236 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f25f18ec3127a66a5c51dc2358edd16a.pdf 433d3ef38ed02248b16fd675d8e16e08 PDF Text Text COVID-19 Experience January 2020 I recall the first time ever hearing about the novel coronavirus. As a student at Grand Valley State University during my Junior year, I had the opportunity to partake in a course called “Fieldwork in Exercise Science”. This was not a typical college course in the way that each student was able to go out into the field they desire to pursue and observe the current professionals. I am pursuing physical therapy, so I was placed at Advent Physical Therapy in Grandville, Michigan. This particular day I was making my commute from my off-campus apartment in Allendale, Michigan to the clinic. I cannot remember the exact date, but it was sometime early in January 2020. My typical routine was to listen to the morning show of “Mojo in the Morning” on the radio station 104.5 SNX. Just as I pulled into the clinic parking lot, I heard them talking of this virus that supposedly came from China. This show was known for making people laugh with various jokes, so the virus at the time came off as another joke. They discussed how people were not going to want to drink the beer, Corona, in fear of contracting this “silly” disease. I walked into the clinic and asked the physical therapists there if they had heard about this disease. They proceeded to tell me they had and that they were not too worried about its effects. Again, kind of like the radio, we all sort of laughed it off. In the few weeks that passed after the initial announcement, I heard very little about the virus. Spring forward to Grand Valley’s spring break March 2-6. I did not have a trip planned this year, so I went back home to Davison, Michigan which is located on the east side of the state, about 20 minutes from Flint. My family members discussed the virus casually, nothing too seriously, but came to the conclusion that it is nothing to worry about. I watched my friends on social media travel all throughout the world, although most went to Florida. The next week, I returned to my apartment in Allendale ready to tackle the rest of the semester. On Monday March 9, 2020, buzz started floating around the physical therapy clinic and throughout my college classes about the virus. It had been heard that there were some colleges around the United States that were cancelling in-person classes and transitioning to online learning for the remainder of the semester. Again, this was sort of a joke to us, but starting to become a reality that Grand Valley could do this. �Flash to Wednesday March 11, 2020. I was in the clinic when we got word that Michigan State University had made the decision to cancel classes and finish the remainder of the semester online. At this point, it was becoming more of a reality that Grand Valley could do the same. Later on that day, I went to class in Mackinac Hall. My professor, Danielle Terpstra, began class by showing us where online material would be found in the event that we transitioned online. We had a good 15-minute conversation including questions about how this all would happen. She shared with us that she only knew as much as we did, which was not nearly as much as I would have wanted. During this week, we had gotten several emails from different university departments and the president, Philomena Mantella. They all stated that they were in direct communication with the health department and assured us they were taking this very seriously. At this point in the week there were several other Michigan universities that had cancelled which lead me to believe Grand Valley was right behind them. Sure enough, later that day on March 11, Grand Valley sent out an email detailing their course of action. They had decided to cancel classes for the remainder of the week and begin on Monday March 16 remotely. I still think the severity of this virus had not set in. There were many students who thought this was unnecessary and more of an annoyance rather than a procedure put in place for our protection. Again, at this point I do not think much of Michigan understood the severity that we know to this day, including myself. The president, Donald Trump, started making recommendations not to congregate in larger masses. Eventually that dwindled down, to where we are today on April 20, 2020. We are told today not to interact with anyone we do not live with unless we are essential workers or must conduct essential business. It is also being recommended that if we must go out, we wear proper protection in the form of a mask. All of the non-essential businesses are closed which include: gyms, spas and salons, landscaping businesses, contractors (only emergency calls), and small local businesses just to name a few. Restaurants were also mandated to close their dining rooms, while still providing take out and delivery. Although this is true, there are many local restaurants in Davison and the surrounding areas that had to close due to financial struggles during this time. �My mother, Shawn Dunham, is deemed essential because she is the manager of Dort Financial Credit Union right here in Davison. At first, the credit union was open as usual for business which allowed anyone at any time to walk in and conduct their business. This frightened my mother and her employees, along with the rest of my family. There was no proper protection for the employees from the members and vice versa. Eventually, they closed their lobby down and required members to make an appointment to seen. They continued to conduct business, but just kept restricting the amount of people in the building. Today, there is a “sneeze guard” located at the reception desk and in two of the member service representatives. Do not be fooled, the sneeze guard was not as protective as you think. It was a clear shower curtain hanging from the ceiling, but I suppose it was better than nothing. There are now procedures in place that require the members to state their reasoning for an appointment. In the event that it can be done over the phone, an employee will call them instead of having them come in. My mother now has stated they typically only see three to five members a day. My father, Kurt Dunham, is an electrical project manager who runs the east side of Michigan through the company Consolidate Electrical Contractors which is based out of Lansing, Michigan. In the first few weeks, they were not worried about the shutdown. They thought they most certainly would be considered essential, because electricity is certainly essential. Well, they were sorely wrong. My father got word that he would be laid off and would need to claim unemployment. This was a very scary time for my family, because we had been in this position before. My father had been laid off several times before getting the position he has today. Each time this occurred, we struggled financially since my mother was the only one bringing home money to support a family of four. The day my father came home and told us he has to file for unemployment, was a rather scary day. Within the next few days, he tried to file. Then he tried again. And again, and again. The website would not allow him past certain questions and he was directed to a phone number to call. He called at least one hundred times to no avail. The familiar feeling of uncertainty started to sink in. Eventually, he sat down at 8:30 pm on a weekday and was able to fill everything out. He is now getting unemployment but is unsure as to how long this will last. �Personally, this lockdown has been everything but fantastic. It has not even come close to what I expected would happen. I am now taking this virus very seriously and taking all the precautions that I am able to, but it is very difficult. First off, I am very into fitness and becoming stronger physically and mentally. Since my gym has been closed for more than a month, I have a great sense of sadness. I miss my trainer, Marc Dearing, and the gym members that I see there every day. My mom and I have been going to our gym, Next 5 in Davison, since May 2019. The only day we rest is on Sundays so as you can imagine, this has become a huge part of our lives. Marc has been great with all of his members throughout this shut down. He provides us with at home workouts every single day (except Sunday’s of course) on a private Facebook group he created. Along with this, him and his wife, Kathy, go live on Facebook to do the workouts at 7 am each day. This seems to keep us all connected enough, but it is nowhere near close to the amount of connection we get in the gym. Secondly, it has been very hard to not see anyone else I do not live with. I am in a threeyear long relationship with my boyfriend, Brenden Wardlaw. We went to high school together, so we are from the same town. In fact, he only lives about three minutes from me which makes it difficult to know he is so close. When we are in school, he attends Davenport University, so even then we are used to seeing each other on the weekends. Now, that has been ripped away from us, I find myself to be very distraught each day. We are used to going places and making incredible memories but that has been placed on hold. I think this has a major role in the deterioration of my mental health during the quarantine. Technology has been great in the way that we can video chat, but the feeling is indescribable. It almost makes me sadder because I want to be there with him in person in a time of struggle. Although this is all true, we both decided at the beginning of this that it is best to stay in our own homes for the protection of both of our families. Brenden’s father is still recovering to this day from an almost two-month long hospitalization from a total colectomy. His body is not fully recovered and we both would feel terrible if somehow this virus got to him. I have several other family members that I am very close with that I cannot see during this to keep them safe. My grandfather, Larry Swadling, has been battling multiple myeloma for 18 years and has a very weak immune system. I am �used to seeing him and my grandmother, Corrine, just about every week. It has been very hard to only see them through a videocall. Lastly, a huge way this has affect me personally is the way that college classes are being held. Originally, I thought it would be fine and my professors told us that we would do a synchronous meeting through our blackboard site. This only lasted a week for some and for others, our original plans changed completely. One of my professors who I will leave unnamed, did not have Wi-Fi at their house. Due to this, we were given a slideshow and basically told to learn the material ourselves. This was a more difficult class, so as you can imagine, I became very upset with the organization. Even though this was happening, we were still held to the highest standard to learn what they wanted us to. Another one of my professors did a synchronous session for the first week. Beyond this, they stated that the university recommended they not hold the sessions because students may have obligations. After this, again, we were sent PowerPoints to learn by ourselves. This became very frustrating to me. It had caused many mental breakdowns and tears because I felt that I was being robbed of these college courses. I reached out to a few of my friends and they expressed they were feeling the same way. In my mind, I thought the professors should still hold the meeting and record the session. This way, the students that could not make it would still be able to access it at a later date and still get the learning outcomes of the course for everyone. Due to this, I felt myself lacking motivation with each class. If there was no set time for me to meet in a virtual classroom, I did not want to sit on my laptop and read the slideshows. While I understand some individuals can learn this way, I cannot. Along with all my frustration, I had to realize I am not the only one in this boat. In fact, I am sure that all college students are feeling the burden of online classes. We were uprooted and planted back at our homes, which have many distractions. I have a 14-year old brother who seems to constantly be on my nerves. My father is constantly at home wanting to talk and get things done around the house. What I wanted them to do was to stop talking to me because I was so frustrated with life, that I wanted to take it out on them. These actions were totally not like me because I am very close to my family and always wanting to be involved with them. I felt that nobody understood what I was going through. Nobody �knows that often nights I cry myself to sleep out of fear, anger, uncertainty and sadness. But when I take a step back, they may be going through struggles themselves too. We are all in this together even though we may not know how long this is going to last. At the moment, we are on shutdown until May 1, 2020. As it did before, the shutdown may get extended leading to more emotions and frustrations. I must keep reminding myself that this is uncharted territory, and nobody knows what to expect. And again, we’re all in this together, nobody stands alone. � 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/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Experience Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dunham, Ashlyn Description An account of the resource Journal of GVSU student Ashlyn Dunham's experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-21 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-21_DunhamAshlyn 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6168197e480f552faa0f87d03bf749e7.pdf 3f7875a6787afcbf00963b46e12e920d PDF Text Text The Effects of COVID-19 COVID-19 has had both positive and negative effects on my life, as well as the lives of others. After GVSU made the transition to online courses on Wednesday March 11, I quickly moved off campus the next day. This is because students living in on-campus housing facilities were told to move out by the end of that week. However, at this time, the university was only planning on having courses online for two weeks, so a few weeks later, I had to drive three hours back to GVSU to move out the rest of my things. Luckily, my parents were able to help me with this process, as they were also working from home. Moving off campus in the middle of the semester and transitioning to online courses was definitely a whirlwind of an experience. