pueblo was a publication of the CLP, the Communist Labor Party. It was the bilingual -- or the 32 �Spanish newspaper. And Marta, Israel’s wife, was the editor of the Tribuno de Pueblo. And so, when I joined the party, I left Teatro and Felicitas still mad about that. I left Teatro and I joined the editorial board of Tribuno del Pueblo. And that’s where -- I’ve been working on it since then. Now, the [01:02:00] Tribuno has gone -- okay, the Communist Labor Party is not -- it’s gone. Then out of whatever was left of the Communist Labor Party -- in the ’90s it was dissolved -then there was a national organizing party that was formed to rebuild another organization. And that organization is the Legal Revolutionaries for a New America. And the chair of that organization is [General Baker?]. He’s an auto worker in Detroit. In fact, the Communist Labor Party -- one of the foundations or the backbone of the Communist Labor Party was the auto workers in Detroit. They were -- because they had the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. And the League of Revolutionary Black Workers joined the Communist Labor Party and provided the members and the money because auto workers earn a lot of money [01:03:00] and financed it for a long time. But now it’s a League of Revolutionaries for a New America, and General Baker is the chair. And then, the Tribuno is independent now. It’s not sponsored or published by any organization. It’s independent. It’s based on donations. People get a bundle. They sell it or give them or get donations. And then, we gather enough money. And when we have enough money, then we publish an issue. And it’s actually -the Tribuno del Pueblo became revived after the 2006 marches because -JJ: What were those? Can you -- the 2006 marches? 33 �LG: The 2006 marches was an outcome of a bill, H.B. 4437 that wanted [01:04:00] -that bill was a proposal. It had passed in the House in December of 2005, and it was going into the Senate in 2006. And what it really said -- that anyone that either housed or gave a ride to an undocumented, that aided that person in any way -- that they were going to be arrested and it was going to be a felony. So, the fact that you were going to become a felon just for helping another human being with a ride or social service -- and it was going to include unions and social services. Anyway, that kind of fired the movement and then exploded into the 2006 marches. And it’s the new immigrant rights movement right now. In fact, [Omar?] -- Omar used to be in the Young Lords. [01:05:00] JJ: He was a minister of (inaudible). LG: Omar was one of the founders of the March 10th Movement. That’s what it’s called here in Chicago. JJ: It was part of the same movement? LG: Yeah, because the March 10th Movement did a march -- the 2006 marches -they were mainly around (Spanish) [01:05:20] (laughs) Chicago did their march -thousands of people came out -- in March 10th of 2006, so a couple of days later. Then we did have a primero de mayo marcha. And we had -- I know the official figure said that it wasn’t that many. But I think there was like 500,000 people on the street if not more. It was a beautiful sight. It was just -- JJ: It was here? LG: It was here in Chicago. But then in -- JJ: Five hundred thousand? 34 �LG: In LA, it was a million. [01:06:00] I mean, it was a historic thing of how many Latinos got out into the streets and (Spanish) [01:06:11] and that, pushing the baby carts. That was a symbol of the marches. It’s not one person that you get to a march. It’s like the whole family and la abuelita, los nietos, and everybody just taking the streets and just marching. So, Omar was part of -- is part of that. And it’s still a continuing effort right now. So, that’s how that Tribuno revived after the 2006 marches because -- JJ: Does it come every day? Does it come out -- LG: It comes out, like I said -- depends on the money. Sometimes we get enough to publish it every two months. Sometimes it’s every three months. We’re hoping to publish it at least once a month. [01:07:00] JJ: Do you mail it out or -- LG: Well, we do -- it’s bundles. In 2006 I went to a conference and met with a lot of grassroots organizations on a one-to-one basis, got their information, introduced the paper to them, and then they order bundles. So, we run about a thousand every time and half of those are (audio cut) two thirds of them are distributed by small organizations, grassroot organizations, not the traditional model for [Mapalo?] or LULAC, but the little small organizations, little (Spanish) [01:07:46] and it’s distributed in Rhode Island, Texas, Dallas, California, here, Detroit. But it’s in that way. You might get a bundle of [01:08:00] 500 and then you get it out wherever you go, in your meetings, the restaurants. So, that’s the way it gets distributed. And then, hopefully we’re going to advance to having a listserv. We’re coming up. That way -- this young man is going to help us. We rely a lot 35 �on young people because they have the knowledge to do it. Back to -- I want to say something about -- so, I came in 1981. But I want to talk about a very exciting time in Chicago and that is the Harold Washington campaign. He was running for mayor. He did what no one could and that was unite, unite all of us into a movement. And he always said it was a movement. It was a movement of the people to try to get the city back. [01:09:00] And Harold Washington had the charisma, the spirit, and the love for the people that he wanted to represent. It was amazing being here in Chicago when he was brought in because I would walk down Humboldt Park and it was like we all had our little buttons with the sun, (Spanish) [01:09:23] Harold Washington. And then, we wouldn’t even know each other. But then, they would see my button and I would see their button. And we would go, “Oh, right on.” You know? So, it was like we became -- the city or the people here in Humboldt Park, which is where I live -- everyone was their friends. Everyone was happy to see you. We had something in common. I remember the rally on North Avenue and Western where thousands of Latinos were there to receive him. And it was the -JJ: And it was organized by the Young Lords. [01:10:00] LG: That was organized by the Young Lords. And you were in the podium or on the platform and stuff like that. And I just remembered him walking in, Harold Washington, when he walked in before he got on the stage. And I mean, just hands trying to touch him, trying to shake his hand and it wasn’t because (Spanish) [01:10:24] or anything like that. It was because here was a person that 36 �wanted to represent the interests of our communities (Spanish) [01:10:35]. And then, once he became mayor -JJ: And that was -- wasn’t that one of the first Latino -- LG: Yes, oh yeah. Big one. JJ: It was the first Latino rally for -- LG: Yeah. JJ: And it was organized by the Young Lords. LG: And it was -- I think -- I don’t remember very clearly. But I think it was kind of like kicking off like -- JJ: Kick off. LG: Kick off of his campaign here in [01:11:00] this area and in the Latino community, Humboldt Park, Wicker Park, and also in Pilsen. And also, when I -- Fiesta del Sol, he was already mayor (Spanish) [01:11:14]. You were telling me that he wore a hat that you guys gave him. JJ: (inaudible) LG: Well, in Pilsen, he had a big mariachi hat. And he talked to the people because he was under a lot of attack. Even though he was mayor, he was under a lot of attack. LIAM: (inaudible) LG: Hello, sweetie. Come here. Come here. Want to be on TV? (Spanish) JJ: What’s his name? 37 �LG: His name is [Liam?] and he’s one of my grandsons. I have two granddaughters. Their names are [Katelyn?] and [Gwenyth?]. Say hi. [01:12:00] Say hi. No? You want to go with grandpa now? L: No. LG: No? Okay. Well, you can sit here and write. JJ: So, that was (inaudible) at that time. LG: Yeah. JJ: And it actually was on -- what floor was it? LG: Yeah because he had to go up the stairs. JJ: No elevator. LG: Of course I was young then so I could -- JJ: But it was bad. LG: Yeah. It was. It was like standing. JJ: Did you pay to get in? LG: No, (Spanish) [01:12:28]. (laughter) JJ: Everybody thought (inaudible) but they had tickets. LG: Yeah, yeah. And it was organized (Spanish) [01:12:41], no? I mean, I remember because I remember -- it was like -- I didn’t expect that many people to be there from that community (Spanish) [01:12:52]. But that’s -- he was a great man. JJ: And did you go to the other rally in [Algo?] Park or no, the big one? [01:13:00] LG: I don’t remember. JJ: Like a parade. 38 �LG: No, I don’t remember that. I remember that we certainly organized to get the vote for him. That was the first time that I was -- I became involved in politics, electoral politics because it was very important for people to come out and vote for Harold. And so, I -- knocking on doors, telling them the information and so forth and then that day of the election going to get the people to come, help them and remind them so forth. JJ: So, how did you feel when he won? I mean, because we’re used to picketing, right? But now we got a mayor. So, how did you feel? LG: Great. I felt like I owned the city, like the city was mine, that it was the people’s, the city, and full of hope that things were going to change, that there was a person that really [01:14:00] wanted to fight for our interests. And it was a fight. I mean, that was one of the things he would tell us even after he became mayor and he would talk in different places. He would say, “I’m fighting. But I can’t fight alone. I need you. You represent the movement. You’ve got to be behind me and fighting for your program.” He had a program. JOSE: (Spanish) [01:14:27] LG: I’m videotaping, Jose. JJ: [Overlapping dialogue; inaudible] LG: I know. JJ: I got [inaudible]. J: Come on. Let’s change your diaper. (laughter) LG: Bye. J: Say bye. 39 �LG: It was hot outside. Okay. (Spanish) [01:14:51] So, anyway -- so, yeah. [01:15:00] Now going back to Lincoln Park. But it was a great experience. It was a good way of getting introduced to Chicago. I became a judge, I mean, a judge in the elections. During the elections, the election day they needed people to be judges. They have -- you know, to make sure that everything is legal, that people that come in to vote, they are in the roster, that it’s the right address and everything. And that’s how we did. The Harold Washington campaign had people there, and I was one of them. I played a very small role. I was more like whatever they needed when they could and stuff like that. There were other people that worked hard. JJ: But the election was in the precinct. There was one. [01:16:00] So, it was an important one. LG: At that point I lived in Homan and Potomac. He had a good support there. JJ: And did he win in the Latino area? LG: Yeah. (Spanish) [01:16:16] that machine was very strong in Wicker Park, the Democratic Party machine. I mean, it’s years of them -- the precinct captain going around, telling people who to vote for, and giving them jobs and whatever. That’s the machine. And it was hard to break. JJ: But we broke them. LG: Yes, yes, remember that shock. JJ: That’s what I understand the (inaudible) we broke the machine here. LG: Exactly, the machine was broken. It was broken already. But that was the blow that -- and it was a great time to be involved in politics. 40 �JJ: So, at least we know -- even though we’re [01:17:00] far from it right now, we know what has to be done. LG: Yes, yes (inaudible). We got to have a program of what people need. JJ: What do you think we have to do? What were the lessons? LG: (Spanish) [01:17:19], what I learned from it was that Harold Washington was not - had a program, had a program based on what people needed in the communities, education, housing, fighting the question of issues of drugs and so forth. And he would tell the people, “This is what I’m going to do. This is my platform. This is my program.” And when he was elected mayor, he set out to do that. It’s not like other candidates that say, “(Spanish [01:17:52].” Once they become whatever office they win, then (Spanish). [01:18:00] So, I think to me it’s -- JJ: Well, what happened? You set out to do it. But what happened? LG: What happened to him? JJ: After he got elected. LG: He told the people to fight for the program. JJ: What about you (inaudible) were they supportive? LG: Oh yeah. [01:18:14] (Spanish) and the Black unity of -- at that time, it was really [Losano?]. [Chuy?] was not an alderman, Chuy Garcia. But he was with [Rudy?]. They worked together. And then, [Rush, Bobby Rush?]. (Spanish) [01:18:36]. And [Soliz?] wasn’t there. [Gutierrez?] was not an alderman. JJ: No, he wasn’t. In fact, he was a -- LG: He was a state -- 41 �JJ: He was a precinct member, precinct (inaudible) (laughs) at that time. LG: At that time? JJ: And then, he ran for alderman and we supported him. LG: Yeah, yeah, yeah. JJ: But he was [01:19:00] one of our precinct candidates (inaudible). LG: It opened things up, I think, for -- JJ: Because there were two main offices, [West Town Coalition?] and the one we had on Fullerton, those two main offices on the north side. LG: It was a great time. But I think as far as lessons, it’s to find out what are the needs of people. And based on the needs of people -- I mean, not people -- then you do that. You know? You set out to do that because after all, it’s our tax money. It’s not like they’re going to get money from somewhere else. It’s the taxes that we pay. So, therefore, they should go for what we need, whether it be better schools, more schools, lower classrooms, parks, whatever. And I think sometimes new mayors come in and they think the money’s theirs to do what they want or their [01:20:00] groupings, their friends. And it’s not. So, the money has to go back to the people because it’s the people that put that money there through our taxes. And I think that’s certainly what Harold Washington was trying to do. It was sad that he died. JJ: So, after that you kept working with the -- LG: I kept working with the Tribuno. And also, I became a little bit more -- after the election, I didn’t keep being active in the electoral politics that much except for 42 �certain people that would come around. Like right now, I’m a little bit active with Rudy Lozano, Jr., with his campaign and stuff like that. JJ: Who was Rudy Lozano, Sr.? LG: Rudy Lozano, Sr. was the first Latino alderman and from Pilsen. And he was [01:21:00] a trade unionist, and he was a very progressive person that was killed. And even though they say it was just a criminal act with no reasons -- there was no politics behind -- I tend to think that someone wanted him dead because of what he did in the community and who he represented. He certainly was an advocate for the rights of the undocumented. And at the time that he died, he was organizing undocumented workers. And that’s something that his son, Rudy Lozano, Jr. has also continued and who’s very dear to him as far as the Latino community and the needs and stuff like that. JJ: And you’re working with him right now? [01:22:00] LG: No, just through his campaign, the last campaign that he had. Whatever I can do, I do that. So, that’s someone that I think has a good vision of where Chicago needs to go. I mean, of course, you start small. But eventually, who knows? We might have a Latino president. (laughs) JJ: And you went also to a reunion. LG: Yes. I would publish and our book and everything the Teatro de las Chicanas book in 2008. And then, we -- the Chicanas started getting together again more frequently. But one of the times that we did get together was in -- (Spanish) [01:22:45], 2000 and -- JJ: Two thousand. 43 �LG: Two thousand. But two years ago. Jose said three years. But 2000. FN: Delia Ravelo was still alive. LG: But she didn’t come, did she? FN: No, no, she didn’t. She was in Europe. LG: Yeah. [01:23:00] The Young Lords were having a reunion in Grand Rapids and [Feliz?] -- I guess she got a message from someone that they were going to have a reunion. And so, she organized -- Feliz is a good organizer. She organized -about six of us -- well, I’m here already -- to come to Chicago and to perform. JJ: (inaudible) LG: First they came to Chicago. They stayed in my house, six of them in one room. (laughter) (inaudible) Actually, we stayed up all night. We went to [Rosa’s?] to listen to blues and to another place. FN: Golden something. LG: Gold Mines or Mines something to listen. We stayed up until four or five o’clock in the morning. Now, we’re middle-aged women. (laughter) But we could still kick it. And Jose was our chauffer. He drove us around all over the place. He even took us to Grand Rapids. [01:24:00] Anyway, so, after that, at eight o’clock in the morning, we jump into the van and go to Grand Rapids to meet the Young Lords because we have heard a lot of stories of the Young Lords. And we were very excited to meet them, as a group, and to be part of this celebration and this reunion. It was someone -- a group that we heard about when -- like I was saying before -- back in the ’70s. And now, to actually meet them was really an honor for a lot of us. I know [Inda?] was so excited and [Peggy?] and [Margie?] 