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I had to cope with new losses which was difficult for me. Specifically, one of the most significant events was the cancellation of my study abroad trip to Ghana this summer. I am currently a sophomore and I had been looking forward to this trip since the beginning of freshman year. This year, I applied to the competitive study abroad program, was accepted, and already began planning a number of things. Aside from the trip, there were other events and activities on campus that I was looking forward to as well. So, not only am I missing out on these experiences, but I am now completing 15 credit hours of schoolwork online. I am an extremely focused and dedicated student. I spend a lot of time studying and completing schoolwork in order to get good grades. With that being said, I like face-to-face learning and being able to utilize opportunities such as office hours, tutoring services, etc. While I am still finishing the semester strong, I will admit that it is has been difficult to find motivation for online classes. However, all of my professors have been supportive in the process, sending encouraging messages along the way. Currently, my biggest fear is that we will continue to have online courses in the fall as well. Aside from school, my daily life at home has been uneventful. I spend a majority of my days studying and completing assignments for school. My mom and I have also been going on walks, watching a new TV series, and working on puzzles. I must admit that my daily life is getting boring. I am a member of the Pre-Physician Assistant Club on campus, so I have attended a couple virtual meetings at home as well. The other clubs that I am involved in on campus have not continued their meetings and events during this time. Furthermore, while I did not have a job on campus, I am scheduled to work at a nearby nursing home in a couple of weeks to occupy my �time. I worked there last summer as well and since I am no longer studying abroad, this is my “plan B” for the summer. I am hoping to attend Physician Assistant (PA) school, so I am required to have a large number of patient contact hours. However, I am becoming incredibly nervous about going back to work because there have been many positive cases of COVID-19 at the facility for both employees and residents. My family and I are currently healthy, and I would like to keep it that way. Luckily, the facility is providing the necessary PPE including masks, gloves, and goggles. Lastly, I want to address my family’s experience in getting everyday items such as groceries and household goods. My parents and I have had to be creative with our meals since we no longer have the option of going to a restaurant. We go to the grocery store about once a week in order to get food and other household products if they are in stock. There are many shortages of these basic goods including toilet paper, paper towels, and cleaning supplies. My family is almost out of disinfecting wipes, so our next project is to make our own wipes with paper towels, water, rubbing alcohol, and dish soap! Also, there have been various food products out of stock as well including pasta noodles, flour, butter, etc. Plus, we are limited to only one type of meat at a time due to the high demand. Luckily, a friend of ours sewed masks for us, so we can wear those to the grocery store. In the near future, I think that we will be required to wear masks in public. This has definitely been an unexpected experience that has required both major and minor adjustments. Recently, I attended a virtual lecture about how to stay engaged in the transition to online learning. The lecturer recommended that we use this experience as a time for personal growth and development. With that being said, I am trying to think about the positive aspects of quarantine, so after this semester is finished, I am going to start developing a plan for my future. I plan to solidify the PA programs that I want to apply to and begin working on my personal statement (since I have extra free time!). Overall, it is important and necessary that we stay resilient and adaptable during this time of uncertainty! � 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/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Experiences Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anonymous Description An account of the resource Journal of an anonymous GVSU student's experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-21 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> 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 and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-21_Anon_003 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/468f5c0019b3954d2b39f5d755f74051.pdf d438b9e7986fd39ce1e67bc1fc1df264 PDF Text Text COVID-19 Journaling My name is Caitlin Burnett and I am a current member of the women’s lacrosse team here at Grand Valley State University. This year, I am a sophomore and I was very excited for the season to start. As a team, we worked all fall and winter to be the best version of ourselves to beat our opponents. All of our early morning workouts and tough practices all paid off once season came around. Heading into this year, I was more than thrilled to tackle the season with my teammates. The senior class we had wanted to leave a positive and historical mark on this program by the time they left. All their motivational speeches, hard work on and off the field and dedication to this program really showed. I believed we could win a GLIAC ring this year and we were going to make it to the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately, our time was cut short. When the COVID-19 first hit the news, we were worried what it may bring, however, we never thought it would end our entire season. Schools across the country were starting to end spring seasons and we were scared when our last practice or game would be. On Thursday, March 12, 2020 our season was cancelled by the NCAA. I do not have any words to explain how our team felt that day. It was just a normal day and we just finished a normal practice. Everything was great until our head coach called us over and before she could even say anything, we all noticed the tears in her eyes. Our entire mood went from perfectly fine to devastated within a few seconds. We could not believe our season was over. We just returned from having an amazing start to our season going 3-1 in Missouri. We lost a hard battle against The University of Indianapolis but we created history beating Lindenwood University who was a top ten team. That week, we were preparing to play two teams in our conference which we were excited to finally be able to play at home. COVID-19 took away our season we were all so prepared for. I am very upset that our �season is done, however, I am more upset that I will never be able to play a game with that senior class ever again. They had such an amazing impact on this program and we were going to make history at Grand Valley this year. I miss being with my teammates and being out on that field with them. If I had the opportunity to play one more game or one more practice with that team I would do it in a heartbeat. � 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/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Burnett, Caitlin Description An account of the resource Journal of GVSU student Caitlin Burnett's experiences as a student athlete during the COVID-19 pandemic. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-22 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-22_BurnettCaitlin 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9174e3b9a14a62beb0153a2c949b10e6.pdf baba6f2fb9f5f544c58388b0f4490e15 PDF Text Text Katherine Satterfield Extra Credit Journal I am a junior this year at GVSU and live in an off campus apartment. When I heard that school was moving online, I packed up a few things and all the necessary school work materials and went home. Many of my belongings are still across the state, but since I am doing nothing outside of my house, I have found that I do not really feel the need to have them. I think that I was lucky with the courses I was taking this semester because the transition to online was pretty smooth. However, I was in a fieldwork class and I obviously was unable to continue to go to my site and get the experience that I had been able to get in the first few weeks of the semester. I think that I am not retaining information as well because it is much harder to find motivation to study while being at home instead of school. Many of my professors were very good about communicating and sending out emails and making this difficult situation a little more bearable. As I have been talking to other students, it seems like not everyone is having as much success as I am, as they counted on resources and in person communication and explanations that are now much harder to get. Before I came home, I had a job at the local domino’s pizza, but decided to leave and come home because I did not want to be interacting with people and delivering their pizzas. I am very fortunate at home and both of my parents were able to transition to working at home and are still able to do their jobs. No one around me has gotten sick and needed COVID testing, however a couple of my friends at different schools knew students who tested positive. Going to grocery stores or anywhere in public is a really weird experience for me right now. Everyone is wearing masks and it feels so strange being around this new standard. I have noticed a lot of new behaviors, like people crossing the street to avoid each other on the sidewalk as people walk outside. Something that has been going on in my community is that people have put up Christmas lights and other kinds of decorations to help try and cheer people up. My family has not faced any severe shortages of anything we desperately need and grocery stores are better stocked now than they were at the beginning of our lockdown. I am glad that the people near me are taking the appropriate precautions to help stop the spread and do our part to keep people safe. I think that this whole thing will hopefully make people more grateful for our everyday activities that go on outside of our houses and for our health care professions. � 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_2020-04-23_SatterfieldKatherine Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Satterfield, Katherine Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-23 Title A name given to the resource Covid-19 journal Description An account of the resource Journal of GVSU student Katherine Saterfield'd experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. 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/a68cc87a96c0dd9b169b0185d37da44c.pdf 411aa92b8286ea14cafbd5a745f117ef PDF Text Text Covid-19 Journal Hello, my name is [redacted] and I am a student at Grand Valley State University. I am going to begin talking about my personal experiences so far of being in the middle of this pandemic as a college student.Throughout this pandemic, everyone (including myself) has had to experience significant changes in our daily lives. Although most of the students at GVSU have moved off campus and back home, I am still at my apartment due to my job at a nursing home. Having to work during a time like this can be a bit stressful. Although having to suddenly adjust to online classes in the middle of the semester was a little confusing, the professors and the university did an outstanding job on helping us students adapt to the immediate change. Students adapt differently to situations like these which explains why some students may be struggling in their classes. However, I am doing well in all of my online classes. My home life at my apartment is pretty boring when i'm not working or doing homework hence the fact that nobody can go anywhere unless it's a necessity. To keep myself occupied, I have built puzzles, played video games, went on bike rides, and discovered a few new interests. To stay safe from covid-19, I have made sure to stay up on keeping my hands clean and not surrounding myself with groups of people. Although I have to wear a mask while working, I don't wear a mask when I get gas or go to the grocery store. Although I have seen a good amount of people wearing masks at the grocery store, I just wear gloves and make sure I don't touch anything of mine until I take the gloves off. If i'm out in public, I also try my best to stay at least 6 feet away from people. I made sure to stock up on essential items like toilet paper early, although many people I know have experienced shortages with essential goods. Currently, I don’t personally know anyone that has been infected from covid-19, although many people in the state of Michigan have been. Times like this are very hard on people but the most important things to do are staying clean, isolated, and aware. I hope everyone stays safe and we can get through this together! � 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_ANON_022 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anonymous 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 Covid-19 journal Description An account of the resource Journal from an anonymous GVSU student 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/fd4c5a62e263a4d084175f75a65c35f5.pdf 2206fec0d383f22f34f04d0539feb39b PDF Text Text COVID-19 Journaling Bryson J. Pacheco In this unprecedented time, many changes have occurred in my life. Classes have gone online, work has been extremely busy, and life plans have been put on hold. Personally, I have found that online classes are extremely hard for me to keep my focus. It seems that most of my peers feel the same way. In the age of social media and the internet, distractions are abundant. On top of that, my family has also been a distraction. They think online classes should be easier and that I have more time. However, it is quite the opposite. I have hours of recorded lectures, homework assignments, and quizzes. Being a senior, this is my last semester at Grand Valley. I have missed the opportunity to wish my friends of four years goodbye. Most of them are starting graduate programs in the summer, and we are going our separate ways. I am filled with sadness that I will not see them again for a long time. On top of school changes, I have faced even more changes at work. Several of my coworkers at Meijer Pharmacy have taken personal leaves due to the fear of contracting COVID-19. This means that we are extremely short staffed. During this pandemic, I have been working 40+ hours per week due to the high demand of patients needing their medications. Patients have been extremely grateful that I am working, and I am able to find a balance to working and making sure all my schoolwork is completed. We are required to wear facemasks for the entirety of our shift. I have not had any trouble obtaining PPE at work, it is supplied. One interesting change I have experienced at work is mandatory health assessments before starting every shift. We are asked questions and people take our temperatures every day. So far, my store has not had any cases of COVID-19, but I know other Meijer stores in the area have. During this time of uncertainty, I have seen the extreme panic shopping that people have done. In the stores, before a limit was set on high demand items, people were hoarding items that they did not need. I had a patient cry to me, stating that her unemployment check wouldn’t come for another week, but she was scared that items would not be in stock for her family. I know friends who are using paper towels and napkins for toilet paper. The selfishness that people