44 �and [Gloria?] and myself. And so, as a way of contributing to this celebration, to this reunion, Felicitas wrote an acto on the Lincoln Park gentrification, that whole process that had happened. JJ: It was called “Madre de Corazon.” FN: Oh, yeah. LG: Yeah, “Madre de Corazon.” [01:25:00] JJ: Because we had -- (Spanish) [01:25:02] was our symbol. LG: Oh, okay. Yeah. And it was fun doing it. (Spanish) [01:25:10] JJ: That was the reason. Was that the reasoning? FN: Yeah. [“A La Brava”?]. I think the women got the lines when they boarded the plane. And in the four hours from California to here, they had to learn them. And then, I decided I was not going to act. I was too shy. I wasn’t going to do nothing anymore, no acting for me. But then, I got so excited about it that I told Feliz, “Okay. I can be in the play, but I won’t say nothing. Don’t give me any lines.” So, I was in the -- I think one of the skits that we were driving this car and we’re looking -- we’re being shown how gentrified Lincoln Park was. And they were telling us what it used to be and how many Puerto Ricans lived in there and how they were pushed [01:26:00] into Humboldt Park and so forth. And so, I was in (inaudible). (laughter) And then, of course, we got Omar to do the husband of Inda. And he -- JJ: And you had Angie. LG: And Angie too. And then, we -- JJ: And you had the (inaudible) was in. 45 �LG: Yeah, [Obed?] también and then, we -- JJ: And the kids. LG: And then we got two women from Palm Springs or (inaudible). They had never done anything. And then, one was just going through the sign. And then, we had two little kids because they were part of -- they were in the woods and were trying to learn the history and so forth. It was really fun. It was really nice and -- JJ: You were just trying to get some groups back together. LG: Yeah. JJ: So, it was real grassroots because everyone was just trying to get back together. LG: And it was really good because -- JJ: We actually had two more camps after that. LG: Oh really? JJ: That were (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) yeah. LG: That’s great. [01:27:00] [“Dalichon?”] was great. (laughs) JJ: (inaudible) We got it from the Amish too. LG: Oh really? JJ: So, it wasn’t greatly expected. We went and got a real live pig and they killed it, you know, typical Puerto Rican -- Latino style, whatever. LG: Latino style, yeah. You know what was really important for me was to listen to the testimonials because I knew they were being taped. But to listen to your story, to Omar, to [Ben?], some of the women that were there and even Felicitas got up. And it was really good the way it was done because it wasn’t you talking about it but it was someone else. 46 �JJ: They took over the mic. They took over the mic. They wanted it so bad that they took over the mic. It lasted about five hours. LG: Oh my gosh. It was all day. But it was great. It was really great. It was [01:28:00] a good experience. JJ: Our 40th anniversary was the same way. They take over the mic and (overlapping dialogue; inaudible). LG: Well, we went -- for some reason, you were in town, or did you come for that, Felicitas? FN: What’s that? JJ: The 40th anniversary. LG: Over at [The Paul?]? JJ: No, no -- yeah, that’s where -- FN: Yes, yeah. They were really crowded (overlapping dialogue; inaudible). JJ: That’s where [Cindy?] had her famous -- (laughs) LG: Oh, at the church. FN: At the church. Yeah, in the church. JJ: In the church. You remember that, right? FN: Yeah. LG: Yes, I remember that. Pobrecito [Chacho?]. (laughter) JJ: What happened? What happened? LG: (Spanish) [01:28:34] revolutionary love. (laughs) JJ: What did Felicitas do? She definitely got me by surprise. 47 �LG: Really? Oh, you don’t want me to say it again what she said? (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) JJ: Well, you don’t have to say that but if you could describe what happened. What do you remember? LG: What I remember from -- well, one of the things -- JJ: Because actually did you speak after that? You were singing. FN: Yeah. [01:29:00] She did. JJ: Yeah, because you were good. You were singing. FN: (inaudible). LG: (Spanish) [01:29:03] JJ: Yeah, but you spoke very serious. LG: Oh, I didn’t talk about my -- JJ: And the other person -- I don’t know who the other was. He was laughing at me. But it’s alright. FN: Oh, [Liz Manuelas?]. (Spanish) [01:29:15] JJ: Oh, that’s right. Yeah. And Liz stood next to Felicitas and was laughing at me, (laughter) enjoying the whole scene. But you came afterwards and was serious. It was good. LG: Well, I had to after half and hour of “Ese Amor.” (laughter) But I think it was really good. JJ: Well, that happened? What happened? (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) LG: I think that was the first I had met in person. JJ: I’m still trying to organize the darn thing. 48 �LG: I love [Edith Morales?]. JJ: I said, “What did she just say?” LG: I know. It was a pleasure and an honor meeting Edith Morales. And thanks to you, the Chicanas made contact with her. And when we go to New York, we try to see her every time. We were just there this year. Earlier this year she got an [01:30:00] award and we went to be part of the celebration. JJ: Oh, okay, good. LG: You know what I learned from what she said? It’s like you meet someone and you (Spanish) [01:30:19]. JJ: Did I say that in there? LG: No, no, no. FN: Another time. LG: (Spanish) [01:30:36]. But anyway, no, no, you didn’t say anything. You couldn’t even talk. (laughs) After that, you -- but what I learned is that things happen. We fall in love. But some of us are of a different mold (Spanish) [01:30:54] that, yes, love is [01:31:00] important but also our vision of what we want, of the world we want is stronger or if not as strong as that. And so, we fail at certain things, but we keep on going. Because it would have been easy. Felicitas was -- what -21? I mean, you’re not old at all. She was a young girl. She could have just gotten mad and left. And had she left, she would have missed all that experience of meeting all of you guys, of working with you, of doing the murals, of meeting other people and then being able to bring it to San Diego to us, the Chicanas. So, in a way, it’s like yeah, (Spanish) [01:31:44] life continues and your vision and 49 �your mission -- you continue in that path. (Spanish) [01:31:53] That’s what I learned [01:32:00] from what you said. JJ: You enjoyed it (inaudible). LG: Oh my gosh. I didn’t know she was going to do it. I didn’t know she was going to do it. I was shocked, surprised. JJ: But my mind is -- I got this (inaudible) all these people are taking over. What am I going to do? LG: (Spanish) [01:32:18] (laughter) It wasn’t just like -- JJ: And I wanted her to speak because a respect for the work that she did. I mean, and of putting together -- I mean, he helped to unite the movement or Puertorriqueno Chicanos. So, that was important. LG: I remember -- JJ: And it’s -- my part of the responsibility is head of the group. I get attacked every day. I mean, I have to maintain the group unity all the time. LG: Well, I think you do very well. JJ: I have to [01:33:00] erase -- get away from the personal sometimes. LG: The other thing we came -- but (overlapping dialogue; inaudible). Yeah, (Spanish) [01:33:06] -- remember they were doing something about the murals. They had taken pictures or something at DePaul? JJ: Right, right. LG: That was the other time we went. We were there. JJ: Yeah. You went to the DePaul. LG: I went to the DePaul. 50 �JJ: At the 40th anniversary. That was the -- LG: Yeah. JJ: Because we had two rallies. We had one at DePaul and then we wanted to have another one in the community. LG: Okay, so we went to both. JJ: So, you went to both. LG: Yes. But the one at DePaul -- (Spanish) [01:33:34]. JJ: Right, (Spanish) [01:33:40]. Well, the other thing -- we had a lot of people too because it was a bigger space, more (overlapping dialogue; inaudible). LG: Oh, yes, yes. (Spanish) [01:33:46] JJ: And the more community (inaudible) LG: (Spanish) [01:33:50] (laughter) JJ: People didn’t bring it up. [01:34:00] LG: But it was good. It was good. So, I really thank Felicitas for bringing -- for putting me in touch with you and through you the Young Lords and whatever. It’s been a very valuable -- JJ: I appreciate the Teatro and what they did for us. I mean, they helped us each time. So, I appreciate that. You’re hoping it’s enough. What else? What’s your final thoughts? LG: Right now? JJ: Yeah. LG: I was saying cut. (laughter) (Spanish) [01:34:31] -- now I’m going to speak Spanish, but no, I’m going to say it in English. I think our lives -- I was telling 51 �Feliz, we must be getting old, very old because a couple of people want us to -you know, videotape us through what experiences (inaudible) or whatever. But it’s good to at this age and to have lived through the things I have lived through. [01:35:00] The Chicano movement was certainly an eye opener. The peace movement, the women’s movement -- and to have continued working towards a better society, a better world, a better human-ness that we need -- I think that’s so important. I have friends from back then that say -- that have told me, “Don’t you get tired? Why don’t you give up? Things are never going to change.” And I think I have to say that Chicanas don’t give up. (laughs) If anything that you have to learn from us is that the Chicanas don’t give up and the people from the movement -- that if you really, really, really believe in what you fought back when you were young, those ideals are like -- they continue. They make you go through a certain path. [01:36:00] And I have never, never, never regretted the path that I have taken of seeing something that’s wrong and wanting to make it right. I’ve been happy. I’ve found my husband in the movement. I’ve been married 40 years. I have two kids, or two young men. And I try to instill in them the same passion that I have for humanity. JJ: What’s your other son’s name? LG: My sons -- well, the oldest one is [Emilio Nicholas?] and the younger one is [Adrian Cortez?]. And they’re both in the movement in their own way, not the way I did it, but the way they did it. My oldest son designs the Tribuno. He’s a professional designer. I don’t pay him anything. But this is the paper that we publish every two months. And he designs. [01:37:00] And then, my younger son 52 �takes pictures, and I always use his pictures. And then, (Spanish) [01:37:08] that I can find that can proof it in English because my English is not that good, then I get my husband to do it. (laughter) I get Jose and he starts proofing the English. So, it’s a family effort. But I do -- am involved in my sons and everything. It's for them to know that there is something else besides material things. (Spanish) [01:37:36] and that our -- it’s a privilege to be part of change. And I think we owe our responsibility to this present -- for my generation, this present generation, and the future generation to leave a better world for them and not to leave it in the hands [01:38:00] of the wealthy, the capitalists, the corporations that we know which direction they’re taking. I mean, (Spanish) [01:38:09] money, money, money (Spanish) [01:38:10] the schools are being closed, the -- everything that we gained back in the ’70s, our rights, are being taken away. I mean, I was talking to Felicitas last night. I mean, I am astonished of what this guy, you know, the Republican said about the -- well, it’s -- what is it? If you get pregnant after a rape, then it’s not a real rape. I mean, this is the 21st century and someone has those thoughts and that mentality in relation to women and stuff like that. So, we cannot go back to where we were before the ’70s and before the ’60s. We’ve got to go forward. And that kind of mentality in this world [01:39:00] is not -- it cannot be accepted but neither can it be accepted that you spend more money -- that you don’t want to spend money on healthcare, that you don’t want -- for everyone. A person is sick and needs healthcare -- homelessness is growing in this country when there are so many empty homes. And what do they do with the homes? It’s cheaper to -- the banks can’t sell them, so it’s cheaper to destroy 53 �them. So, there has to be a better society where we really put human needs first and stop doing what they’re doing. One last thing. I support for this presidential elections -- I support the Green Party’s candidate, Jill Stein. And in one of the interviews that she did, she said [01:40:00] -- they asked, “Well, what if you don’t win this election?” And she says, “But you have to begin in order to win. You have to start.” And I really agree with her. We’re so used to choosing the lesser of two evils because we’re going to lose. But if we don’t lose -- if we don’t get a Republican -- I mean, a Democrat, then we’re going to have a Republican. But they both represent the same capitalist interests, the rich and the wealthy. They’re not representing any of us. I don’t care if Obama is Black. I think we’ve got to look beyond color and beyond gender. We’ve got to look at -- like what we did in Harold Washington’s campaign -- what is the program and then holding them responsible to do it. But I fear for the youth. I work as an interpreter. I go to the Cook County jail. We have about [01:41:00] 11,000 inmates. They’re young. They’re like -- the majority are 17 to 25. The women’s population is growing. I can’t -- then there’s no jobs. And the say, “Okay, well high school diploma is not good enough.” But maybe college -- go to college. But you go to college. It’s not enough. Something is wrong. I think we need to take responsibility and really fight to change it. So, that’s all I want to say. JJ: I appreciate that. Thank you very much. 54 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e9a150b5c2035ccf0ef72296a93f1186.mp4 817012c74525812bb41a6dbfc5c6c937 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 Young Lords in Lincoln Park Collection Subject The topic of the resource Young Lords (Organization) Puerto Ricans--United States Civil Rights--United States--History Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.) Personal narratives Social justice Community activists--Illinois--Chicago Description An account of the resource Collection of oral history interviews and digitized materials documenting the history of the Young Lords Organization in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Interviews were conducted by Young Lords' founder, José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, and documents were digitized from Mr. Jiménez' archives. The Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection grows out of the ongoing struggle for fair housing, self-determination, and human rights that was launched by Mr. José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, founder of the Young Lords Movement. This project is dedicated to documenting the history of the displacement of Puerto Ricans, Mejicanos, other Latinos, and the poor from Lincoln Park, as well as the history of the Young Lords nationwide. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jiménez, José, 1948- Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/491">Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection (RHC-65)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-04-25 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng spa Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-65 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 2012-2017 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Título Spanish language Title entry Larua Garcia vídeo entresvista y biografía Sujetos Spanish language Subject terms Young Lords (Organización) Puertorriqueños--Estados Unidos Derechos civiles--Estados Unidos--Historia Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.) Narrativas personales Justicia social Activistas comunitarios--Illinois--Chicago Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/491">Young Lords in Lincoln Park (RHC-65)</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-65_Garcia_Laura Title A name given to the resource Laura Garcia video interview and transcript Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garcia, Laura Description An account of the resource Laura Garcia was raised in an immigrant farmworker family. She was a member of MECha, the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, in the struggle to build the United Farmworkers Union, and joined the Teatro de las Chicanas, a theatre troupe started by Felicitas Nuñez and Delia Ravelo, in the 1970s. She recently co-edited, with Sandra M. Gutierrez and Ms. Nuñez a collection of memoirs by members of Teatro Chicanas called Teatro Chicana (2008). Their most recent play is “Madres por Justicia,” which was first performed at the MALCS Conference in Los Angeles, August 2011. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jiménez, José, 1948- Subject The topic of the resource Young Lords (Organization) Puerto Ricans--United States Civil Rights--United States--History Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.) Personal narratives Social justice Community activists--Illinois--Chicago Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2012-08-25 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0af0b147d38a3b3b6621231ca7d81e3f.mp4 5259d374eb4d536e9284f8e1d332a1e8 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/eb243824ad01bb6e48d3f4f8662fe8db.pdf 7d64bc3116621c4b351a29367628839e PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Lawrence Gardner (01:06:56) (00:15) Background Information • • • • • • Lawrence was born in Illinois near the Mississippi River His father worked for the railroad and often was transferred around the state Many of Lawrence’s family members were working in the circus He went to school at Saint Thomas Academy and later got a job working as a machinist Many of his friends had been joining the service after the war started and Lawrence felt that it was his duty to do so also He enlisted in the Marines in June of 1942 (09:15) Basic Training • Lawrence took a train to Chicago and then to San Diego where he was outfitted with a uniform that did not actually fit him • He was sent to boot camp in Chicago where they often trained for gas attacks • The training was tough with much discipline and they spent a lot of time running, marching, and climbing walls • Lawrence had been older than the other men and many of them called him “dad” (13:45) Training Classes • While waiting to leave for Guadalcanal, Lawrence was chosen to travel to Michigan and take classes • He first was sent to Abrams Aerial Service Company where he worked with aerial photography and reconnaissance • He later took classes at Michigan State University in Lansing and stayed in a hotel near the capitol building (20:20) North Carolina • Lawrence had weapons training in NC, working with .30 caliber machine guns that were air cooled and water cooled .50 caliber machine guns • Lawrence got married to his girlfriend from Illinois while in NC • She later followed him to California where she worked with the Marine Corps • Lawrence became part of the 4th Marine Division while in CA (24:00) Map Making • Lawrence left on the USS Pillsbury from San Diego to Hawaii �• • • • • • From Hawaii they headed for Iwo Jima but were accidently hit by another US ship and about 300 men were killed Lawrence then had to go back to Hawaii where he began working on a base in Maui His job was to make maps for invasion of islands in the Pacific, like Iwo Jima, Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa Lawrence would first fly over the island and take pictures of the terrain He would sometimes land on the island and scout the area He was working with commanders to find the best route for an attack (34:55) Iwo Jima • The island was surrounded with ships and Lawrence took a landing craft to shore • There were bodies floating all over in the water • 3 divisions had been on the island with about 70,000 men • It was hard for them to advance past the beach and many of the landing craft had sunk • Lawrence eventually made it to a base near the landing strip and saw many B-29s • He volunteered to fight on the front lines and help relieve some of the men that had been there for weeks without any breaks (44:25) Japanese Soldiers • There were many Japanese hiding underground behind trap doors; they would jump out of their hiding spots, surprising and shooting the American soldiers • They had once found a Japanese man waiting in their chow line • He was dressed in an American uniform and spoke English (47:15) Okinawa • On march 15, 1945 Lawrence left Iwo Jima on a ship to Okinawa with a floating reserve group • They ended up being diverted to Guam because of the huge storms going through the Pacific at that time • Lawrence was sent back to Hawaii and discharged shortly after arriving in Chicago (55:35) Working in the US • Lawrence took a bus from Chicago back home in Rockford, Illinois • He was not able to get his job back working as a machinist, though he had been told that they would hold his position for him • He later moved to Michigan and began working for the Michigan Gas Utility Company � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gardner, Lawrence D. (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gardner, Lawrence D. Description An account of the resource Lawrence Gardner was born in Illinois near the Mississippi River and enlisted in the Marine Corps during WWII. He was pulled out of basic training to take courses in aerial photography. He served in the Pacific and helped to plan the invasions of Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He worked as a mapmaker with the 4th Marine Division, and at times served on the islands that the division attacked. On Iwo Jima, he volunteered to serve in the front lines when his division was short of men. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Marine Corps World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-11-14 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GardnerL Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/55e3ff0945bfbdc56da4eadf5f332208.mp4 2d1607b97f864a89c5f4619ebed1c446 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b3db2e4edf4d48145bb5f2aff1bb2400.pdf 156fe76357851e079c8cd5c0a9672a91 PDF Text Text Living With PFAS Interviewee: Stacey Gardner Interviewer: Dani DeVasto Date: April 6th, 2021 [Construction noise] DD: Oh, and please excuse any noises if you can hear that. [chuckle] We have some plumbing work going on today. SG: Oh no! [laughs] DD: Which they just started sawing into the pipes. Both: [laugh] DD: Welcome to COVID life. Alright well, I'm Dani Devesto and today April 6th, 2021, I have the pleasure of speaking with Stacey Gardner. And Stacey, thank you so much for being here and participating in this project, I really appreciate it once again. I was hoping before we start talking about your experiences with PFAS, [Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances] you could tell me where you live or where you're from? SG: Sure. So, I am from West Michigan, I grew up here. Upon graduating high school, I ended up getting married and my husband joined the military so we traveled around the country beforeーI eventually joined the military as well. Once I completed my service, I came back to West Michigan and have concerted my career here. And then,ーI currently live officially in Comstock Park, but it's really Plainfield Township just outside of Rockford. DD: How long have you been in Plainfield Township? SG: Since April 2015. DD: So, it must not be too bad of a place, you've been there for a while. Both: [Laugh] 1 �SG: Yeah it's actually really great, we love where we live. It’sー feels like it's out in the country, but Meijer is only a mile away. So we have access [DD laughs] to anything we might need whenever we want it. DD: [Laughs] Yeah Meijers has everything. [SG laughs] So you're pretty much set there. Alright so I am wondering, could you please tell me a story about your experience with PFAS or with PFAS in your community? SG: Sure. So, when we moved to our current home, we purchased it from a couple who have lived there for 57 years. And they were in their 80’s and they were getting ready to move to a retirement community. So, it was this great little homestead that they had built, I mean it- it’s beautiful, it has very mature plants, it was everything we wanted and it was just the right size for us. So, when we got the notification in the mail that PFAS had been found in our well water, honestly we weren’t really that upset by it because we figured that the people that lived in it before us were still very active in their 80’s, and if they have been drinking this water for the last 40 years then apparently it couldn’t have been too bad, because it didn’t affect them, it didn’t affect their children. So, all of them were all very active and healthy and didn’t have any history of unusual medical issues. So, we got this and we thought well, that’s probably not a big deal people might be overreacting. It wasn’t until it came out in the news that things were actually really not good for so many families. There were a lot of other health issues and kinda just some of the stories you would hear, you know, wasn’t our experience. So that's when we started to get a little bit more worried about, well maybe this isn’t a good thing and maybe we do have something to be concerned about with the levels in our water and, you know, how it might be affecting us in the long term. When the state came to our house to test our water we got our results for the first time, we were actually really excited to get that information and to find out that our levels were under 20, I think, which, compared to some of the friends we had, their levels were over 500, 600. And, you know, they had children with congenital anomalies who have been drinking this water, you know, forever and they really suffered from it. So, we saw first hand what can happen when you have this kind of exposure of long term to these chemicals. But our exposure was actually pretty limited time wise and with the limited amount in our water. So, we were solicited by a couple of attorneys to join some class action lawsuits, and we didn’t feel, for ourselves, that was anything we wanted to do. Because we 2 �didn’t feel we were harmed anymore than somebody who maybe didn’t identify PFAS in their drinking water because it's really iniquitous. I mean, most people have this exposure just in their daily lives and so looking at it from where we were at, just with our water, we felt like it wasn’t the right thing to do. But we absolutely know that there are those who have been more involved in this and more impacted and didn’t feel that a class action lawsuit was out of the question, it just wasn’t the right choice for us. So, that has really been how we’ve looked at this, is trying to make sure that our lives were impacted as little as possible by everything that’s going on. Knowing that, other people really have a lot to deal with, so we feel very lucky to be where we are at. And we actually are quiteー thankful to Wolverine for, you know, installing the whole home water filtration system and paying for all of that. I know that it's something they obviously should be doing, but were actually glad that, in this way, they were corrective in resolving the issue. So, I'm not looking forward to hooking up to township water at all, I don’t want to do that. [laughs] I would be fine keeping my well water with the water filtration system but it doesn’t look like we're gonna have that choice, so. DD: Why do you prefer well water? Just curious, as someone who is on city water. [laughs] SG: [chuckles] Yeah so, I know people who have Plainfield Township water and there were a lot of issues with it. There's a lot of unusual smells and discoloration, a lot of pressure issues. Andー the source of the township water is also highly questionable. And so, to me it doesn’t make sense to just go from one contaminated source to another while introducing all these other variables to the water system. Where I feelー and this probably isn’t true, but that we have a little bit more control if we have our own well and we know that this source of the water is local, is right there in our yard and we know who our neighbors are and what might be happening to the water source, as opposed to some of the other chemical dumps [laughs] that are close to the township water sources, so. DD: Sure, absolutely, that sounds totally logical and reasonable. And it sounds like from what you are saying you have reallyー you feel like you have been really lucky in a lot of the conversations and issues that are happening. SG: Yeah, yeah we do. We ended up joining the MiPEHS [Michigan PFAS Exposure and Health Study] study through the state of Michigan. Because we’re really interested in getting those individual lab results to see what our levels of 3 �PFAS are in our system and some of the other markers they’re testing for. So, we figured, while we’re notー you know the most active community members on this topic, at least we can help out some way by joining the study and having them use our information as somebody who had pretty minimal exposure as a comparison to those who had a lot more exposure. DD: Can you remind me, when did the state first start? When did they reach out to you to do the testing that you referenced earlier, the testing that you were really excited about? Do you remember? SG: I believe that it wasー late in 2017 [Unclear] DD: Ish? SG: Yeah I think that was about the time. I had a friend who had previously worked for Varnum Law and they were one of the firms that were soliciting for the class action lawsuit. And so, I remember reaching out to her at my former employer and saying who is this attorney? [DD laughs] Do you know him? Is he legit or is he just looking for a buck? So, [laughs] so that’s what I think it was about that time. DD: So, with the health study that’s going onー what's coming down the pipe for that? Anything for you all? Or anyー forget when that study is supposed to be concluded. Do you know? SG: It’s several years, it’s longitudinal. I want to say it’s 3 to 5 years. No, I think it's 6 years because we get our blood tested 3 times. Once every 2 years. So they are doing another study right now, related to the CoronaVirus Vaccine and how that might impact your response if you have these higher levels of PFAS in your system. But unfortunately, we couldn’t participate in that because we’ve already been vaccinated. And so, I am hopeful in the next 6 years though, they will have additional sub-studies related to the MiPEHS research that we can also participate in. So, I hope they can continue to keep contacting us with those opportunities. DD: Yeah. One more question from me. Do you have any concernsー or I say, what concerns if any do you have about PFAS contamination moving forward? SG: [Long pause] I thinkー itー where we liveー we have 1 acre of land and it backs up to a trust, a family trust that has over 800 acres of undeveloped woods and lakes right behind our house and that backs up to another 500 acres of 4 �privately owned woods that are also undeveloped with lakes and the water stream. And so, that is right where the house street dump site was. So, it’s really on the other sides of one of the lakes that’s back in those woods. And theー we have an arborist who helps us take care of all of our plants and trees, and he has been really involved environmentally with looking at the forensics of the plants and the trees in the area. He can walk through the woods and identify when a tree maybe has had unusual mutations due to chemical exposure, and it's made me really think about, as I’m walking through the woods through the trails back there; what's happened to all the wildlife? We have rattlesnakes back there, there's eagles, there’s amazing owls, and all kinds of different crazy things that you wouldn’t think are so close to such an urban area, but they’re all out there. Andー it’s nice to know that we as humans are going to be okay because we can filter the water, we can do all these extra things, we can watch the products that we buy and see if they have limited PFAS or no PFAS in them at all. But, you know, there's the animals that are there and they