have been showing has been shocking. This selfishness was also seen in protest around the state. Some people have no respect for the sacrifices frontline workers have made to keep everyone healthy. Overall, this pandemic has been an eye-opening experience. I know that I will never take online classes by choice. I have learned that people are selfish, and I have solidified that going into the healthcare field is the right choice for me. I have a desire to help people in this crisis, and I am doing my part, and will continue to do so. � 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_PachecoBryson Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pacheco, Bryson 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 COVID-19 Journal Description An account of the resource Journal from a GVSU student Bryson Pacheco 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/b20a9ac8c910dcd0cdcf9fc907ef1059.pdf 86439b88499f21a3d184b09b5d2ae6ee PDF Text Text Faith Vulcano 04/25/2020 COVID-19 Journaling The COVID-19 pandemic took almost everyone by surprise, especially those attending colleges. It had spread rapidly from country to country making its way to the United States. Right during Spring Break is when it made its appearance heavily in the U.S. and considering most students were away on vacation, it was the easiest way for it to be spread. Once colleges started switching to online and forcing those who lived on campus to go home, people began to take it a bit more seriously. I was one of the more fortunate ones, I had a lease off campus which meant I could stay in Allendale. I lived on the East side, which is where a majority of the COVID cases were and going back there would have given me a higher chance of contracting the disease. I was able to still do my online classes in the safety of my home. At the beginning of switching to online classes, everything was a bit rocky, professors didn’t exactly know how to handle it, especially labs that were never meant to go online. It took some time for everyone to get somewhat used to the new layout of how everything would work and eventually it became easier. The online downside I saw online was my drive to actually do the work. Most of the professors would not have homework or other assignments to do and would make most of the exams open book open notes, which means I did not study as hard as I would have in class. Many of the professors made extensions on things if you asked for it because it is difficult for some students to switch completely online, some need that person-toperson contact to understand the material. I know some people who dropped their grade drastically because of online classes. Once the colleges closed, a good majority of people went home. At my apartment, it’s just my roommate and I because we’re both health care workers, so we couldn’t exactly go home when we were needed more than ever. Life has been hectic it seems like, everywhere you go people look like they’ve just seen a ghost. They’ve taken all the toilet paper, gloves, masks, any type of sanitary or disinfectant. It’s making it hard for those of us in the medical field to have the supplies that we actually need to stay safe. At my work, we have to reuse our masks until they’re practically falling apart because there is just not enough for us to use. It’s unnerving to know that this disease is wiping out all age groups and that my generation is still not taking this as seriously as they should. I still see people in larger groups hanging out outside or drinking inside. The Coronavirus pandemic is scary for a majority of people, but I do think we’re taking it a little too far in this lockdown. I’ve already heard of so many adolescents committing suicide because they’re stuck without socialization that many of them need to live. Grocery stores have started taking supplies and putting them in the back for the elderly to use, since everyone else is taking them as soon they’re placed out. I have a good feeling that this will blow over once summer hits, but I also feel that COVID-19 is something we’re going to have to deal with every year just like the flu and common cold. Hopefully we have a vaccine by next winter, because that would help settle everyone's nerves. � 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_2020-04-26_VulcanoFaith Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vulcano, Faith Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-26 Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journal Description An account of the resource Journal from GVSU student Faith Vulcano 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/cff294a853b69bddaf3b2d49d4409914.pdf 42474b66a177d60c755f47bf8bbed748 PDF Text Text Trevor Vance 04/26/2020 COVID-19 Journaling As a student at Grand Valley State University I remember getting an email in the afternoon the Thursday we got back from Spring Break. It said that the school will be temporarily closing and that we should all go home. I was at the gym and everyone there was shocked. No one thought that it would have come to that, but I am thankful it did. I think the university to the necessary steps to keep everyone safe. I lived in an apartment with friends and we all started packing the next day to had home. It was a wild experience. It almost felt like I was dreaming. I was taking a sociology class at the time and the first day of class we discussed COVID-19 and none of us thought it would have got this big. We tracked it everyday until we eventually got sent home. I was able to pack up all my belongings and bring them home, but I did not have much down at my apartment. I did it by myself and headed back up north to my parents’ house. Before we got sent home, I had all A’s in my classes and I still currently have all A’s after several weeks of turning online. All my professors did a great job transitioning to online and still giving us the material, we needed to succeed. My professors sent out little motivational and “Stay safe” emails every now and then. They also checked up on us and make sure we had everything we needed to succeed so that was amazing. It was nice knowing that they had our backs if we needed anything. I believe that both the professors and myself handles the situation very well. The one thing I did not like about being sent home is that I didn’t have a gym. The gym is a huge part of my life and being without it for so long has mentally and physically worn me down. I personally believe that gyms should be able to stay open because for a lot of people that is their safe haven. In order to be myself I need workout and I haven’t been able to do that. That has been the hardest part about the whole situation in my opinion. My daily life consists of doing online work, working around the house, getting stuff ready for my graduate school application, and other little things. There is not much to do because you technically aren’t supposed to leave the house unless you need something. My family has been very supportive, and we are getting through this situation together. We play board games, do stuff outside, watch movies together, etc. One thing that I love is that we eat dinner around the table again. We haven’t done this in over a decade so it is nice to have this back again. I do not have a job off of campus so I can not speak on that matter. Getting everyday items like groceries and household items is a wild experience. Everyone avoids everyone and wears masks and gloves and you could see real concern in their eyes. There has not been shortages of supplies from where I am from (northern Michigan). People just stay to themselves and get in and out of the store. You don’t see any friendly conversations going on. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-26_VanceTrevor Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vance, Trevor Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-26 Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journal Description An account of the resource Journal of GVSU student Trevor Vance's experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9cb8fa4e933e53a192bd1ba2694a094e.pdf e89ec4a6067aaa13c2c55cb54283356d PDF Text Text COVID-19 Journal Due to COVID-19 I did have to move off campus suddenly. The night we found out that school was closing for what at the time was a few weeks, I packed enough for the weekend and ended up going home. I went back to my sorority house the next week to pack the majority of my belongings. I still have some of my things at the house and will be getting them when it is safe for me to go get them. My classes ended up going pretty well. I managed to pull off some really good grades and actually had my best semester yet. However, this was definitely my hardest semester. I ended up having much more homework than I had when I was going to in-person classes, and I think most of it was to supplement lectures and what I was missing out on by being online. The bigger work load was very stressful for me and making sure I had all of my due dates straight for homework assignments, quizzes, tests, and projects was a lot to manage. I am really proud of myself for pushing through the rest of the semester and getting the grades I got, and truly feel like I worked hard to earn them. My professors were nothing but encouraging and helpful. They were very available for help and I really appreciate all their hard work and caring messages. I am involved in Greek Life on campus. I sit on the executive board for my sorority, and it has been an extremely difficult transition. I miss all my friends dearly and really feel sorry for our graduating seniors that they will not get to experience all of their lasts as a member of our chapter. We have been working hard to put small things together for our seniors so that they will still feel as though we are there to celebrate all of their accomplishments with them! I am really hoping we will be back in the fall so that I can be with my friends again. My daily life is obviously much different than it was a month ago. I talk to my friends on the phone a lot now because that is the only option I have. It’s been about five weeks since I �have seen my boyfriend which has been hard. I have spent most of my time doing school work but now that finals are over, I will have much more free time. I am hoping to get back into working out regularly and plan on cooking some new foods and baking more. I used to bake and cook a lot and so I want to get back into those hobbies while I have the time. It’s been nice spending time with my family, but I really miss my friends. I had a job at a daycare close to campus while I was at school. That is now closed until further notice. I am not sure when that will reopen and if we will have to limit the number of children we can care for once we are able to open again. I wouldn’t be working there over the summer because I do not live in Grand Rapids, but I am hoping that I still have my job when I come back to campus. If we have to make cuts to the number of students, I am sure they will have to cut staff which worries me. Two of my family members most likely had the virus. First my little sister, then my dad. My sister was able to get a test, but it came back negative. However, with the symptoms she was having she was told to quarantine for two weeks. My dad was not able to get a test because he was told there was not enough. Because of his symptoms, he was told to quarantine for two weeks as well. My sister had milder symptoms for an extended period of time. She had a lowgrade fever that lasted two weeks along with a cough, body aches and shortness of breath. While her symptoms were considered mild, she was still miserable. My dad had more severe symptoms. He had a higher fever that only lasted about three days but had a bad cough and a lot of trouble breathing along with body aches that lasted about two weeks. He is still recovering and coughs a bit but is doing much better. This past month has been a very scary time for my family. �Going to the store has been very different. One person from our family goes and when they come back, we wipe down all of the packaging and boxes with wipes. Our grocery store has been out of a lot including meat products, eggs, toilet paper and cleaning supplies. They are often out of a lot of frozen foods and canned or boxed food. There is now a limit on how much of one item you can take. Lots of people are using Shipt or doing curbside pickup, and it often times takes days or even weeks to get a delivery time. There are also hours for senior citizens or immunocompromised people to come and shop for groceries in the morning, and the store is closing early so that the employees and receive shipments and stock the shelves. I have heard a lot about people going out of their way to make sure the grocery store employees feel appreciated which makes me feel happy. � 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/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bolda, Rachael Description An account of the resource Journal from GVSU student Rachael Bolda during the COVID-19 pandemic. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-24 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-24_BoldaRachael 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a6cd3392530375761e2e6313ff57c8f0.pdf ef01178102bc848063eaf25d39b24cc5 PDF Text Text COVID-19 Journal Kim L. Ranger Friday, March 6, 2020 Read this good article! Chen, Caroline. March 5, 2020. “I Lived Through SARS and Reported on Ebola. These Are the Questions We Should Be Asking About Coronavirus.” ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/i-lived-through-sars-andreported-on-ebola-these-are-the-questions-we-should-be-asking-aboutcoronavirus Friday, March 13, 2020 Worst Friday the 13th ever. My working from home request was approved so I went to the office to pack up my computer, monitor, etc. I felt weepy, sad at leaving my suitemates. Once I got home, I set up my home office with the work computer and moved my home laptop, monitor, etc., to the dining room. My home laptop decided to update Firefox and now it doesn’t have my bookmarks and asks me to login. Uninstalled it and am learning Safari. The little external camera won’t work. My work laptop won’t let me get to anything in the library website, as if it was all behind a firewall! After many emails, figured out that I had to change the settings on Firefox (despite having used my work laptop at home previously), Chrome, and Edge. I shouted and swore all afternoon. Saturday, March 14, 2020 Romano, Andrea. Updated March 12, 2020. “Stuck at Home? These 12 Famous Museums Offer Virtual Tours You Can Take on Your Couch (Video): Experience the best museums from London to Seoul in the comfort of your own home.” Travel + Leisure. https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museumswith-virtual-tours I like this idea! Aubrey, Allison. March 14, 2020. “The New Coronavirus Can Live On Surfaces For 2-3 Days — Here's How To Clean Them.” NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/14/811609026/the-newcoronavirus-can-live-on-surfaces-for-2-3-days-heres-how-to-clean-them So what does this mean for stuff we get from the stores? Wipe it all down when we get home before bringing it into the house? �Went walking in Aman Park this afternoon, enjoyed the quiet - heard a lot of birds and listened to the creek. I feel weird wanting to stay away from everyone, including old friends. Sunday, March 15, 2020 Menefee,Trey. March 11, 2020. “COVID19: The Outlook from Hong Kong: This is Bad.” The OSINT HK Brief. https://comparativist.substack.com/p/covid19the-outlook-from-hong-kong "Most Hong Kongers acted as if the virus was already here and raging undetected. Nearly everyone wore masks when they went outside, ... washed their hands frequently. Without being asked or ordered to, most businesses told workers to work remotely when that was an option. Malls, buses, trains, and restaurants were nearly empty for two months. With Hong Kong now ranked below 50 on the outbreak dashboards, there’s a prevailing sense in Hong Kong that we saved ourselves. ... Every infectious disease has nearly flat-lined too, in fact." Monday, March 17, 2020 Kangaroo Sanctuary Alice Springs. March 16, 2020. “Even Priscilla Queen of the Desert loves munchy grass.” https://www.facebook.com/thekangaroosanctuary/ Share cheer and kindness! Bellm, Cameron. March 9, 2020. “Prayer for a Pandemic.” Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/B9iC8UbFGMz/ Cameron Bellm, a mother of two living in Seattle, offered this “Prayer for a Pandemic” on Instagram. “May we who are merely inconvenienced Remember those whose lives are at stake. May we who have no risk factors Remember those most vulnerable. May we who have the luxury of working from home Remember those who must choose between preserving their health or making their rent. May we who have the flexibility to care for our children when their schools close Remember those who have no options. May we who have to cancel our trips Remember those that have no safe place to go. May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market Remember those who have no margin at all. �May we who settle in for a quarantine at home Remember those who have no home. As fear grips our country, let us choose love. During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other, Let us yet find ways to be the loving embrace of God to our neighbors. Amen.” Friday, March 20, 2020 Pueyo, Tomas. March 19, 2020. “Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance: What the Next 18 Months Can Look Like, if Leaders Buy Us Time.” Medium. https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-the-hammer-andthe-dance-be9337092b56 Good explanation. Thursday, March 26, 2020 VanWingen, Jeffrey. March 24, 2020. “PSA Grocery Shopping Tips in COVID19.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjDuwc9KBps An excellent video on handling groceries and take-out food at home! Yet it caused me great angst. World Economic Forum. March 20, 2020. Coronavirus: These products work best to kill the virus. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/clean-killcoronavirus-covid19-safety-health/ Another good, short article on how to clean and what with (oh, who cares about ending sentences with prepositions!). Saturday, March 28, 2020 We are paying our housecleaner (by check via mail) but doing the cleaning ourselves. We really value her, and I am still paid to work at home. I am buying gift certificates from my massage therapist instead of going there. My hair lady's job will still be there and I'll pay/tip her extra when I resume. However, I'm not sure what to do about the neighbor kid - I'd like him to rake but it's not "lifesustaining" and technically violates the "stay-at-home" order. Probably will just do it myself. I made chapati (flat bread) for the 1st time! No yeast, leavening, or eggs needed. I didn't roll them thin enough but they were fine anyway for sandwiches. Only I substituted 3/4 c regular white flour + 1/4 c almond flour. �Sunday, March 29, 2020 Spent an hour and 20 minutes at Aman Park this morning; it was early and very quiet and I only saw 2 other people. Sand Creek has flooded. A few Hepatica were budded and ready to open! Heard my 1st Phoebe of the year, plus the wood frogs. Also, I realized that the black squirrels in Aman are a color variant of Fox Squirrels (same size, not smaller like Gray Squirrels). On the way home, saw a Red-tailed Hawk soaring and 3 Sandhill Cranes in a field. Rosel, MaryEllen Walter. March 29, 2020. #prevention. Facebook post. https://www.facebook.com/maryellen.rosel “Study after study demonstrates that even if there is only a little bit of connection between groups (i.e. social dinners, playdates/playgrounds, etc.), the epidemic trajectory isn't much different than if there was no measure in place. ... You should perceive your entire family to function as a single individual unit; if one person puts themselves at risk, everyone in the unit is at risk. ... Seemingly small social chains get large and complex with alarming speed. [E.g.,] If your son visits his girlfriend, and you later sneak over for coffee with a neighbor, your neighbor is now connected to the infected office worker that your son's girlfriend's mother shook hands with.” And for this afternoon's cooking experiment, I made Pork Picadillo Lettuce Wraps. I forgot to put the url where I found the recipe, but it contains onion, garlic, chopped green olives, an orange bell pepper, golden raisins, substituted pinenuts for the slivered almonds, salt, cayenne, crushed red pepper, cinnamon, and cloves. Served it with shredded cheese and green salsa. Wednesday, April 1, 2020 Last night's chapati had zatar, fennel seeds, and fresh chives. Yum. Saturday, April 4, 2020 Most people at the park have no clue about 6-10 feet of physical distance, which increased my anxiety. Tuesday, April 7, 2020 COVID-19 Ahmad, Aisha S. 2020, March 27. “ Why You Should Ignore All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-You-Should-Ignore-AllThat/248366 “Global catastrophes change the world.... the legacy of this pandemic will live with us for years, perhaps decades to come. It will change the way we move, build, learn, and connect. … The emotionally and spiritually sane response is �to prepare to be forever changed.” "Let go of all of the profoundly daft ideas you have about what you should be doing right now. Instead, focus intensely on your physical and psychological security." I felt quite productive at first, but today am having trouble concentrating. So Ahmad's thoughts are very relevant. Also, it is warm out! Stage 2 "Now more than ever, we must abandon the performative [productivity] and embrace the authentic. Our essential mental shifts require humility and patience. Focus on real internal change. These human transformations will be honest, raw, ugly, hopeful, frustrated, beautiful, and divine. And they will be slower than keener academics are used to. Be slow. Let this distract you. Let it change how you think and how you see the world. Because the world is our work." Stage 3 "On the other side of this shift, your wonderful, creative, resilient brain will be waiting for you. ... Things will start to feel more natural. The work will also make more sense, and you will be more comfortable about changing or undoing what is already in motion. ... Emotionally prepare for this crisis to continue for 12 to 18 months, followed by a slow recovery. If it ends sooner, be pleasantly surprised. Right now, work toward establishing your serenity, productivity, and wellness under sustained disaster conditions. ... On the other side of this journey of acceptance are hope and resilience. We will know that we can do this, even if our struggles continue for years. We will be creative and responsive, and will find light in all the nooks and crannies. We will learn new recipes and make unusual friends. We will have projects we cannot imagine today, and will inspire students we have not yet met. And we will help each other." What an amazing essay, exactly at the time I needed it. Sunday, April 12, 2020 Stevens, Christian. April 8, 2020. “The Origins of SARS-CoV-2: Part 3. Was this virus designed in lab? Accidentally released?” https://leelabvirus.host/covid19/origins-part3 As my colleague bat researcher Amy Russell says, "an excellent read." Very scientific, and I didn't feel able to concentrate fully, just read the conclusions in bold. �Today's cooking adventure was barbequed boneless chicken thighs. Used Bitty's recipe for bourbon BBQ sauce and the charcoal grill. They were quite tasty, especially so because neither of us likes dark meat! Monday, April 13, 2020 COVID-19 2 Yesterday, we went to a park for a short walk. We walked slowly on a boardwalk at the end of the road and saw a few birds, a bird's nest, ripples on the lake, pussy willows, and a lone Spring Beauty blooming. As we returned to the car, I was grateful that another walker had waited for us to leave the path before he proceeded. Grateful that he stayed away. That is what has been the most difficult thing for for me about this crisis.* Being afraid of seeing other people, of interacting with them when I can't control the distance. Of picking up groceries or take-out food when the substitute shoppers, cooks, and servers aren't wearing masks of any sort. Of neighbor kids running full tilt toward me as they are pulled along by their dog. There's nowhere to go, no escape. I have to turn my face and body away, hold my breath, keep walking until I am compelled to breathe. Is there anything positive that may come from what’s happening?* Via social media, I've seen cool art and crafts that others are making. I've sent more letters, both via snail mail (hurrah for the USPS) and email. I've made more of an effort to cook on the weekends, trying recipes that are new to me. I've exercised more during the week. I chat more with colleagues. More on another day. *Prompts from: Jen A. Miller. "Why You Should Start a Coronavirus Diary." New York Times, April 13, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/smarter-living/whyyou-should-start-a-coronavirus-diary.html Sunday, April 19, 2020 COVID-19 3 People write that the world will be different after this, and I think education becomes even more important - teaching people to see others' points of view, teaching empathy, caring, and how to practice kindness. Changing the economy from frontier or pioneer (always expanding) capitalism to something more like democratic socialism, I hope. �But how do we deal with fewer hugs and kisses? They have become more important, more necessary, and deadly. We also have to teach people to pay attention to the sky, the sunshine and precipitation, the clouds, the plants and animals. We have to change our mechanization to use less-destructive energy. We have to recycle, stop polluting, and actively clean up the planet. Put resources into recycling plants and return to creating products that last a long time. Put education resources into teaching people to fix things - the trades are important - plumbing, mechanics, heating and cooling. Cleaners, teachers, servers, carers (e.g., daycare and nursing home workers, nurses, "personal care attendants") need to be paid as well as or better than the so-called "white collar" employees and owners. Everyone needs healthcare, education, and other human rights. The United Nations has "Peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet" on their homepage now. Their sustainable development goals are what pre-school to higher education should consider as the basic curricula. Wednesday, April 22, 2020 COVID-19 4 One of my colleagues asked to meet online but hadn’t used google meet before – he was pleased with it being so easy, and actually tutored me on changing my settings even though it was his 1st time using it! He has been thinking about how to re-open in f2f with shields between faculty and students in offices and in public-facing offices (in my case, our service desks), using only the largest classroom/lab spaces with fewer students. Will the uni limit the # of students in f2f classes for the fall? It seems counterproductive to financial sense but common sense for maintaining health. If we schedule f2f library instruction, do we ask to split the classes up into different days or sessions if they have too many students to space appropriately? It’ll be noisier when we ask them to collaborate while being farther apart, and we can handle that! (As long as we’re prepared ahead of time.) How do we do the “working with each student individually” in a lab/classroom setting? I can only imagine it takes away from emotional safety if a student has to share their topic loudly. We might have to do this in hallways if in a space that allows for it and in my library, have one of the adjacent small rooms booked. I’m not sure how to handle f2f individual consultations in my office – or if we should only use the bookable small group rooms – but wiping them down in between uses? And/Or do we both wear masks, no matter which space we use? �I think we could do some great brainstorming together! Friday, April 24, 2020 COVID-19 5 Can opportunities be found within this pandemic? My colleagues and I have found that in creating and modifying our instructional materials for the asynchronous environment, while practicing user-centered and accessible design principles, is a lengthy process. It is longer and more laborintensive than creating materials meant to be used in a face-to-face context when we have the luxury of explaining more fully as students use them. We have to spell each step out, and ask our student employees to test the results. Then, we find that after creating a new product we are compelled to go back to improve the previous products. Some librarians are good at creating short videos. I'm not, not yet. I'm better at explaining steps in written form with graphics. When a student colleague completed one assignment I had written, I saw gaps. Now back to modifying! Is iterative change or continuous improvement, as in changing our instructional materials, contradictory to transformational change? We're in the middle of a catastrophe, and transformational change should result, as seen by publishers opening up digital collections for no cost, education going online-only, and libraries continuing to provide services and collections digitally. What will the transformational change be in library instruction and our learning objects? Saturday, April 25, 2020 Saw a flock of Yellow-rumped warblers in Aman Park this morning! Also at least a couple of pairs of Wood Thrushes. A Pileated Woodpecker up close, on the ground - brilliant! On the way home, saw a Great Egret. Saturday, May 2, 2020 Last night I made green-bean-potato salad. Wash, snap, and break fresh green beans into bite-sized pieces. Boil 5-6 minutes until al dente and run them under cold water to stop them cooking and maintain the color. Use really small potatoes or cut them into bite-sized pieces, and boil until tender. Mix them together with crumbled feta cheese, onion or shallots (I used dried this time), vinegar of choice (I like rice wine vinegar), olive oil, salt and pepper. Optional: add fresh chives, or herbs. Thanks to a former friend for the recipe many years ago. The proportions are all to taste or based on what is available. �Tomfoolery. April 29, 2020. “A bed time story of how it started, and why hindsight’s 2020.” https://www.facebook.com/probablytomfoolery/videos/925284527912453/ Wonderful. Watched and listened all the way through. Sunday, May 3, 2020 10 Interesting Facts. Fencing Uniform. https://www.10interestingfacts.