don’t have that choice. They’re out there in the water, you know, drinking it, swimming in it. Theyーand what is that doing ecologically to our neighborhood and how does that affect it and, you know, I justー it really bothers me to think about that because they didn’t ask for it and they’ve had generations of their own little animal families having this exposure and having it built up in their system, and does that impact make them really different compared to some of the other sites where, you know, the Michigan rattlesnakes are more populated and is itー how mutated are the ones we have here? I just think that would be a really interesting thing to consider because they need more help from humans right now in order to survive, so. That’s what I think is my main concern. [laughs] As opposed to people. People can take care of themselves. DD: [Laughs] We try don’t we? Both: [Laugh] DD: Sometimes we’re better at it than some others. I think those are really interesting questions and it sounds like you live in a really beautiful area. SG: It is absolutely beautiful, we are so lucky to be where we’re at. DD: Well, is there anything else that you’d like to add that we haven’t touched on today or anything that you want to go back to that youー feel like you didn’tー I 5 �don't knowー that you forgot something or anythingー before we end is there anything else you like to touch on or go back to? SG: [Long pause] I don’tー I don’t think so. I don’t think so. Although, there was one very interesting item in the MiPEHS study that they are looking at. My husband and I are vegetarian, and we haven’t eaten meat in almost 10 years. Soー I think that’s good for us, but within the study they are looking at people who hunt and fish locally that eat the animals around here that may have had that exposure. And so they're still looking at how that is affecting, kind of just, the life cycle of everything. And I think that’s gonna be a really interesting outcome, when they get to that point. And it’ll also be interesting, we do eat a lot of local fruits and vegetables from the farmers markets, to see, you know, could that have impacted us because we eat so many fruits and vegetables grown locally. You know, what’s in the plants that we’re eating? Is it there? And could that actually be increasing our exposure in ways that we haven’t considered before? So, I’m hopingー maybe in many years [laugh] that they’ll have that information available. We can understand better howー even though we are trying to make healthy choices it might have backfired on us and they’re not as healthy as we thought. DD: Yeah, that study is gonna have, hopefully, have a lot of information. A lot of really interesting information. Yeah. SG: Yeah I hope so DD: We’re all anxiously waiting for it. Both: [Laugh] DD: Alright well, thank you so much Stacey for taking the time to share your story and your experiences with me today. I’m gonna stop the recording now. SG: Okay. [Recording stopped] 6 � 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 Living with PFAS Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Devasto, Danielle Description An account of the resource Beginning in 2021, the Living with PFAS interviews were recorded to gather the personal stories of individuals impacted by PFAS contamination. PFAS, or per- and polyflourinated substances, are a large group of human-made chemicals used widely since the 1940s to make coatings and products resistant to heat, oil, stains, grease, and water. They can be found in countless household items, including food packaging, non-stick cookware, stain-resistant furniture, and water-resistant clothing. These chemicals are often called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down easily, can move through soils and contaminate drinking water sources, and build up in animals, plants, and people. PFAS have been linked to increased incidences of various cancers, increased cholesterol, decreased fertility, birth defects, kidney and liver disease, and immune system suppression, and thyroid dysfunction. It is estimated that PFAS are in the drinking water of more than 200 million Americans (Andrews & Naidenko, 2020). In Michigan alone, over 280 sites have PFAS contamination exceeding maximum contamination levels for groundwater (MPART, 2024). Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Living with PFAS (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Personal narrative PFAs (Perfluorinated chemicals) Groundwater--Pollution Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-11 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Motion Picture Text Sound Language A language of the resource eng Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PFAS0001 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gardner, Stacey Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-04-06 Title A name given to the resource Stacey Gardner, 2021 (Interview video and transcript) Description An account of the resource Stacy Gardner moved to the Plainfield Township area, north of Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2015 after completing her military service. In the interview, she discusses the fairly low PFAS levels found in the well water at her home. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource DeVasto, Danielle (interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Personal narrative PFAs (Perfluorinated chemicals) Groundwater--Pollution Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Living with PFAS (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a67bf7b5d4ae83e9bd62cb4c314e3282.pdf fabd1e1e78ec54cc5378800eb20b79f4 PDF Text 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/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Garland, Dudley Hoare (Interview transcript), 1945 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garland, Dudley Hoare Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Garland, George (transcriber) Description An account of the resource Dudley Hoare Garland served as an artillery officer in the Ninth Infantry Division during World War II. Assigned to Battery A, 26th Field Artillery Regiment, which normally supported the 39th Infantry Regiment, Garland eventually became its commanding officer, and then moved to the staff of the divisional artillery when promoted to the rank of Major. Garland landed with his unit in North Africa and served in North Africa, Sicily, France, Belgium and Germany. He was assigned to return to the US in March, 1945, and while there, he visited the office of his brother George in New York City, and recorded some of his experiences on his brother’s office Dictaphone. The original recording was not preserved, but George’s daughter, Kent Garland McKay, had the transcript, which she has shared with us for posting to this archive. This file also includes information given to Garland by his former commanding officer, Lt. Col. Lewis Lockett, when Garland visited him in a hospital in 1943. The transcript covers a variety of topics, including having his ship sunk off the coast of Algeria, fighting in Tunisia, Sicily, Normandy, Belgium and Germany, relationships with other officers and civilians, meetings with high ranking generals and political figures, and different aspects of daily life in the countries where he was stationed. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945-03-12 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GarlandD Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f4c7bc4d052a2aa8345a8c54d6ea1054.mp4 e79111cff69e01734b84fc2e426b6e80 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0f9b5854ff6da98fd2e7ad97bf661325.pdf 76dd1f7387c4852b30e59cbd37d67ac8 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Curly Garner Length: 33:19 (00:11) Background Information and Training • • • • • Curly tried to enlist when he was 17 years old, but was rejected due to medical problems He went to work for a construction company While he was working construction in San Francisco, California, he enlisted in the Coast Guard At that time the Coast Guard was part of the Navy Curley trained at Government Island in Alameda, California (3:06) Deployment • • • • • • • Curley was sent to the Aleutian Islands and patrolled near the top of Japan during World War II He patrolled near the top of Japan They would try and rescue planes that went down Once they thought there was a sub, so they dropped depth charges There was a flash back that ignited some oil and a man from the engine room died of burns Sometimes they had to go into a harbor because the seas would get to rough Curly thought it was exiting to drop depth charges (7:49) Conditions • • • • • • • • The weather was bad all of the time, it was hazy, dark, windy and cold An officer jumped into the rough sea to save 3 men that had washed off a ship and received a medal for it Curly wrote letters home to pass time and keep in touch They always had coffee, but sometimes had to eat cold sandwiches because it was too rough to cook He didn’t have any pressure or stress They could watch movies aboard the ship Curly went to a USO show while at port They could visit the Army bases (18:00) End of the War �• • • • • • • • • • • Curly took a 30 day leave after boot camp He was supposed to go Japan, but got a position as a storekeeper Curly was discharged in San Francisco His duty during the war was to relay commands from the captain during his service After his discharge he did electric, heating, and plumbing Curly worked at a grocery store He then went to work as a postmaster until he retired Curly still keeps in touch with a couple of his friends from the war He belongs to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and the American Veteran Association Curly thinks “war is hell but it is necessary” The service broadened his perspective of the world, was a good experience, and made him mature � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Garner, Curly (Interview outline and video), 2003 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garner, Curly Description An account of the resource Curly Garner enlisted in the Coast Guard shortly after graduating from high school. He trained on Government Island in California and was sent to the Aleutian Islands during WWII. Their job was to try and rescue pilots that went down near the top of Japan. The conditions on the ship were good except the weather. After the war ended he was almost sent to be part of the occupation of Japan, but was discharged instead. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Phillips, Meredith (Interviewer) Otsego Public Library (Otsego, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Coast Guard World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003-12-22 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GarnerC Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/807ce423d2999c74197e98f227fa3737.mp4 332bf6925c17d1a9a8d41265a7756748 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e4ba42b79756cffc78bc98fd9b6c0f4b.pdf ded6b1d340df36fec212d9b2f1cac859 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Grand Valley State University Veterans History project Interviewee’s name: Gerald Garner Length of Interview: (00:30:21) Interviewed by: James Smither Transcribed by: Madison Vander Lugt Interviewer: We’re talking today with Gerry Garner of Bridgman, Michigan and the interviewer is James Smither of the Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project. Okay, Gerry, start us off with some background on yourself. And to begin with, where and when were you born?” We just talked about that, West Branch, Michigan Interviewer: “Oh, but we weren’t on tape. Now we’re on tape.” Oh, now we got to get it on tape. Yeah, West Branch, Michigan. Interviewer: “Okay, and what year” That was 1945. May 25th was… Interviewer: “No, when were you born?” When was I born? May 25th of 1927 Interviewer: “Twenty-seven, yes. As opposed to forty-five, okay. And what was your family doing for a living at that time?” *(00:00:47)* Dad was a jeweler and a watch repairman; mother tested eyes. Well, they had an aunt, her mother’s sister, who’d go along with them. She lost her husband. Their dad, Marcellus Graves, had a jewelry store. Sold watches, fitted and repaired watches and he taught a lot of that to his kids. In fact, he taught my dad while dad was still working on the farm north of Vassar. This is all in Vassar, Michigan that he learned how to repair watches. And so he worked for 2 years with his dad farming. He said he didn’t want to be a farmer. So they got a loan of money from him �and all went up to West Branch and bought out a business that Cassius Graves, mother’s uncle, had been running. And they had that store there till they passed away. Interviewer: “Okay, so you managed to keep the store during the ’30s and the Depression?” *(00:01:53)* Wasn’t easy. Jewelry wasn’t a good thing to be into then. And we were just handed Northern Power Company, start giving us electricity for the little fire, electric plants just outside of town. And it was hardly enough power to run all the lights on a Saturday night, let alone do anything else. And finally, it got bought out by Consumers Power which had a bigger grid and they needed somewhere place to show their electrical equipment; stoves, refrigerators, wash machines. Didn’t have dryers, they had wash machines, they had things like that. So, he rented them half the store and then agreed to collect half their light bills for them and that got people coming into the store. Plus they had this service man’s desk there and dad had, during the ‘teens, had been infatuated with cars. So I think he got a different car about every year when you can buy them for about four or five hundred dollars. And he’d run a taxi service because people would come in on the train, getting there by car on the roads that they had in those days wasn’t very good. But these salesmen would come in and need local transportation so he and a couple other fellows rented out their services as a cab driver. So he did quite a bit of that in the early years and in the process...well actually, he had one friend that was a mail deliverer who got sick and he’d run his mail route for him for a while. So he learned a lot where the farmers were and this was invaluable when he was working for the power company because they didn’t have a radio then to call in and say who’s out now. And in those days if you had lightning anywhere you had outages. And the fellow would go to a farmer had a phone, which they did some of them have phones, and he’d call in: Well, who’s out now? and Dad would say Oh, this group of farmers are out. and they knew right away where the automatic switches were so he was a big asset to them. So he lived, that was middle thirties somewhere when he started that, it was certainly the depression time. When he died in ‘57 they tried...well I got involved because mother and dad said this eye testing business, being an optometrist is a good deal. So I really didn’t ever have any other thoughts of what I was going to be doing. So when I got out of service I immediately go to the closest school we had for optometry was in Chicago. It was that Northern Optic, Northern Illinois School of Optometry and they said, we can’t take you; we usually handle sixty-five students a year coming in and we got four hundred and some coming in with a G.I. Bill coming behind them. He says you could take this basic schooling in the Freshman year is just science classes, so take that locally. So I went down to Bay City and into the community college there and there’s where I got my first year of schooling with a lot of physics classes and a lot of labs in the afternoon which interfered with my playing basketball. �*(00:05:21)* Interviewer: “Alright, that’s getting really far ahead of the story so let’s kind of rotate back here. We talked about how your family kind of got through the ‘30s and basically, your mother had a job and your father…” It took both of them to run the store. Interviewer: “And then he ran the store and then did all these other things along the side to find ways to kind of get by.” *nods* To get by. Interviewer: “Alright, now when Pearl Harbor happens, you’re still pretty young, fourteen or whatever.” Yeah, I remember their first news coming in over their radio about that. And that was pretty awesome that, in fact, we suspected FDR had been helping England right along with land lease stuff and we were pretty much isolationists over here. We thought that was all somewhere else. We often