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/12/fencing-uniform.jpeg When we return to work, here is the outfit I'm hoping to wear. Mask, gloves, and stay 6 feet away or you will feel the tip of my sword! (I'll wear a regular cloth mask with a filter.) Tuesday, May 5, 2020 COVID-19 6 What have I been learning to do differently to support online learning? • Did a literature search and revised library subject guides to include more instruction and to reduce “cognitive load” with better design; modified my guide profile to include COVID-19 special information • Revised handouts to be more specific as online learning objects • I have used PowerPoint for conference presentations, but thought that for the online spring courses, I would use PowerPoint as a jumping off point to create videos. So far, no instructional videos, but the PowerPoint supplements the other items • Created a 18-second Panopto video to introduce myself to students; also learned how to incorporate a quiz into the video • Learned how to create Blackboard Course Rooms for specified office hours • Learned to use Zoom • Learned to use the Lib Apps virtual chat module • I got a sanctioned institutional account, learned to sign into Google Hangout and to create Google Meetings, and moved items from my private Google Drive to my new institutional account for security and privacy • Read the article by Wagner, Travis L., and Archie Crowley. (2020). “Why are bathrooms inclusive if the stacks exclude? Systemic exclusion of trans and gender nonconforming persons in post-Trump academic librarianship.” Reference Services Review (48), 159-181. https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0090-7324/vol/48/iss/1 Although I had already included many of the recommended practices, I revised the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resources guide to be even more welcoming, as there have been more articles about LGBTQIA people feeling especially isolated during COVID-19. � 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_2020-05-08_RangerK Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ranger, Kim L. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-03-06/2020-05-08 Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journal Description An account of the resource Thoughts of an androgynous (non-binary) married lesbian, Quaker, liaison librarian, tenured faculty member during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University 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/822765e6868debca3c0b35cf56ba7edb.pdf fe9b0821f8d4501057c1149b2837e617 PDF Text Text Journal: Thursday, April 23rd 2020 Never in a million years would I have expected a pandemic to occur during my sophomore year of college. It’s been really weird adjusting to life during quarantine and makes me wonder what the new “normal” will be afterwards. I did move off of campus very suddenly due to COVID-19. When I left, I brought my school stuff, about a week's worth of clothes, and my toiletries. I left my apartment on March 14th and just recently went back with my parents on Saturday April 18th to get most of the stuff out of my apartment. I still have things there that could not fit into my car after the first trip back. My online classes are going okay, it's a bit more challenging doing every class online, especially classes that are challenging for me in the first place. My professors have all been extremely lenient and kind while we all navigate online learning however, and I appreciate that. Some of my friends that are students are having harder times as well due to stress of trying to finish out the semester with COVID-19 looming over our heads. I’m stressed as well. I have been helping out a lot around my parent’s house. Both of them are still working full time. My mom works from home and my dad still has to go in. I can tell they are both stressed about not only our immediate family, but our extended family as well. I’m trying my best to make sure they don’t really have to worry about anything when they are done with work for the day. As for my extended family, we deliver groceries to every family member that may be more at risk than us, like my grandma. My friends are mostly just stressed with classes and bored. I did have a job on campus in parking services. We stopped working as soon as the university moved to online classes. If there is nobody on campus, who do we have to enforce? Thankfully, nobody that I know has had COVID-19 yet. However, my aunt does work on the COVID-19 floor of St. Joseph Hospital in Howell as a nurse. She has been having trouble finding n-95 masks and is only provided one a week by the hospital. My family and friends have been sewing mask covers to go over the n-95 masks to make them last longer. Usually we don’t have a problem finding anything at the store (unless it’s toilet paper, hand sanitizer, or wipes) when we go in the morning. We are usually able to find toilet paper at costco when my mom runs there early in the morning. It's been tough coping with COVID-19 and the weird twists that it has brought to my life. It has brought to light some things that I take for granted on a daily basis, like hugging family, or celebrating birthdays. Things that I’ll make sure not to miss out on in the future. � 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_2020-04-23_ANON_016 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anonymous Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-23 Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journal Essay Description An account of the resource Journal of an anonymous GVSU student's life after GVSU was impacted by COVID-19. 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/f3b98ef84d83fce7a108e76f8ed1e4f0.pdf 20c6dbbf813eae45d81dfa3756429e68 PDF Text Text COVID-19 Journaling Katelyn Anthony I am a fifth-year senior at Grand Valley State University and I am officially graduating this week with my bachelor’s degree in social work and minor in psychology. I just want to begin by giving some background information about myself, and how this virus has personally affected my life. I could have never imagined that I would finish out my college career online, let alone in my hometown and living with my parents. Although I did plan to return to the east side of the state after graduation, I felt as though my time at Grand Valley was cut short. When the virus began to make the news I did not think much of it. My dad continued to tell me “this virus is going to get bad, and when it does I want you to come home”. I continued to brush off what he was saying and continue with everyday life like many of us did. I first realized that this was serious when Grand Valley, along with colleges and public schools all over the state began closing. I was in the process of finishing out my last few weeks at my internship, and I couldn’t imagine being told I could not go. Grand Valley gave social work students the option at first, if we felt comfortable attending our internships, we could go. I was determined to still go as I had a lot of responsibilities and absolutely loved my internship site. I drove to my internship the following Monday that Grand Valley moved to online, and was then told within the first ten minutes of being there that all interns had to leave, but I did not know I would never return. That day my parents asked if I could come home as they wanted us all to be together. I drove home that day, only packing essential items to last me a few weeks. Looking back, I wish I would have packed more, but I was confused and unsure how long this was going to last. I still have the majority of my belongings in Grand Rapids, and that has been difficult for me. I feel like my life is in different places, as my fiance’ and I are also in the process of moving into our first house. The transition to online classes was very difficult for me in the beginning of the switch. I do feel that over time, I have adjusted as best as I can. I had never taken an online class in my five years of college before this, because my learning style is not compatible with online learning. I do not know how I would have managed it if I had a heavier course load like in previous years, but since this is my last semester it is very manageable. My professors have been understanding and very supportive through this transition, which is something I am very thankful for. My professors have been more than willing to make adjustments and consider how difficult these unforeseen circumstances can be for a college student. I have had a difficult time �processing the numerous changes that unfolded in my life so quickly. Some of the most difficult things for me to process have been a lack of closure in many areas of my life. I did not get to say goodbye to my fellow classmates, my professors, or my wonderful co-workers at my internship. I have also felt a sense of guilt, as I want to be at my internship helping with the high demand of those seeking mental health services. It has been difficult for me to engage in job searching, as there is a lack of agencies hiring right now due to the virus. I have also had to consider finding a job that is not in my field of study to make ends meet until I can find a job within my field of study. The process of job searching has brought a lot of excitement for me, but also a lot of anxiety. It is hard for me to imagine starting my first “real” job, when I have no sense of “normalcy” in my life at all. I have applied to various jobs, but this is a difficult time to be searching for employment, as I am also nervous about putting myself at risk for the virus as well. I found something someone wrote on LinkedIn that I thought I would share for the graduating class of 2020 below: “I'm thinking about the Clas s of '20, entering a job market that will be among the wors t ever for a graduating clas s , and who aren't even getting graduation ceremonies (in mos t cas es ) to celebrate their achievements . Now, and for years into the future, I hope that every employer will take s pecial note when they s ee a 2020 degree date on a job applicant's res ume, and give that pers on an extra look, at the very leas t. Build it into your res ume review algorithms . T his clas s des erves s pecial cons ideration for what they're going through now, as they finis h up their degrees in extraordinary circums tances , and as they enter the workforce like they're jumping off a cliff. Let's all catch them, as bes t we can”. --Diana Curtis Although I have struggled with the lack of closure, job hunting, and sudden life changes, I have also had the time to reflect on the many opportunities and experiences that I was provided with while at Grand Valley. I have also been blessed to spend extra time with my parents that I would not have had. This time of quarantine has also brought a time to pause and practice gratitude. One thing that I have taken away from all of this is that life can change at any given moment. What our “normal” lives look like one day, can be completely different the next. Oftentimes, it is easy to get in a mundane routine, but this has given us the opportunity to spend quality time with the ones that we love. Every single person has been affected by this virus somehow, someway. We are all in this together. I hope that we are able to find some beauty in the midst of what feels like chaos in the world around us. I look forward to the day that we can get back to everyday life, but I do hope that we can take what we have learned from this �experience and live differently. I feel beyond lucky that myself and my family have all stayed healthy so far, and I continually think and pray for the families that have lost loved ones or cannot go to the hospital to visit a loved one due to this virus. I believe that this pandemic will have such long lasting effects on our entire world. Since I am pursuing my career in social work, specifically within the mental health field, my mind continually is thinking about the high demand for mental health social workers that this is going to cause. Those with previous mental health diagnoses, along with those who will develop a mental health diagnosis due to the pandemic. I believe that we all have worries about how long this will go on, and even what life will be like once this is over. I plan to continue taking it one day at a time, and to be there for those who need support. I plan to help as best as I can, and I am ready to begin my career in the mental health field once this is all over. � 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/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journaling Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anthony, Katelyn Description An account of the resource Journal entry of GVSU student Katelyn Anthony's experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-20 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> 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 and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-20_AnthonyKatelyn 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1883784e42d4b92b7dcea6c221e15356.pdf 1d8f2d7dd075b050fb12ad22a6a74b72 PDF Text Text Shortly after the first case of covid-19 in Michigan was announced, I made the three hour drive back to my hometown. My parents were very adamant that they wanted me home with them during this time. They also said that if I didn’t come home soon they didn’t want me to come at all since they were worried that I would later be exposed to the virus and not able to travel. I didn’t need much help bringing any of my belongings home since I live in an apartment off campus so I didn’t need to completely move out. The tough part was deciding exactly what necessities I needed to bring home since I didn’t know the next time that I would be back at my apartment. Although, at the time I was packing things I only thought I would be gone for a few weeks so I didn’t bring much home. The transition to online classes has been both easy and tough for me. The online classes are easier I think because most of my professors have changed all of our quizzes and exams to open notes. Although, I will say that statistics is not easy to learn online. I am more of a visual learner so without seeing my professor go through examples on the board, it is tough. My professors have been sending out almost an email a day and I can tell that they are trying to be very helpful. I think that the adjustment is just as difficult for them as it is for us as students. When I was on campus I wasn’t involved in any student organizations, sports, or clubs but I bet the students who were must be really missing their hobbies. During this quarantine I have been spending a lot of time with my parents. Since I'm at my apartment most of the time during the school year I see them as much as I can. It has been nice getting to spend this time with them but sometimes we get sick of eachother and need space. There isn’t much to do to “get space” so I usually just watch movies in my room to give myself some alone time. I wish that I could spend time with my hometown friends since they are all home from college but I also understand that social distancing is very important right now. I am �thankful that my friends and family are all healthy and being safe. Although, my dad is considered to have underlying medical conditions with his high blood pressure so we are being extra careful to stay germ free in our household. I have two jobs lined up for me when I am home. One is working at a pool so that is strictly for the summer. The other job is working as a host at Applebee’s and as of right now, Applebee’s is only taking pick up orders so they don’t need hosts to work. I do not know if the pool will even be opening up this year due to the virus. I also don’t know when Applebee’s will be opening up either. If neither of them open soon then I won’t have a job this summer, let alone two. My parents are not working right now either. My mom is an occupational therapist and works in nursing homes so when more and more cases started to arise she chose to take a leave of absence. My dad owns his own cement company in Detroit, which usually opens April 1st, but since it isn’t considered an essential business he has not been able to work. When we go grocery shopping we wear masks and gloves in the store. That seems to be the new norm these days. When we get home from the grocery store we use lysol wipes to wipe down all of the groceries before we bring them inside our house. We haven’t been experiencing any supply shortages recently. Although, when the cases in Michigan started to increase we did have a hard time finding things like toilet paper and paper towels since people were buying in bulk. Things are getting better in Michigan, slowly but surely, and I hope that it continues. � 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/. Title A name given to the resource Covid-19 journaling Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anonymous Description An account of the resource Journal of an anonymous GVSU student's experiences with online classes, moving off campus suddenly, and work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-22 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Attribution (CC-BY 4.0)</a> Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-22_Anon_007 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/50ceb6be8bdf7170d0a5d93975115ad8.pdf 0c7193d6f8bbc3d2728e413cdbe6e1b4 PDF Text Text The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone in individual ways. As a student at Grand Valley State University, I was not prepared to finish the semester online. I have taken online courses in the past, but only one or two at a time. Taking FOUR online classes at once has been extremely overwhelming. The hardest part of taking these online classes was the fact that these courses were not originally created to be virtual. Professors had to reconstruct their syllabi so that students were able to finish the semester. I found it hard to find the motivation to finish school because of distractions at home and the stress from courses moving online. While in-class sessions were still happening, I would usually go on campus to complete homework so that I could focus. At home I have a 1 ½-year-old dog who is incredibly energetic. As much as I love spending time with him, it is not always easy completing tasks with him around. Additionally, it was hard to keep track of assignment due dates because they constantly kept changing. Due to syllabi being changed, some assignments were added, others were canceled, and some professors added additional weekly assignments. To say the least, it was frustrating. Luckily, my professors were extremely understanding of everyone’s current state and worked well with us students to make sure we finished out the semester. In comparison, I had friends who are BMS majors and they did not receive the same support that I did from their professors. One of my friends mentioned to me during finals week that her schedule for exams was basically the same. She still had to wake up at 8a.m. to take an exam that was 92 questions long. I, on the other hand, was given a couple days to complete my exams online. I was also grateful to end the semester with my friends from Alpha Phi Omega. Everyone was supportive of each other and the president of the organization, Madison Cruz constantly checking up on us. Due to the pandemic, we were unable to hold elections for positions on �e-board. Since we are a service fraternity we were also unable to finish service events we had planned for the rest of the year. APO was able to find other ways to serve those in our community. A member in the organization posted a volunteering opportunity to make cards for essential medical workers at the hospitals, and another opportunity was helping deliver groceries to elders in Grand Rapids who were unable to leave their homes. It was amazing to see everyone still finding ways to help the community. Being at home was slightly stressful as things got a little tense among my roommates. I found it even more frustrating that one of my roommates was still traveling with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend and her started quarantining at our apartment, then went back to her hometown in Illinois, then came back, left again to go to his place in East Lansing, went back to IL, and then came back here. I found it completely disrespectful that she would put some many people at risk because of her own personal boredom. It amazed me to see the number of people at the grocery store when I went. During a pandemic you would think that people would be listening and staying home for their own safety, but when I went grocery shopping you would have never thought a pandemic was going on. I saw people just checking out with a few things and others with cartloads. One thing this event has taught me is that we can not get through this unless we stick together. I have seen some people showing their support for others, but also a great deal of people taking advantage of the situation. It is really disappointing to me to see so many people ignore Governor Whitmers’ Stay At Home order and get upset with her about it. I think a lot of people are unaware about how serious the virus is and why these policies are being put into place. Just like everyone else, I long for the day that I can go out and hang with my friends, but until then it is important that we stay safe and practice social distancing. � 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/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journaling Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anonymous Description An account of the resource Journal of an anonymous GVSU student's experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-26 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://creativecommons.org/use-remix/cc-licenses/#by">Attribution (CC-BY 4.0)</a> Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-26_ANON_025 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e9776c2ad66b962a9e30048940cd6a19.pdf 62169714d67f5ca04094e334174c918d PDF Text Text Grace Secontine COVID-19 Journaling Project Date: March 18-now Human touch. Our first form of communication. It connects us when we are happy, bolsters us in times of fear, excites us in times of passion ... and love, we need that touch from the ones we love almost as much as we need air to breath. I always understood the importance of touch during normal times, but now since the COVID-19 pandemic is happening, now I cannot understand the importance of touch... Until it got stolen from all of us…. Including me. The pandemic has changed my life in so many ways. For example, for my 22nd birthday, my original plan before the pandemic happened was, I was supposed to have the day off from work and go out to dinner with my friends, but instead, I celebrated my 22nd birthday in quarantine. Before my dad got sick on March 18th, he said, “I am going to someone’s house for a gathering.” I said, “ok, see you tomorrow.” On March 19th, he came home not feeling well and he went to urgent care and when he came home he said, “Gracie, I tested positive for COVID, but the doctor told me that I have mild symptoms.” I called my mom about it and she said, “Grace, I want you to quarantine at dad’s till he feels better. I love you very much and I will see you soon.” I was the only one who had to take care of my dad. I was also finishing my junior year of college as well. My mental state during quarantine was not too good. I had nightmares that my dad was at Beaumont Hospital on a ventilator and not breathing. Some nights I had breakdowns because I missed my mom so much. I spent 3 ½ months at my dads and my mental health took a toll by not seeing my friends but instead zooming them on a computer. I was scared that my friends were going to get sick and die. I had hallucinations during quarantine that one of my best friends was in the hospital and the nurse telling me that he is going to die the next day and I remember screaming and crying while I was in my room. How does it really feel preparing to go back to a college campus during a pandemic? It is unsafe and risky. The week before Grand Valley’s classes started, I decided to stay home and do online classes because I didn’t feel safe going back to a college campus. If I were on campus and got COVID, who would take care of me? Also, I would share a bathroom with my roommate, which I think is unsanitary because I do not want her germs to be in contact with mine. My parents and friends told me that I made the smart decision by not going on campus this semester. I plan to go �Grace Secontine COVID-19 Journaling Project Date: March 18-now on campus in January once hopefully COVID is under control. Young people especially college students are putting their own lives at risk by being around people that are from different states across the U.S. and who knows if they were in any type of large gathering over the summer and exposed to someone who was sick with COVID. This school year is different because of fall sports being cancelled due to COVID-19 and not a single fraternity party on a weekend. I was unemployed during the pandemic until June 9th. When I went back to work in June, I thought to myself, “I am putting my own health at risk by being around customers.” I was also nervous to wear a face mask because I did not know what people would say to me. My friend Michael McInerney told me that I am brave that I went back to work and he said, “I wish I could hug you, but I can’t.” I said, “I know.” It almost brought tears to my eyes that I could not even hug my friend. When my friend Jack Reinhart came in, he recognized me, and he could tell that I was smiling beneath my face mask. I said to him, “I didn’t want any guy from Seaholm to see me. You know, me wearing a face mask, I think it’s not cute.” I told him that I did not want them to ask me why I must wear one. He said, “I think it's cute!” Throughout the whole summer, I bonded with a lot of my co-workers including Amelia, Ellen, TC, Bre, Chase, Selena, Jalen, Sophie, and Trent. They know what I have been going through lately, and they understand. Whenever I am feeling down, Trent, TC, and Chase always make me laugh (a lot) until my face is beat red. Trent and I got really close until he had to transfer to another location, and we are still close. They made my summer memorable despite COVID. One day after work, I hung out with my friend Jack Reinhart. We both wore masks when we walked around Downtown Birmingham. After we ate dinner, we went back to his house and we talked. He told me something funny that happened at his internship office today and I started smiling. He said, “there’s that smile. God your beautiful and brave. I wish I could touch you.” I said, “like giving me a hug?” He said, “yes.” I told him that everyone lost that human touch like hugging their friends. My co-workers and I hung out on weekends and sometimes one weekday after work, we went out to get food, despite being six feet apart and not hugging them. I have been separating myself from large crowds of people so I can live. And I want to live. I wake up every morning thinking to myself, “how am I surviving this pandemic?” After all COVID-19 has stolen from us, I do not mind taking something back. 1 foot. (I am talking about the 6 feet �Grace Secontine COVID-19 Journaling Project Date: March 18-now apart rule). The one thing I learned from this pandemic is get close to the people you love and the people you work with. The COVID-19 pandemic has likely brought many changes to how you live your life, and with it uncertainty, altered daily routines, financial pressures and social isolation. You may worry about getting sick, how long the pandemic will last, whether you'll lose your job, and what the future will bring. Information overload, rumors and misinformation can make your life feel out of control and make it unclear what to do. During the COVID-19 pandemic, you may experience stress, anxiety, fear, sadness and loneliness. And mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression, can worsen. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-10-27_SecontineGrace Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Secontine, Grace Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-27 Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journaling Project Description An account of the resource Journal of GVSU student Grace Secontine's experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a502633915da26190bd1ab73bfbe578d.pdf a2f9cbb08eaae88c97b0326ac8124f91 PDF Text Text April 24, 2020 Today is April 24, we are on lockdown day number 33 and a new extension has been set in place today, lengthening the stay at home order until May 15. This all started very quickly and unexpectedly the week that I got back from spring break on the 2nd of March. I had vastly heard of COVID-19 and the effects that it had in China; however, I had no idea the extent that this pandemic could reach. That Monday the 2nd of March, I had heard of 1 or 2 cases that had reached the United States and the scare that the media was spreading. I still wasn’t able to understand the actions that would soon take place. Within the next couple of days, with a couple of confirmed cases in Michigan, Grand Valley transitioned to online classes for the next two weeks. Within the first week of online classes, I received an email that informed students that classes will continue online for the rest of the semester. This transition was very difficult to deal with, especially handling school. Although many of my teachers were working very hard to make this transition as low stress as possible, it was challenging to keep on top of all the changes. I started receiving 5+ emails a day from some of my professors with updates and new information on everything that was changing. For example, in one of my classes, we had no online course, so our entire schedule for the rest of the semester was altered. We were originally supposed to have our 2nd exam the week that class was online, and I had spent a lot of time studying for it. Later however, I found out that our exams were cancelled, and we would have to right a long paper instead based on a different topic related to the class. During the semester, I often find myself getting into a system, knowing when everything is due and also having a schedule of the assignments that I have to do every week. This sense of comfort was completely taken away, as classes were drastically changing their syllabus and new assignments or quizzes were due during the weeks. Ultimately, the uncertainty of online learning brought with it a lot of stress as I always felt like I was missing something. In addition to the changes based on curricula, altering to online learning in it of itself has proven a difficult task. I am currently living at home with my parents and 2 siblings who are also in college. Both of my parents now have to work from home, so there are constant video meetings, phone calls, and recorded lectures going on, making it impossible to find any quiet time in the day. Also, because of everybody streaming and using the internet, it was sometimes difficult to connect to my collaborate sessions and would have to reconnect multiple times throughout classes. This made it challenging and stressful in taking exams especially. Another part of the online learning that was difficult is staying focused on the task at hand. My siblings have also been struggling with staying motivated throughout the weeks. Throughout the first couple weeks of the lockdown, certain items were hard to find. The biggest shortage that I have noticed is toilet paper. My dad would go to Meijer during the senior hour at 7 in the morning in attempt to find some toilet paper to buy. After the first couple of weeks, it seemed easier to find items including toilet paper, soap, and hand sanitizer. However even now, 33 days in, I still run across not being able to find certain items when I go to the store. Also, the atmosphere of shopping at grocery stores has altered since the pandemic started. Overall, it is very nerve racking to walk around the store and see everybody with masks and gloves and to have to stand on the taped lines 6 feet away on the floor. The realization really hit me the first time I went shopping at how serious people are taking the COVID-19. Sadly, it seems that the lockdown has brought out the worst in some people. During the beginning of the shutdown, my grandma’s purse was stolen in a Meijer parking lot during the senior citizen hour. Sadly, I realize the desperate situations many people may find themselves at this time, leading to more uneasiness when I leave the house. �So far, I have not heard of anyone that has been confirmed with the virus around this area. There have been a couple of distant acquaintances that I have heard of having similar symptoms including coughing, headaches, and/or shortness of breath but were either unable to be tested, or were and resutled that they did not have COVID-19. It is hard for me to understand the extent of the issue when what I am hearing about everyone I know around me and the media’s response does not seem to match up. In the way the media is portraying COVID-19, I would expect to be hearing of more cases around where I live in Michigan. In the beginning of the lockdown, my family had the news on constantly, trying to gather information of the state of the country and the responses that everybody was taking. However, this quickly got exhausting as everyday it seemed like there was new information on the virus and different approaches to combating this pandemic. Also, the news sources goal was to instill fear into the people watching, exaggerating the necessary response.. Rather quickly, we decided to limit watching the news throughout the day, turning it on for updates on the stay at home order and other issues of the world. Another area of frustration that this pandemic has brought upon deals with the way the Michigan governor has been handling the situation. Although I realize that drastic steps need to be taken for the safety of the state, the stay at home order has overreached into our livelihood. By picking and choosing what businesses and activities we can participate in, there have been discrepancies seen throughout the stay at home order. For example, all non-essential businesses were shut down, so a family friend of mine has a lawncare service and even though they are able to conduct their business without contact with other people, they are unable to work. Also, other rules were made including not allowing us to buy paint or flowers at stores and not being able to operate a motorized boat. Not only do we as a state have to deal with the scare of the pandemic itself but of our freedom being limited. On Thursday, April 15, there was a protest that occurred in Lansing, Michigan called Operation Gridlock. This was a protest against the stay at home order and all the activities that Michiganders are no longer able to do under this order. With thousands of protesters, Operation Gridlock seemed to be a success. However, in response to this protest, Governor Whitmer stated that this was strictly a political motive and not about her orders. This response made it clear that those who don’t agree with her decisions are unheard. I feel that the future of Michigan relies on our decisions today, and although these laws make us all be very careful, it will cause lasting damages on the economy and specifically on the lives of the people unable to make a living anymore. Before the lockdown, I was involved in a bowling league as well as leading a youth group. Both of these activities were shutdown rather quickly into the pandemic. Other youth groups at the church have continued to meet virtually, however my group consists of middle schoolers, so we decided that online learning would be difficult and opted to end meetings for the year. During the summer, I will be going to school full-time therefore I have not been affected by the lack of jobs. However, my boyfriend was supposed to start his first co-op for engineering this summer and found out today (April 24th) that he will not be able to work there. He recently quit his other job before the lockdown because he was planning on the co-op and now is struggling to find work for the summer. Ultimately, the lock down has drastically changed the way of life spurring up many conflicting emotions and concerns about the future of the state and the country as a whole. Even though these changes have been difficult to handle, spending more time with family is the positive impact that has come from the COVID 19 pandemic. When I go for walks, its refreshing to see all the neighbors outside playing with their children and I can see a beneficial aspect of the lockdown. In conclusion, many changes have occurred, causing daily adjustments of life, but I hope for the end of quarantine and look towards the rejuvenation of the country. �� 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_ANON_023 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anonymous 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 COVID-19 Response Description An account of the resource Journal from an anonymous GVSU student during the COVID-19 pandemic. Response on how the lock-down and COVID-19 pandemic has altered their way of living. 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/669762fc78204303d0656f8d80cf4af6.pdf d5e9453d63511f19f4223accc2c60f9e PDF Text Text COVID-19 Journal Entry 04/25/2020 The COVID-19 pandemic is something honestly pretty hard to wrap my mind around. The fact that I had to leave college March 17th because of an invisible disease that at that point had not necessarily shut down the entire state let alone the entire country. I remember hearing about it at the beginning when stuff happened in Italy and Spain and was honestly shocked but also thought to myself thinking it would never get that bad here in our country and did not ever think things would get like this in Michigan. I did move off campus suddenly and it was honestly ok at first. I had been wanting to go home for a long time as I had not been home for a while and at first I thought I was just going home for 2 weeks and so I was like ok that should be fine. But then we got the news we had to move everything out of our on-campus housing because classes were going online and that was a shocker. It was difficult because I did not want to do online classes nor move back home for the rest of the semester. I was looking forward to so many different things and to hang out with my friends and to end the semester strong. I currently don’t have belongings still on campus. The semester just ended and I honestly did much better on online classes as I thought they were generally easier than my in person classes as they required a lot less work than they would have if we had been on campus and having in person classes. I have received many positive and encouraging messages from professors which has helped me during this time. Everyone is having a difficult time in one way or another and to remember that we are not alone and everyone really is in this together is quite helpful. Other students seems to be handling the changes similar to me as everyone is overwhelmed at times and frustrated with the ways things are but also I think in a way there is some contentment because we can’t change what happens besides following the guidelines and just have to be patient with things and know everything will be okay. In all honesty, part of me likes this time as I like not being busy. It has been a time of reflection, anxiety, as well as calm because I have taken each day quite literally day by day. At GVSU, I am involved in campus ministry. Thankfully, I still had the chance to go on my spring break trip with CM however the well and lifegroups came to a halt at the beginning of the shutdown. The Well and Lifegroups still met virtually however it was more difficult for me to want to keep up with them because they are not in person and I have had lots of interactions during this time that sometimes more is hard for me. At home, every day is a different day. I just started a job at Home Depot which I am excited because I can keep busy however it still makes me anxious because I don’t want to get sick and definetly do not want to be a carrier of the virus. I spend a lot of time outside when it is nice or I stay inside and watch tv/movies. I have also been exercising regularly as my family set up a April fitness challenge while in quarantine to see who works out the most. It has been fun to stay active in a time when a lot of stuff is sedentary. My parents are doing ok. My mom is extremely unhappy with losing her freedom and has been contacting her state representatives, the governor, and senators to express her opinion. My dad has been working from home all the time although I believe he will be going back to the office on Monday. It has been hard having him work at home because he is on the phone all day. My brother and sister are both in high �school and honestly have not really been doing any of their online schooling work. My brother works at home depot and has been for a little while. He has been staying busy which is good. My sister has been making lots of tik toks and watching lots of tv and studying for the SAT. My brother is a senior and has missed out on a lot of fun senior festivities sadly. I feel bad for him although he says that he doesn’t really care. He has hung out with his friends a couple times while following the social distancing guidelines. I have hung out with my friends as well and that is a good thing because it helps me get out of the house as well as other human interaction besides just my family. Getting groceries and everyday supplies has been interesting. I remember at the beginning when I went to move out all my stuff, my mom asked me to look for toilet paper in Allendale because there wasn’t any on the east side. I didn’t even look because I was like there will be toilet paper before we know it but there honestly has not. The one day my mom and dad went to go get toilet paper, it was the one-ply which was honestly the worst toilet paper I have ever used. Now, it doesn’t seem to be a problem at my house however target always has empty shelves whenever I go. You have to go at the crack of dawn in order to get the good kind. People stocked up on food and there have always been empty shelves when I have gone of good items like bread, peanut butter, meats, tortilla shells, and other products. However, there have always been lots of fruits and veggies which has been great. It has been interesting at the grocery stores with the plastic shields in front of the cashiers. Everyone keeps such a far distance and at times it makes me sad. This whole pandemic has been such an interesting situation. I am so thankful the I nor anyone in my family is sick however my aunt is a nurse and it has been so shocking to see what she has gone through and hearing just how severe it is in our area. I am thankful for the front line workers and government officials. I feel as though this pandemic has been handled the best way we know how considering the circumstances and that no one has ever seen something like this. I hope for the economy to be open soon and for people to have jobs because I don’t like everything closed like this. America was not meant to be this way and I really do hope it opens up soon. I believe this time has the ability to help people reprioritize and see what is truly important. � 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_2020-04-26_ANON_027 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anonymous Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-26 Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Response Description An account of the resource Journal of an anonymous GVSU student's experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8def8fed4e9af74b8373b32de46c8138.pdf 8b9780eafe48615581ea38e7c885b727 PDF Text Text Isabel Dowell Did you move off campus suddenly due to COVID-19? What was that experience like, what kind of help did you have? Do you still have personal belongings on campus? I am lucky that I live in an off-campus apartment. I am able to stay in my current apartment with all my belongings and was not asked to leave to my permanent residence. How are your online classes going? What kinds of messages have you received from professors? How are other students handling the changes? How are you handling it? Online classes are going ok. I feel as though I am not learning in the same way that I once was. Even the information I am learning seems more temporary this way, like its only purpose is to learn it, be tested on it, and move on. I have never had issues with online courses before and have learned a lot from previous ones, but it’s very obvious that some classes are better online while others should only meet in person. I think this is a common opinion and have heard it from other peers. The circumstances in the world around us also play a big distraction to my everyday life at the moment. I have received some encouraging messages from professors, some seem to understand that this time is very stressful for anyone and have been more than accommodating. Other professors are still trying to “push us” to be our best selves, which I personally believe is not the best strategy at this time. Like I have mentioned, there is a lot going on and some individuals don’t have access to the same resources that they once used to. To just assume we are all doing okay and should continue to work as hard as possible isn’t very courteous. Overall, I am handling online classes as well I possibly can. At this point I am more excited for this semester to end than ever before. I feel like I need a reset on life and be able to worry about the current state of the world and the health of my friends and family, versus my exams. Are you involved in student organizations, sports or clubs? How has COVID-19 and campus response affected those? I am not currently involved in any student organizations, sports, or clubs. What is happening in your daily life at home? How are your parents/friends/partners/etc. doing? Do/did you have a job on or off campus? What kind of work did you do, and how has that been affected by COVID-19, lock-downs, and quarantine? My daily life at home is pretty boring. I usually spend my day by waking up, doing homework, taking my dog for a walk, eating three meals a day, catching up on movies and TV shows, and repeat day in and day out. My family back home is doing fine, they are all healthy and have a similar routine to mine. I had a job on campus. I worked at the Facilities Services building as a customer service representative. As of March 16, I was let go from that job until it was safe to go back. They offered me a cleaning position – wiping down tables, door handles, etc. – but as of March 24, when the quarantine started, I was let go from that as well. I was given an assistance grant from the university which has helped a lot and reduced a great amount of stress. Are you or anyone you know sick? What symptoms, response from medical personnel? Getting COVID testing? I do not know anyone that is sick. Do you work in healthcare? What are your experiences? Have you had problems getting access to PPE? How are your working conditions? I do not work in health care. �How has your experience getting everyday items like groceries and household goods (cleaning supplies, paper goods, etc.) been? Have there been shortages? I haven’t had many issues finding everyday items. I did experience the toilet paper shortage but was lucky enough to grab one of the last packs. It’s a little scary and can be worry some, especially as I am the only one providing for myself. If a store doesn’t have toilet paper I either have to wander around various stores until I find something or hope my roommates have enough to share until I can get my own. In a way it’s almost forced me to panic buy, if I don’t buy it now in a large amount it might not be there when I run out. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Responses Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dowell, Isabel Description An account of the resource Journal of GVSU student Isabel Dowell's experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-20 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-20_DowellIsabel 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1b1a52e8d8eb20426283dc1b0c4473c9.pdf 42a1ade6039e72cb4b1c5c0fa2b43c31 PDF Text Text The transition to online classes due to the coronavirus outbreak was very sudden and stressful. It was mentioned by several of my professors a few days before the switch that it would likely happen, but I did not really think much of it until I received the email about classes being cancelled for a few days and then the return with remote learning. For the most part, all of my professors have been very good about staying in touch with me and their other students. They want their students to be reaching out to them to make sure that everything is going well and to use them as a resource if they need to talk about anything. I think that although this is a new experience for a lot of us as students and faculty, we were able to get through it and handle it together. Along with taking classes, I was involved in a student organization that was affected by COVID-19. I was a part of momentum, which is a student-run dance organization on campus. We hold a show every semester, and the money that we raise from the shows gets donated to a cause we have picked. We had been practicing all semester for our show, which would have been held the last weekend in March. Once online classes were implemented for the remaining of the semester, practices and the show were also cancelled. Unfortunately, we were unable to put on a show and raise money this semester, but we were still able to make the best of the situation. Each group sent in a video of what was completed of their dance, and we were able to watch everyone’s pieces for the semester. For the remaining of the semester, I chose to stay at my off-campus apartment. Two of my other roommates also chose to stay instead of going home. We are trying to live life as normal as possible although it is somewhat hard with our now altered schedules. We have been getting up in the morning to workout together, doing our separate classwork, and then if it is �nice outside, we will try to go for a walk to get out of the house and get some fresh air. I think that with all things considered, I have been able to adjust pretty fast and well to this temporary way of living. From what I can tell, other people that I know, including all of my family, are getting through this tough time as best as they can. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Semester Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Slais, Tianna Description An account of the resource Journal of GVSU student Tiana Slais' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-20 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-20_SlaisTianna 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/681dc9c9957ee54e264ef0104739857a.pdf 4bf1a548573afc6c1e924a8b7ce203bf PDF Text Text April 23, 2020 COVID-19… The Beginning of a Pandemic The beginning of the pandemic felt so surreal. I never thought that within my lifetime, I would be living through a pandemic. After getting the news that the university was shut down, I started packing up my apartment to come home to the safety of my family. This was an easy move to make as my parents met me at my apartment to help me move out. My experience during this pandemic has been such an eye opening, yet unique experience. I am a certified nurse assistant (CNA) at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak MI. As essential personnel, I was pulled to help work on the COVID-19 units. Being honest, I was terrified to go into work. I was so worried that by going into work, I would have a high possibility of bringing it home to my family. One of my co-workers, had got diagnosed with COVID-19 from being exposed to patients with the virus. I forced the fears back, just remembering to take extra precautions. Focusing on the patients that I will be helping during this time. I remember walking into my first day back at work during this pandemic. Various thoughts ran through my head, and the biggest reoccurring thought was “what can I do to help make a little difference in my patients lives?” As a CNA, my job consists of helping the nurses working on the unit by taking vitals, helping with wound care, turning patients, and other various jobs to keep the patients safe and healthy. When I began working on one of the COVID-19 units, I was dressed head to toe in personal protective equipment (PPE). N95 masks, sterile scrubs, earloop masks, and as well as face shields were given at the beginning of the shift before entering the unit. Thankfully, Beaumont has not had much trouble getting PPE. They are providing one N95 mask per worker and washing them after each shift to prevent the shortage of masks. �I had six patients that were diagnosed with COVID-19. This meant that I had six different chances to help my patients get through this tough time in their lives. It was heartbreaking seeing them diagnosed with such a new and challenging disease. Most patients were hooked up to ventilators and hadn’t seen their families in a little over a month. I remember making my patient smile as we turned his bed to face the window. This was in celebration of him being put off the ventilator. It made me feel so honored to work in such an amazing field and to be a health hero. That during their toughest moments, we were able to bring smiles to their faces, and do all we could to get healthy and home to their families. I have worked on several COVID-19 units since then, and each time I get to experience more life changing experiences trying to help mend the patients back to health. As frightening as it is, I look forward to going into work because of the difference that I get to make. I couldn’t be prouder to be a frontline worker and working with so many strong and brave health heroes. I have been feeling well since my last shift at the hospital. In order to keep my immune system up, I have been taking vitamin, working out and eating healthy. The vitamins that I take that have helped are vitamins A, D, and lots of vitamin C. Iodine droplets have also helped. One important takeaway point that has stuck with me from working at the hospital has been to have a strong faith and have a positive perspective. Even though the world might not be in the best shape right now, having a positive outlook is so important when getting through the toughest times. � 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_2020-04-23_ANON_014 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anonymous Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-23 Title A name given to the resource COVID-19... The Beginning of a Pandemic Description An account of the resource Journal of an anonymous GVSU student's experiences, working as a certified nurse assistant at Royal Oak Beaumont in the COVID units 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/9ed81f20fec0a3d77c5b7f34ce3aef14.jpg 67cbe4eeacaf2d70ceb5ff8320d4aa5e 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 Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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-183_G062-0005a Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966-06 Title A name given to the resource Cow Herd in Ashbourne, England Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of a herd of cows walking down a residential street lined with brick buildings in Ashbourne, England. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Ashbourne (England) Cattle herding--England Cows Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</a> 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 Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s 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/b5ca8e38180e8f24fe71eb92ff09abb4.jpg c91058842dc1ac44af43e1d1683828aa 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 Faces of Grand Valley Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource University Communications Description An account of the resource A non-comprehensive collection of photographs of Grand Valley faculty, staff, administrators, board members, friends, and alumni. Photos collected by University Communications for use in promotion and information sharing about Grand Valley with the wider community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960s - 1990s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived GV012-03. University Communications. Vita Files Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copryight Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University College administrators College teachers Colleges and universities -- Faculty Michigan Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 CowlingCandice Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Cowling, Candice Description An account of the resource Candice Cowling, Alumna and director of Family Futures Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College administrators Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Communications. Vita Files, 1968-2016 (GV012-03) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e29d4de22335a63e613e31262256c8a2.mp4 0cac149c94c4ebfed62cd294f09e57a4 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/45512b256a3fcfc4420c29417f15aa65.pdf bd3735181e468a98334912ecc8da4243 PDF Text Text ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW TONY COX Born: Indianapolis, Indiana Resides: Indianapolis Interviewed by: Mike McGregor, GVSU Veterans History Project, Transcribed by: Joan Raymer, January 8, 2013 Interviewer: Tony, to get started I just want to get a little background information. When and where were you born? In Indianapolis, Indiana Interviewer: And when were you born? August the 31st of 1949 Interviewer: Did you grow up in Indianapolis? Yes I did, I’ve lived my whole life here. Interviewer: You attended high school? Yes Interviewer: Tell me about growing up in Indianapolis? How would you describe your childhood? It was typical Midwest, you know, as far as growing up and stuff. I just went to high school and after high school it was the thing to get a job and have a good time. Of course there was always the draft and the Vietnam War was always on our minds and stuff. 1:00 We use to kid each other about that about maybe being cannon fodder or something because you knew you were going to get drafted or whatever. That was basically it, just a typical young man growing up. Trying to chase after the women and wasn’t too successful at that, by the way. You know, just having fun. 1 �Interviewer: What did your parents do? My father worked and my mother, she stayed at home. There were six of us in the family. Interviewer: What did your dad do? He was a—he worked for the Linkbelt Manufacturing Company here on the south side of Indianapolis. He was a chain assembler and he worked pretty hard all his life. We made do, we didn’t have a lot of things, as far as stuff, but as far as quality of life, when I look back, it was pretty good. Interviewer: So, when you graduated from high school you said you got a job? 2:00 I got a job and I started working, probably, right after my birthday in 1967 when I turned eighteen, I was able to get a full time job. That’s basically what I did. I got a job with benefits, you know, so I could move out of the house and get my own set of wheels, start partying and have a good time. A single man’s dream, you know, that was basically it. Interviewer: At that time were you following the events in Vietnam