wondered if they actually had an inkling that this raid was going to happen and let it happen just to get us stirred up so we’d get into the fight. Interviewer: “Yeah, that’s an off-camera conversation, research that one, but anyway so it happens...did you assume at the time that the war would be over before you would be old enough to be in it or did you not think about that?” You know, I didn’t think that far ahead, didn’t know where this atomic experimenting was going on. I had a cousin that was fourteen years older than I that had gone into the Army and he’d spend a lot of time in the Philippines. And he got jungle rot on his feet and was in the hospital when his outfit moved and was ready to invade Okinawa and so he kind of missed an event that took out about half the guys in his group. When he got there, they were already established and they were trying to get the Japs out of their holes in the ground on the northern part of the island. *(00:07:26)* Interviewer: “Alright, we’re going to go back to you. So basically, Pearl Harbor happens and, I mean, it’s something of a shock to the system at that point. And then did life change in your community once the war started or did things stay pretty much the same?” �I would say so. We had a local oil business. We had oil we found underneath our town and in the area, we had our own refinery. My brother was working as a gauger for the Simmer Oil Company. So that was a deferred kind of thing and many people work in the oil business one way or the other. Many of them drove clear to Flint which was a hundred miles every day with a carload to work in one of the plants down there. Of course, they stopped making cars for about two years from ‘42 to ‘44. Dad was on the rationing board so he had to decide who can have how much, how many gallons of gas and really pass around to people that extra and helped out. It wasn’t too much of a problem getting the gas but the schools couldn’t use buses for out of town sports stuff and we had to borrow theirs to drive us. Tires were pretty new. They had had this ‘40 Chevy engine rebuilt before they got through because stuff didn’t last in those days like they do now. I had a big victory garden two different years that was...everybody who had anywhere to raise stuff would have a garden of some kind. Yeah, I would say the whole community to run a total war on two parts of the world was a total effort. *(00:09:20)* Interviewer: “Alright, now as the war goes on and you get older, there’s the prospect now that you could get drafted once you turn eighteen in ‘45. So how did you deal with the prospect of service? You talked about this off-camera, but now we’re doing it on.” I guess I didn’t think about not going in. I didn’t have other than my eyesight needing glasses which prevented me from volunteering. I’d already worked a couple months with the navy to get some kind of schooling. Interviewer: “Can you explain that? What it means, you worked with the navy to get schooling?” Yeah, while Dad and his brother-in-law were in the wholesale business, finding out what kind of goods were sellable, I went into the navy recruiting place and I talked to him then. And I think I mist have had about three visits with him in the process of passing the written test for the radar technician training. And then finding out that I couldn’t volunteer and had to wait until the 25th of May when I signed up for the draft. I don’t know if you can sign up before you’re eighteen or not cause that’s when I was eighteen, it was the 25th of May in ‘45. And the fighting in Europe was done and it wasn’t couple months later that we dropped the bombs on Japan and that was done. *(00:10:59)* Interviewer: “Okay, now why did you pick the navy?” �Well, living in trenches and stuff didn’t appeal to me. At least they had good food and a place to eat even if the ship now got knocked out underneath you then that’s where the bad part starts. Interviewer: “Alright, and then initially you were interested in radar and being a technician?” Not particularly, it was the only schooling. I was interested in some kind of schooling that I was in. My son...I don’t know if I can divert to another member of the family… Interviewer: “Yup!” *(00:11:33)* ...My oldest son was born in ‘51 so he becomes eighteen sometime in the ends of ‘68. And Vietnam was going on and Vietnam was not a popular subject, in fact, some of the young fellows were thinking about escaping to Canada to avoid it. And my brother and I had quite a conversation talking him out of that and then I said: You go get some schooling at one of the services and by the time you get the schooling done, the Vietnam issue will be settled. And he wanted to be an optometrist and fill in for when I quit. They had for three years he could be an optician. He was one that runs the lab and fills the prescriptions for the optometrist or whoever tested the eyes. So he went out to Aurora...he, first of all, sneaked out and got married to his girlfriend and then took her with him to Aurora, Colorado where he spent two or three months learning the business. Then he spent the rest of his three years in Fort Benning, fitting glasses. Interviewer: “Alright, so we kind of go back up to you. So you’ve kind of decided, okay, you’re interested in the navy and essentially what’s happening here is you try to enlist when you were seventeen but they didn’t let you because of your eyesight?” No. No, I didn’t say I did anything until after I was eighteen. I wasn’t really going to go ahead of time. Interviewer: “Alright, but you were talking to them before you were eighteen?” The way it worked out, by the time I was ready, I was up to eighteen then on the 25th. And that’s the end of high school so I got my chance to graduate even went and played a final tennis tournament down in Kalamazoo. My buddy and I, we were tennis players. Interviewer: “Ok, so now, end of May, you’ve signed up and now where do you go for your basic training?” �*(00:13:41)* Well, we went first to boot camp in Great Lakes. Interviewer: “Okay, and what was that like?” Well, it was...I was trying to describe it as just a hodgepodge of different things to keep us busy. It took a while to get to 126 of us and we’re all going to do the same thing. And they were put over in Camp Downey which is over on the West side of the railroad tracks cause Great Lakes is a big place. But we did an awful lot of drilling and we did a lot of manual alarms with the rifles. I think I got with the food I was getting and the exercise I was getting, I never got tougher or stronger than I was at that time. We had firefighting, we had learning flag signals, we learned Morse code, we went down on the lakefront and a couple different times and shot the aircraft, 30’s and 50’s, firefighting on a ship; we never did go on a rifle range. So I guess that was what we were filled, it was abbreviated from a normal boot camp cause we were going on to schooling then. Interviewer: “Okay, how did you already have your schooling picked out?” Where I was going to go? Interviewer: “What your schooling was going to be.” The schooling was just radar technician training. Interviewer: “Okay, how easy or hard was it for you to adjust to life in the military? Going off being at camp” I didn’t have any trouble with that. Interviewer: “Alright, and about how long did the boot camp last?’ *(00:15:33)* When did we go into Chicago? That had to be September or October, I think, something like that. But I was starting the primary school in Chicago. Interviewer: “Okay, and so at primary school, so where were you then? Was that the high school in Chicago?” �Yeah, that was a high school that wasn’t being used as a school anymore. The navy had the use of it. So we had the barracks set right up in the gym. We had bunks that were three bunks high. Living on the top one was not any fun. It’s a long ways to the floor if you walk in your sleep. I remember Wednesday nights were off, we could leave the base. So we’d go down to Halsted Street and even in those days all of the stores had screens, metal screens, over the windows to prevent breaking in, We went to a malt shop there and that’s when I learned about banana malts. So we had very often got a vanilla malt with a banana ground up into it and when the Japan quit there was quite a celebration downtown, I guess we didn’t observe directly, but we saw pictures of the crowds on the streets and the what all was going to celebrate that we finally got the stupid war over with. Interviewer: “Alright, now, what did your training there actually consist of? What were you learning while you were there?” *(00:17:16)* Well, the basics of radar and electrical systems involved in creating the signals and interpreting them when they come back. So this was pretty much about generating electrical circuits, batteries, and the power source for radar. We were just going on to the next schooling to get a better application when they decided they didn’t need to train us in that anymore. And we were really concerned about what was going to happen to us because we figured we’d be on a ship’s company on some base somewhere. Maybe way out in Midway or something like that, we’d be stuck for a while, didn’t work that way. Interviewer: “Ok, so where did you go next?” Well, we went back to Great Lakes before they decided what to do with us. And I can’t quite remember how long we were there. We did get on a troop train that got us out to San Francisco and then I told you about going from Treasure [...] Island, a year in [Hawaii?], and then down to Alameda and that’s where a lot of ships were stationed. We had an aircraft carrier sitting beside us. You get the tide working out there, you maybe go up in the morning going up like that on the walkway and then next time you come back you’re going like that. And I saw, while I was there, I saw one of the four-engine flying boats that flew from San Fransisco out to Honolulu and watched one take off. You never thought with all the load they had on that the bay wasn’t big enough for them to take off, terrible racket. That first time they said they were sending people back to their place of origin which would be Great Lakes or Maine. But they finally decided to, they were so overwhelmed that Great Lakes with dischargees that they would let us get discharged out there and then they’d give us five cents a mile for us to get home. Before that happened, my buddy that I was with had an uncle out there that had some kind of a mining company. He also had a nice looking daughter and so we were going to get him to give us letters �saying we had promise of employment out there so we could stay out there and get discharged. Well, that never reached a conclusion so they let us go up to Stockton and get discharged. They tried to talk us into upping but we couldn’t quite see that. *(00:20:02)* Interviewer: “But, what were they offering in terms if you re-upped; what would they give you?” Oh boy, I can’t remember that. I can’t remember that. Wasn’t in the picture so we didn’t listen very hard. Interviewer: “Alright so how long did you actually spend in Alameda?” In Alameda? Interviewer: “Yeah.” It’d be less than two months. Interviewer: “Okay, and what kind of job did you have there?” Well, they assigned me to one of the departments on the ship. Let me think now; I did some painting down in some of the holes. I guess that must have been before I was assigned in the carpenter’s shop. But we used to have a priming paint that was very good to stop rust. And I remember going way down in the bow, or in the crap quarters, and we had these little power units pumping air down and our air up and even then when you’d come out you were drunk cause the smell of paint was not very good for you. I guess I did some of that at first until I got assigned to this carpenter’s shop and I was just inventory and the tools I had and I had some stiff to smear on that made a coating to keep them from rusting. *(00:21:28)* Interviewer: “Ok, so you’re on the Seaplane tender and, that’s the type of ship you were on?” That’s what they called it. I never knew much more about what it did. Interviewer: “Ok, can you describe the ship physically?” �Yeah, it was a lot like a destroyer but quite a bit smaller. I don’t even remember what armament it had on it cause I wasn’t involved in that. We had heard from fellows coming back from the Pacific which maybe shouldn’t be talked about. But they said they realized how much delay they would have of getting out because of what they had to do with the ship to decommission it or preserve it. And they started throwing things, things disappeared overboard so they didn’t have to do a lot of what we were doing. So out there somewhere on the bottom of the Pacific before you get into the bay at San Francisco there’s a lot of war materials setting Interviewer: “Something that someone did not want to inventory.” Didn’t want to spend the time it was going to take to do it. They wanted to go home. Interviewer: “Now were they decommissioning the ship you were on or was this just regular maintenance that you were doing?” No, I assume that was going in storage. I don’t think there was any need for it to go out anymore. So I assume it was mothballed as they say. *(00:22:48)* Interviewer: “Okay, now did you get much time to sort of go off base in these places? In San Francisco or anywhere else?” Out there, yeah, we had a small boat that we could take as a taxi and could run across to downtown San Francisco so I remember going over there quite a few times. As I say we had a, a friend and I, this people that we said couldn’t get to work for us. We were up in… uh, what’s the name of the college town on the north side of the bay? Anyway, it was a very nice residential area that they lived in. It used to be a great place to walk around cause I wasn’t too used to the smell of night-looming jasmine for example is quite overwhelming at night. And the San Francisco Bay with everything being hills around it, the lights on the bay and everything is just a beautiful situation. You can see the lights on the San Francisco from across where we were. Berkley is the name I wanted to say was up that place and it was just a beautiful sight. In fact, I took my wife out there and we spent two weeks later on exploring San Francisco and northern California. *(00:24:23)* Interviewer: “Alright, so you said the job thing didn’t happen?” �The job thing?...No, never got that needed because, I said, we’re overwhelmed back at Great Lakes and you were picking up discharge wherever you want so Stockton happened to be the place we went to. Interviewer: “Okay, and then this takes you back to when you basically decided to go for optometry school. You had gone to the place in Illinois and they had told you go off and take some lower-level classes first…” I could take that right in Bay City. Interviewer: “Okay, and then did you then go back to that school or did you go somewhere else?” Oh, yeah. Yeah, even before I had my grades even to me in Bay City they were ready to start the summer term over there. Interviewer: “Okay” And I was quite sure my grades were quite suitable. I never had any trouble with grades in school. Interviewer: “Alright, so then you went on to be an optometrist then?” Right. I spent forty years back in West Branch. I met after, John and I both went took the state board when we got back in late 49 and passed the board. So he was going to be with his dad in Standish and I was going to take over my mother’s part of the business. We always had rooms built in the building but behind or above the store because it took both mother and dad all the time to take care of the store. People in those days didn’t plan on eye tests unless you had a problem. So invariably if they come in and say they need their eyes checked, there was something wrong. And most of them because they just needed some kind of glasses. And people, when they got glasses, didn’t get them from mother; that wasn’t something women did. They got them from the dad. Mother worked for the dad so she had that against her. Now they had two sons and they went there in 1910 and had their first son in 1912 and another in 1915 and I didn’t come along until 27. So those two boys were like uncles to me more than other. And the oldest one, he took county normal. Do you know what county normal is? In high school, there was a class for the seniors. I think it was just seniors. They’re preparing them for teaching in their oneroom schools and every township had to have and that was mostly the source for girls. I don’t know how many fellows took it but he went on to Central Michigan then and got his degree for teaching and math and music. And when he went to be in high school for his first job, I went with him for first grade, So that’s how much difference it was between my oldest brother and �myself. And I wasn’t going to that school. I was really spoiled. But when I went, I loved it. I loved it. I loved to have the kids to play with. *(00:27:30)* Interviewer: “Alright, okay now…” I didn’t mention something we did in shop. Interviewer: “Okay.” It was to make scale size model planes, painted in black, of German planes, French planes, British planes, Japan planes, and our own planes. So that was supposed to be, somewhere they used them for plane spotting, for training. Interviewer: “Right, for training recognition of aircrafts. So let’s…” Yeah, we had a booth on top of the community building and somebody was in it all the time watching for planes because in those days somebody had the idea that Germans were capable of flying over top of the world to northern Canada, where there isn’t anybody, and set up a refueling station so they could come down through the upper part of the country, bombing. And the straights were there, Saginaw, Bay City, Flint, Pontiac, Detroit, Chicago. All kinds of industrial power in the middle of the country that we needed to protect. And we were there trying to watch for airplanes that weren’t supposed to be there. *(00:28:40)* Interviewer: “Okay, now did you actually do, did you have air-raid wardens or blackouts or things like that or did you not do that in a place like West Branch?” No, I don’t remember having that type of thing. Interviewer: “Okay. Now, you have kind of an, almost a snafu kind of experience in the service, in the sense that you went around to all of these places and didn’t spend too much time doing too much. But, what do you think you took out of that or did you learn anything from the process of being in the military?” Oh, got me out of a small town. Fed me, housed me, gave me a chance to go and explore Chicago quite a bit with the USO and generally learned that Chicago is a tough place to live in. �Of course, I spent years in optometry school there. Met a few girls, learned to dance at the Aragon and Trianon and went and first time I saw professional basketball players was there. And a fellow that was from Minnesota that was one of the bigger guys there, Mike...if only I could get his name for it, I was overwhelmed by the size of those guys. But I did see some of the world in that respect that I don’t see in my little town of West Branch. Interviewer: “Alright, well thanks for interesting stories. So thanks very much for coming in and sharing today.” Okay. *(00:30:21)* End of Interview. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27_GarnerG2169V Title A name given to the resource Garner, Gerald (Interview transcript and video), 2017 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-11-14 Description An account of the resource Gerald Garner was born in West Branch, Michigan, on May 25, 1927. During the Great Depression, his family's jewelry shop was diversified as his father agreed to share the space with an energy company so he could pay the rent. Garner signed onto a radar technician program with the Navy in the closing months of the war and attedned Boot Camp at Great Lakes Naval Station. He was in Alameda, California, when the war ended and was quickly offered an early-out of the service due to the flood of dischargees returning home. He then went on to attend optometry school in Chicago on the GI Bill. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Garner, Gerald Alfred Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Veterans History Project collection, RHC-27 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401. Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Language A language of the resource eng Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant World War II https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f78475ecdfdddd444f9c1f7d90b1685a.mp4 bcf9dcc1a6664f6dcc00a50039d0a5da https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a18227c5dd06840602813a4aa9542d9d.pdf 9f549411fd60ff47ae6ed74890a4331d PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: Korean War Interviewee name: Donald Gary Length of Interview: 1hour 1minute Pre-Enlistment (00:45) • Childhood (00:50) o Gary was born in Rochester, New York in 1930. (01:10) • Family (01:11) o Grew up with 4 brothers and 1 sister. His father worked first as a landscaper but when the Depression came along he ended up as a foundry worker. (01:57) During this time his father had an unfortunate incident happen while Gary was in the service. Between 53’ and 54’ a 750 pound piece of 2 by 10 foundry material fell on his leg and shattered it. (02:40) • Education (03:10) o Gary finished high school and then attended Davenport University. Discusses how he moved out to Michigan and why he did so. (03:18) • Background to military service (04:55) o Gary devotes quite a bit of attention to his other brothers’ military experiences. One brother served with the National Guard of which he went to the Pacific. (05:15) ƒ Another brother was in the 101st Division in the Battle of Bastogne of which he describes briefly. (05:57) ƒ Also mentions that both survived the war and what happened to each of them afterwards. (07:08) ƒ A 3rd brother who had been in the Air Force went down to Panama and did photography work. (08:09) o Gary didn’t give much thought of serving until the war in Korea broke out. (08:53) Joined the military voluntarily on December 9th, 1950. (09:04) He mentions that he did not attend basic which was located at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas but instead was held in Rochester, New York until January. On �January 2nd he and 2 others were flown to the base which was located near San Antonio, Texas, of which upon arriving he had the option of choosing which branch he could join. (09:40) Enlistment/Basic Training (09:48) • Why he joined (09:58) o Joined the air force because he always had wanted to be an air force pilot. (10:07) o Discusses his first impressions of flying in an airplane since he had never flown in his life before that time. (11:09) • Where he went and what company he served with (11:36) o Briefly describes his first impressions of his training and of the instructors who trained him. (11:50) Mentions that he adapted easily to basic training while others got into trouble with girls. (12:50) ƒ Discusses briefly what types of trouble and punishments new recruits got into. (13:44) o The men he trained with during his 3 week period there were both white and black. The military at that time was desegregated. (14:31) ƒ Brief history lesson on how the military had moved with the times where as the state of Texas “was still fighting the Civil War.” (15:18) o For a brief period during and after basic training he worked in the office in Lubbock, Texas and describes his time there briefly. (16:05) ƒ Discusses how he became qualified for his office position. (17:25) Active Duty (18:05) • Where he went after basic training (18:06) o Spent 8 months in Lubbock and expected to be shipped out to Korea at anytime. (18:20) o From there he spent some time in Wichita, Kansas. (19:07) ƒ While in Wichita, for almost a year, he mentions how he met his wife and that while there he served as a statistical specialist. Briefly describes his responsibilities on base. (19:40) �ƒ Describes an encounter in some detail with a problematic sergeant who was giving one of his black employees problems in the office. (21:58) ƒ Also mentions how before he had come to the office there how relaxed the atmosphere but then once he was there the office became so much more efficient under his authority. (24:45) o From Wichita, he spent a period of 3 months in Denver, Colorado taking a course at a local university. (25:34) o • Afterwards, he went back to Wichita for an extended period of time. (26:16) ƒ While there, he talked with a friend who told him that he would soon be shipped out to Ramstein Air Base, Germany with the 12th Air Force. (26:45) ƒ Before he heard that he was going to Germany he believed he was bound for Korea all along. (27:23) Germany (27:31) o Background (27:32) ƒ Gives a brief history background of the events of the Cold War and its effects on Germany. (27:33) ƒ Gary mentions that he was on the base defense team digging trenches and practicing defensive measures. (27:40) ƒ He was based at the 12th Air Force Headquarters Base at Ramstein, Germany (28:00) Briefly describes the base he was stationed at in some detail. (28:24) ƒ He also mentions that the area and environment around Ramstein, this area being around the Black Forest was very historic. (28:44) ƒ According to his orders before he left for Germany he was supposed to head to Wiesbaden, Germany but instead was ordered to Ramstein instead. (30:32) ƒ Briefly backs up and describes his November Atlantic crossing aboard a bananas boat. Took 10 days to travel to Bremerhaven, Germany where he boarded a train to get to his destination. (31:10) �o While in Germany, he makes note of how the bigger German cities were repaired fairly well while the smaller towns still showed signs of the affects of WWII. (33:32) o Gary would often when he went into town wheel and deal with many of the German civilians. While on base, he mentions that Germans were responsible for the cooking and the cleaning of the barracks. (34:46) o During the German occupation, the U.S. dollars he possessed were converted to Marks. (36:14) o His main job while there his job was aircraft reporting which entailed compiling a list of the condition of all aircraft belonging to the 12th Air Force. (37:34) o Briefly mentions an incident of a CO-19 transport aircraft crashing in the Alps. (38:39) o Mentions that while in Wichita while being in charge of the record keeping that he had maintained very good records. While in Germany however he didn’t do any recordkeeping because it was handled by women in Germany. (40:44) o Environment in the office (41:40) ƒ Compared with his office experience in the U.S. to Germany he worked with more women in Germany for a number of reasons which he details a little a bit. (42:07) ƒ Many of the men he worked with pressured him to become an officer of which he didn’t agree to because it would mean prolonging his service until age 65. (43:03) o Briefly describes taking a military tour of Europe with a few of his buddies and visiting the different American military bases around from Luxembourg down to Rome, Italy. (44:33) o Briefly mentions a story of a friend who could speak 5 languages and their time with the USO while visiting Heidelberg. (47:28) After the Service (49:10) • Returning Home (49:30) o His military tour in Europe ended in December 1954. Gary mentions that he flew home by airplane and landed in New York where his wife picked him up. (49:52) • Adjusting to Home (50:40) �o After 14 months away, his wife was happy to see him. Mentions that he wasn’t completed discharged until December 9th, 1954. (51:05) o After arriving back, they went and lived in Rochester. (52:17) o For the next 2 months, he and his wife went to the library and researched places to live and finally decided on moving to Grand Rapids because it was well known for its furniture. For Gary, he had always wanted to pursue a career in furniture. (55:38) o Attended Davenport University and upon graduating got a job working for Diesel Equipment doing maintenance-type work (57:51) o Briefly discusses his other career pursuits and attending Aquinas College studying accounting. (59:26) Before long, he did some work in accounting.(59:45) • Reflection (59:54) o Wraps up his interview by discussing what the military taught him about life and people and the long-term benefits that it gave him. (1:01:21) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gary, Donald (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gary, Donald Description An account of the resource Donald Gary is a Korean War era veteran who served with the U.S. Air Force from December 1950 to December 1954. In this account, Gary discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and basic training. He worked in the accounting department and kept Air Force inventories. He discusses his activities in Germany and the U.S. during his active duty in serving with the U.S. Air Force. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Byron Area Historic Museum (Byron Center, Mich.) BCTV Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Air Force Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-09-30 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GaryD Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/61a92d967ef25ef6f65c0c7637fb4e65.mp4 899f19259fedeedf5ff39cb01cd520a0 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cfd750e093a355ce51a7f03eebb7a02a.pdf bb375da6c2fdfd062a8c156056adb6f6 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Notes Length: 45:56 Lawrence Millard Gary WWII Veteran United States Army; November 1942 to March 1946 Infantry (0:00) Info - Born January 1st 1932 (Says 1992, later clarified as '32) Lived in Wheaton, IL Was registered for draft, but volunteered to enter early (2:42) Training Entered at Fort Grant, IL BCT at Camp House, TX Unit was F Co 341st Infantry Regiment (86th "Blackhawk" Div) Received Additional mechanics training at Ft Benning, GA and Amphibious training in CA (9:14) Deployments Embarked NY, NY to Le Havre, France. Deployed to Metz Part of 4-Man vehicle recon team ambushed at intersection; German fixed positions with interlocking fields of fire; Officer KIA, Gary wounded - no citation. Sent to the eagle's nest, entire formation recalled to the U.S., assigned to Camp Grubbers, OK Assigned to the Philippines, VJ Day in route, secured isolated pockets of resistance in northern Luzon (25:45) Conditions - Discusses disparities in conditions between Officers and Enlisted Hispanics in his unit, no negroes (not his exact words) Discussed Patton and Eisenhower Discussed pay and habits Married 1 1/2 years out of service (42:56) Various photos and documents � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gary, Lawrence M. (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gary, Lawrence M. Description An account of the resource Lawrence M. Gary is a WW II Veteran who served in the United States Army in both the European and Pacific Theaters. He was assigned to F Co 341st Infantry Regiment (86th "Blackhawk" Div.), spending the majority of his military service time in the divisional motor pool. Although he saw very little combat personally, he nonetheless witnessed the trauma and destruction that befell the peoples of Europe and South-East Asia during the twilight of WW II. Towards the end of the interview various forms, clippings and photos are displayed. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gary, Joan (Interviewer) Waslawski, Sheila (Interviewer) Kavalam, Sonya (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) Video recordings United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Veterans Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-05-23 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GaryL Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b8fd1bbd0fa463a5aa10108b00ad5c2a.mp4 06d61d88545864e9d65d52d0d53eec8e https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c59b2669d7199bfb9db74883eed6c3bf.pdf fd9f8b72445acd162eb9b6038fdc7674 PDF Text Text ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW GINGER GASCON Women in Baseball Born: Chicago, Illinois, 1931 Resides: Elk Grove Village, Illinois Interviewed by: James Smither Ph.D, GVSU Veterans History Project, August 6, 2010, Detroit, MI at the All American Girls Professional Baseball League reunion. Transcribed by: Joan Raymer, February 10, 2011 Interviewer: “Ginger, can we start off by you telling us a little bit about your background. Where and when were you born?” I was born in Chicago in 1931. Interviewer: “Did you grow up in Chicago?” I did, I grew up in Chicago. Interviewer: “What neighborhood did you live in?” We lived in a few different neighborhoods, one on the west side of Chicago, but the one I remember the best is the one near Wrigley field, near Hawthorn school. I think we moved there when I was about eight or ten and we stayed there until I was eighteen. Interviewer: “What did your family do for a living?” My dad was a truck driver and he use to drive paper goods to northern Minnesota and Michigan and come back and deliver down to the Chicago Tribune building. My mother was a housewife and she was an Irish immigrant. 42:48 Interviewer: “Was your father able to keep that job through the thirties?” Whatever he did he was on “Papa Works Again” and he use to bring home Blueberry pie and whatever his main work was I don’t know, but that’s what it was to keep the fellas going and that was good Interviewer: “Jobs were not always easy at that point.” 1 �Not at that point. Interviewer: “How did you get involved playing sports?” I happen to be the only girl in the neighborhood of all boys and that was from age ten on, so if I didn’t play with them, I wouldn’t be playing with anybody. I started out on the playgrounds and I played ball there and I was pretty good. I was one of the better ones that always went off to the division meeting and everything. Interviewer: “Were you playing in organized leagues?” No, remember I was ten or twelve years old, but I had an uncle who was a cop and he was a policeman on the gate at Wrigley Field and I only had about a six block walk down there. 43:46 When he would see me, he would say, “come on, get in”, so I got to watch Phil Cavarretta, Andy Pafko and those fellas and I just kind of fell in love with it from playing—we started out with sixteen inch and fourteen inch. Interviewer: “So, you’re playing softball in the street?” Playing softball Interviewer: “You were there in 1945, the last time the cubs were in the World Series?” Yes, I think so, but I don’t remember going to that World Series. Interviewer: “You might have been in school by then?” Yes, I think I was in school. Interviewer: “It might have been a little bit harder to get in.” Yeah, but when I was in school during WWII, they use to let some of us out of school to go out and collect tine and things during the day and that was kind of fun to go around the neighborhood and do things like that. When I got one of my first jobs I was the only 2 �girls in that district with all boys that delivered newspapers and that was nice because some of the boys were a little lazy and they would ask me to take their route for the day and I would make a few dollars there and I kind of liked that. 44:47 Interviewer: “All right, now at what point did you start to play more organized ball?” Fifteen, sixteen and there was a team, they were all farm teams for this all American league, and I played on the North Town Debs and there was the south group of girls that played too and when they created the Sallies and the Colleens, I went with the Sallies and some of my friends went with the Colleens and we toured the United States. I know you’ve heard that before, all the various cities and states. Interviewer: “Right, so let’s back up a little bit to that first stage. How did you wind up joining that first team?” Joining the first team? They picked you, they looked for the best athletes and they picked you. Interviewer: “How did they find you or where did they locate you?” On the playgrounds, it started on the playgrounds in Chicago. Interviewer: “So you weren’t playing in an organized softball league or anything like that?” 45:44 I was on a girl’s team in Chicago, but it was just eighth graders or something like that. Interviewer: “But they were actually scouting the neighborhoods to go find people.” Scouting the neighborhoods or they would here about and go and ask the athletic directors and we did tryout for that, that’s right, we did tryout for those farm teams. Interviewer: “Once you’re on one of those teams do you just live at home?” 3 �You live at home and go out three or four nights a week and on the week-end and play each other in various parks in the city. Interviewer: “What did your family think about that?” They didn’t mind, they liked it and I was always very active and I had my paper route and everything. I had two younger sisters, so they kind of looked up to me because I would take them out to places with me, to different and various places. Interviewer: “All right, were they paying you at that point?” Let me see, when is the first time I got paid? On the traveling team in 1949. Interviewer: “So, the first level of team you’re just playing?” Yeah, you’re a farm team and you just show up and play. 46:47 No money involved, just your skill level and all that. Interviewer: “So, did you do that for one year or two or?” Probably two years, I played for two years. Interviewer: “How do you get up to the next level?” That’s when you tried out, they had tryouts for the All Americans and that’s when they picked you again from that group, so that’s how some of us got in. Interviewer: “Where were they doing the tryouts?” At the various parks around—in Skokie, the tryouts were there and see, Wrigley Field had already had all the girls back for the first stage and now this comes five years later and then the coaches came and looked at us and picked and put us, after we traveled and di that for the year, they picked us to come to whatever teams and you probably heard that story from other girls. The balanced the teams by skill level and whatever they needed. 47:48 4 �Interviewer: “So, what was the year then that you started playing with the traveling teams?” 1949 and in 1950 I came back and played with Chicago for a year, underhand fast pitch with the Bluebirds and then I went back in 1951 to the Grand Rapids Chicks and finally I settled in and played another three years with the Bluebirds because I could hold a day job and play ball and I had two salaries. Interviewer: “The Bluebirds, was that a semi-pro softball team?” It was a pro team also, you paid to get in and we got paid. I started out with that team at about a hundred dollars a week and went up to a hundred and a quarter. See, the all Americans was fifty five and seventy five, but holding the day job was the bonus because you had a double salary and that’s when I started saving money for college. Interviewer: “Let’s go back to the farm team experience. Were there basically just two teams that played each other or were there more?” There were four, but I can’t remember the other two. I remember the Debs and the— you’ll hear it from one of the other ladies, the team she played on. She was a southsider and I was a northsider. 48:54 Interviewer: “Did fans come to these games?” Oh yeah, the parks were full every night. Are you familiar with Chicago Thillens Stadium on Devon and Lincoln Ave? The Thillens check cashing trucks? I don’t know if you remember seeing them running around? They sponsored us, so they gave us the money for uniforms and people came into the park at night and I think they were paying a quarter or something. Interviewer: “How do things change then when you join the traveling team?” 5 �When you join the traveling team, that’s the fun. You know you’re traveling to different cities and meeting different people and you’re on the bus singing at night. It’s just the excitement and the camaraderie of having all these friends around you all the time. You think about high school and when high school days were over, that’s who your friends are. Most of them don’t go to college and we had that extended into our twenties and we still meet. I can’t think of any other group of people who still meet from when they were in their teens. I just think we have been terribly lucky in that manner. It’s been a wonderful thing. 49:55 Interviewer: “I think the closest you get, maybe in some cases, is with military veterans. Men who served in the same unit, they have reunions, but in a way it parallels a little bit because it’s a distinctive experience more than just going to school someplace.” It’s a shared experience. Interviewer: “Right, and you’re at that point in your life that you’re becoming who you really are too. That’s a very consistent thing that we’ve had in this. Explain a little bit for people who don’t know very much about it, how did the traveling team thing work? Who was on it, what happened?” There were scouts with the All American, Max Carey and those fellas, they would go out to the major cities in America or the ones they decided they could get some interest in, and they would talk to the Chamber of Commerce and their press men and their sports people and they would arrange for us to come in at certain dates, and they did it very well because they started out in Chicago and went down to Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. 50:56 Crossed over to Virginia and finally got back to New York and over Pennsylvania, 6 �so it was just play a game or two, get on the bus and go to the next town and play a game or two. On Sunday it was two games, we use to play two games on Sunday, but we stayed in different hotels and met different people. I remember in Michigan, Battle Creek, when these fellas would carry our luggage to the hotel, you know from the bus into and up to our rooms, we played music because we liked the rhythm and blues music and they use to hangout in the halls with us and that was a lot of fun. It was almost like you were dating groups, but it wasn’t really. Interviewer: “Did you go to New York City as part of that?” Yes, we stayed in Newark, New Jersey and we got on the train. I don’t know if anyone’s told you this, but we had Mirtha Marrero and Isabel Alvarez and it just so happened I had Spanish in high school, so I was the only one that could talk to them a little bit, so I took them on the train from Newark into New York. 51:57 We went to the Palladium because Mambo was popular at the time and then we went to the Empire State Building and of course once they saw the guys at the Palladium they were in a different kind of world than the rest of us, so I left them to go to the john and said, “don’t move, I’ll be back”, and when I came back they were gone. They were gone for hours and hours and I had to call back to the chaperone and say, “I lost the girls, they left me”, and so I got back on the train by myself and they finally showed up, but that was kind of harrowing because I felt responsible for them, but I couldn’t control them. 52:36 Interviewer: “Where did you play in New York?” We were playing in Newark, New Jersey and that was in 1949 and they played in New York in 1950, they played in one of those fields. Interviewer: “At some point they played in Yankee Stadium.” 7 �We didn’t, the 49ers didn’t, but the 50ers did. Interviewer: “What other places you stopped at stands out in your memory or have particular stories connected to them?” 53:03 When I think of Oklahoma, I think of the soil and the weather and how it was different and some of the other states. Virginia, the natural bridge and the places I saw that I wouldn’t have seen in my life, stood out to me. Ball playing, it was just exciting to play at night and to have the fans come. They always hung around and wanted autographs, but we couldn’t talk too long because we had to get to the bus and take our showers and get onto the next bus. I can tell you a story about the Cuban girls when we would come to the showers they wouldn’t shower with the rest of us, so they wanted to shower last and they did. So, we’re sitting on the bus starving, hungry and we wanted to get moving and they come lumbering along like this after making us wait forty-five more minutes. Oh, you would say things to them, but you couldn’t say too much, but that was kind of funny. Different cultures and different ways of getting things done. 54:09 Interviewer: “Did you always play each other or did you sometimes play local teams?” We always played each other when we were on tour because you took the girls that they were going to use later on to see who worked out after these games and take up to the other teams, so it was always each other and we never played outside of that. Interviewer: “Aside from the Cubans, were there particular players in that group who were particularly distinctive or were troublemakers or leaders or anything like that?” 8 �Well, not any of that really, but different ones had different personalities. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Maybelle Blair, there were girls like that, younger, that were very funny and talked loud and did funny things. 54:57 Interviewer: “Now, was Toni Palermo in that group?” Yes, she was in that group also, right. Interviewer: “She would have been one of the youngest ones.” Yes, she was maybe sixteen when I was seventeen or something. Interviewer: “What did they do to look after you? You’re taking a group of teen age, largely teenage, girls, I guess some of them were a little older, how did they look after them?” Well, the chaperones were always there. Wherever we stayed they were ever present in the hotel and they just in general watched out for us because if some of these boys want to take you out on a date or something, you would have to go through the chaperone. That lightened up though because when I was in Grand Rapids one of the reporters from the Grand Rapids Herald and I went out to dinner one night. His name was Scotty something and I don’t remember the last name, but he was telling me about the morgue. You know what the morgue is don’t you? Newspapers that they keep, so if somebody dies they go into that file and pick it out, and that was something I never knew before and something I learned from Scott. 56:00 Interviewer: “Now, does the traveling team season end before the regular one does? Was it a shorter season or did you finish at the same time maybe, what do you think?” We finished in late August and what did our girls have, a 160 game schedule? 9 �Interviewer: “Something like that.” It was something like that, but I don’t remember. Interviewer: “The playoffs for the league were a little bit later than that. Would any of the girls from the traveling teams be called up to the regular clubs or would you just stay together the whole year?” We stayed together the whole year and then they sent you to the club. No, they waited until the season was over. They didn’t pull anybody out that I recall. We picked some up on the road though; we picked up Sue Kidd in Choctaw, Arkansas. Interviewer: “Was that a common thing? Would they try people out as they went from town to town?” 56:57 I only remember that year picking her up as one particular person, but maybe they did, maybe any of the girls that played in the fifties, maybe they picked up more than one. Has anyone told you a story so far that they picked up someone? Interviewer: “ I think there were some maybe they identified and may have joined a little later. I think Sue Kidd did kind of get on the bus and go with them.” She got on the bus and went with them, that’s absolutely right. Interviewer: “Alright, they did that and once that season comes to an end—had you finished high school yet or were you still in school?” No, I hadn’t finished yet, but then you’d go back to school and once you were eighteen and out, you went back two months to the job, if you had a job. Do you know what the salaries for factory jobs were at the time? Interviewer: “Nope” 10 �Forty a week—we got more playing ball, and some ladies will say they made more money than their fathers. It’s kind of amazing isn’t it when you think of it? 57:56 Interviewer: “Although if you think of modern pro athletes in a lot of sports and so forth, that seems less surprising, but then, baseball players were not paid as well as football or anyone else.” Well, back in the seventies, I knew a Jimmy French who was with the Washington Senators when Ted Williams was the manager and these guys would get about fifteen a day for meals when they were out and they all lived on hamburgers so they could save money and it’s kind of interesting, I was down in Florida one time on vacation, and in a bar. I came with two friends, and we wanted to go to the games, the spring training games, and we found out where the fellas hung out, so we went in the bar and I was kind of looking for Jimmy French because I had met him on the farm in Pennsylvania--Eastern Ohio, right next to Pennsylvania and I said, “Anybody here know Jimmy French?” And one of the guys said, “Hell, who doesn’t know Jimmy French? He’s the only one with a masters degree in finance”. 59:00 He ended up working on the San Francisco stock market. That was kind of rare I guess for athletes to be going to get a degree and then playing ball, and they only had to play ten years to be pensioned, so every year—I don’t know if he still gets ten thousand a year or what, but that was back from the early seventies. Interviewer: “Now we’re going to go back to your story. Did they want you to come back the next year?” Yeah Interviewer: “But you decided not to.” 11 �I just decided I could make more money because I wanted to go to college and my family didn’t have any money to send me, so—and I think because I’d had a paper route and I was used to picking up spare money, I kind of knew how to do that, so when it was available to me, it would be foolish not to take it, that’s the way I looked at it. Interviewer: “So, you got the double salary while playing in Chicago and working, right?” Three years, right Interviewer: “You did that in 1950 and then in 1951 you go back to the all American?” 60:00 Yeah, I go back for a year because this team was moving on and another team didn’t want to pick me up until the year after, so that’s what I did. It was because I was rookie on this team and this team was the Chicago Queens, they won the championship that year. I don’t know if you’ve heard of them. Have you heard of the Weaver sisters? Interviewer: “Yeah” They were on that team and I was the youngest one on the team and one was pitching and one was playing shortstop. They could hit—they came out of New Orleans Jacks teams, so I had people like that around me with high skill levels, and some of the best pitchers in that league. Connie Wisnwiewski came to that league, and I know her because she came to the Grand Rapids Chicks, and she got a higher salary than the rest. It was like three hundred a week, which was very high and she made her own rules, she had a limousine drive her around, but then she bounced back after that, so I wasn’t the only one that did that. 1:01 Interviewer: “Normally what position would you play when you were playing?” 12 �Center field when I played for the Bluebirds, center field for the Grand Rapids Chicks, and second base when I played for the Sallies. Interviewer: “Was that just depending who else was on the team, where to put you?” Well, the coaches put you, they place you and you could be an infielder or an outfielder. Interviewer: “Now did you play any positions beside those two?” No, pretty much those two, and I liked center because I was pretty fast and I could cover the other people over on those ends, so it worked well for me. Interviewer: “Did you have a good throwing arm?” I threw people out at the plate from center field. Interviewer: “Could you hit?” Fairly well, not real good, but I was a pretty good base stealer when I got on. I hear Toni saying she was on base a lot and that’s kind of amazing to me, but you know and he said, “don’t let the truth get in the way of anything.” 2:00 Interviewer: “She was on base all the time, she said.” According to her, yeah and you got to love her. “What was your average? Were you batting three hundred? Because we know that girls that batted three hundred and you weren’t one of them.” You know who they were don’t you? Doris Sams, the ones they named, people have already named the better players right? So Doris Sam’s, Connie Wisnwiewski, and I can’t even think of the others right now, but-Interviewer: “She may have walked a lot.” That could have been, that might have been. 13 �Interviewer: “Alright, so as someone who ran bases a lot, did you have problems with strawberries and all of that?” Yeah Interviewer: “Did you find ways of dealing with that? Could you slide in a certain way that was less harmful?” No, when you hit the ground you’re going to land on the same spot the next time and you remember that because it’s not comfortable. Interviewer: “What kind of treatment could they provide for you?” The chaperone came out right away and rolled you over and first cleaned it off and then the Mercurichrome and of course, we never complained about anything because they would take you out of the line-up and I did not want to be taken out of the line-up. 3:08 The ball player today, when they get a hangnail they don’t play and they get all that money. Interviewer: “Well, they want to protect their investment, right?” It cracks me up Interviewer: “So, basically you’re situation in Chicago changes, but you still want to keep playing, so did you have to go tryout for the all Americans in 1951?” No, when I said I wanted to come back they said, “oh good”, and they put me on a team. Interviewer: “Alright, what do you remember about the season in Grand Rapids?” I remember getting on base in Grand Rapids and sort of outwitting the Cuban pitchers for stealing. I knew their little slow moves and whatever and throwing people out, and then the people I met, so that was the best for me. 14 �Interviewer: “Were their some pitchers that were harder to run on than others?” 3:59 Yes, tough to run on Interviewer: “Who was tough?” Well, Jean Faut, of course, and I can’t think of any right now, I’m just not pulling them up. Interviewer: “And their pitchers that you really didn’t like to have to bat against?” Well, you couldn’t control it, you did your best you know, you never gave up, never give up. Interviewer: “Where did you live when you were in Grand Rapids?” In a home with somebody, and I don’t even remember the people's name right now, but I lived in a sort of a boarding house situation once too. Interviewer: “Do you remember which field you were playing at? South Field by the high school or Bigelow Field south of town?” I think it was Bigelow Field. Interviewer: “They played there for a couple of years and then it burned down. Were the crowds good in Grand Rapids at that point?” 4:55 Yes they were, that was five years in and they were still good. It was the last two or three years that they weren’t so good and I don’t if it was a novelty and it was wearing off with people, but it was kind of sad to see it go. Some of the girls, what you call the all stars went on to play in other places around the country with Bill Allington and things like that, so that was good. Interviewer: “They did a little more barnstorming for a while anyway.” 15 �Yeah, a little more barnstorming, but that’s all that was left. I remember that wrestling came into popularity then and girls roller skating came into popularity, so I don’t want to call the American public fickle, but they tire of things after while and the guys were back, so that was a big thing. Interviewer: “That’s right because when the league started the minor leagues were pretty well shut down, so in these smaller towns and so forth, they didn’t have anything going on. 5:50 Sometimes—let’s see, it was when you’d go down to Florida and Max Carey was down there and he’s invite some of us girls to the track to bet on the dogs, he always wanted fifty cents, he was going to go in on it with two or three of us, kind of interesting huh? Interviewer: “So you play basically with Grand Rapids for one year and then what do you do after that?” After that I go to college. Interviewer: “Where did you go to college?” I went to Northeastern Illinois State in Chicago, a city college. Interviewer: “And what did you study?” Education and Psychology Interviewer: “Then what did you do with the degree once you had it?” I was an elementary teacher for six years and then after that I was a counselor for twentyeight years. Interviewer: “Where did you work?” First in Chicago and then after a year the Department of Defense started in New York and came across the country all the way to California, and they were interviewing for jobs in 16 �Europe at the army schools, so they picked me in Chicago and I went over to Europe for two years and taught in Germany. 7:00 When I came back form there—you could look for placements over there is you were deciding to come home and I found one in Parma, Ohio, so I was there for two years and then I decided I wanted to work on my masters and then I came back to Chicago. So, my career is in education. Interviewer: “Aside from getting you some funding to start college with, what kind of effects, do you think, playing organized ball for the all Americans and the softball league, what sort of effects did that have on you?” Well, the camaraderie is just so much you know, I think you’re so lucky to get that in your life, but also, you’re around all these other women of talent, you supported each other, you had role models because the girls that came before us were certain role models you know. That Wagner lady, Audrey Wagner, ended up being a doctor and things like that. The role models—“there isn’t anything you can’t do, at least give it a try”. 8:07 I don’t think a lot of kids grow up with that, you have these other things that lead you to it, these other opportunities and that’s what I think is the important thing, the opportunity and then to be lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time with the right set of skills. Interviewer: “When you were actually playing with the league, did you see yourself at all as any kind of pioneer and really doing something significant in moving women’s sports?” No, just doing what I loved to do, being physical in space and doing it well and all the other benefits that I’ve suggested. 17 �Interviewer: “Then in the seventies and in the eighties as women’s sports really start to pick up and title nine comes in and so forth, did you pay much attention to that?” 8:52 Yeah, I remember people in—all the PE teachers in the school were into this Title IX thing and all of us ladies were and I was a counselor in school, so we were always politicking for that to come into being, because it made a difference. Look at our athletes today—all as a result of Title IX. I know all the little particulars and the politics of it— not that many girls care and not that many girls want to come out and they’re taking space from the boys, but I think that gave America a boost now too. Our female athletes and all the things they’ve won, we beat China in the Olympics, things like that. Look at the women athletes in anything today, how good they are, and they have the same training, they do the workouts. What we did was calisthenics and running, we didn’t do weight work and you know how strong that enables you to be, so that’s why the women are so good today. The women’s teams are as good as us or better, but the interest is not there because you see, it’s society, it’s always the men with the bib basketball and the big baseball and it’s understandable, that’s where the money goes, that’s where everything is. 10:03 I always thought sports in America was a great outlet for men in a progressive nature. Let’s use their testosterone and I always thought, this is good because people aren’t fighting in society themselves or fighting on the streets, they’re getting rid of it in some other way and they’re getting rich too Interviewer: “That’s true and we’re not like the European soccer fans where all the violence is in the stands.” We have our heroes, we sure do. 18 �Interviewer: “Were you involved in any of the stuff leading into the creation of “A League of Their Own” and all that?” Yes, right from the beginning. People that remember people, remember where they live, “oh, she’s here”, and I got a call from Shirley Jamison, one of the first, and she was a tiny little lady the first three, four or five years and in fact that was the first pictorial section that came out in the newspaper, she was in that picture and of course years later, Isabel came out in one while she was a pitcher. 10:58 Shirley called me up and said, “I know where she’s living”, and then they told me . I went to Cooperstown in 1988 and it all kicked off from there. Interviewer: “The people you worked with and your friends, did they know you played ball?” I never told them, never talked about it. Interviewer: “Even while you’re kind of lobbying for women in sports?” Yeah, isn’t that interesting, it was just that part of my life is the way I looked at it you know. Parts of it were wonderful for me and gave me an impetus to do things. I can tell you a story—kind of an impetus to do things—I saw a movie when I was younger Roz Russell played Amelia Earhart in the movie and what was I, in my teens when I saw that or ten years old? Anyway, when I was forty years old, some kids in school came and asked me if I would sponsor a flying club, just asked me. I said, “Oh sure”, so that summer I said, “Oh my god, I better get a pilot's license, so that’s when I went to get a pilots license because I wanted their respect, I wanted to know more than them, so they would—just didn’t have someone who was just kind of a face to their thing, I wanted to know the stuff. 12:06 Then I flew for five years on a regular basis and the guys that 19 �trained me said, “Ilene, you keep coming out, why?” I said, “I love being in the air, it’s marvelous”, because he said that most women get their ticket and you never see them again, they just want to say they have a pilots license. I didn’t know that until the instructor told me that’s what most of the guys do it, but I guess we ladies are a little more serious about it, we’re just glad to be there in the first place. 12:34 Interviewer: “And do you think that having gone and just done the stuff you had done by taking on new challenges, it was no big deal to go fly?” Yes, exactly, plus I had that interest since I was maybe fifteen or sixteen. If Amelia Earhart can do it, I can do it. That’s so funny isn’t it? People need role models, boys and girls both need role models and I had my role models in the girls that played ball and that movie. In fact, that was the first role model to me, before I went with the girls to play ball, you know, for something to do or that looks interesting, that I want to try. Interviewer: “Well it makes for a good story and I’ll point out to you, you took longer than fifteen minutes to tell it.” I did? How long did I talk? Interviewer: “I don’t know.” A half hour, my times up—I’m usually worth a half hour. 13.23 Interviewer: “You’ve done really well, so thank you for coming and talking to us.” Thank you. 20 �21 �22 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was started by Philip Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, during World War II to fill the void left by the departure of most of the best male baseball players for military service. Players were recruited from across the country, and the league was successful enough to be able to continue on after the war. The league had teams based in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, and operated between 1943 and 1954. The 1954 season ended with only the Fort Wayne, South Bend, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Rockford teams remaining. The League gave over 600 women athletes the opportunity to play professional baseball. Many of the players went on to successful careers, and the league itself provided an important precedent for later efforts to promote women's sports. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/484">All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Collection, (RHC-58)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Sports for women World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives Oral history Baseball players--Minnesota Baseball players--Indiana Baseball players--Wisconsin Baseball players--Michigan Baseball players--Illinois Baseball for women--United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-58 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-10-02 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-58_EGascon1135BB Title A name given to the resource Gascon, Eileen "Ginger" (Interview transcript and video), 2010 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gascon, Eileen "Ginger" Description An account of the resource Ginger Gascon was born in Chicago in 1931 and grew up playing softball. She played on softball teams used by the AAGPL as farm clubs while she was in highschool, then joined the Springfield Sallies for the league's barnstorming tour in 1949. She played professional softball in Chicago in 1950, then played for the Grand Rapids Chicks in 1951. She played both center field and second base. She later became an educator and was actively involved in promoting women's sports. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) Video recordings All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives Baseball for women--United States Baseball Sports for women World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Baseball players--Michigan Baseball players--Illinois Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-08-06 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/484">All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Collection, (RHC-55)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives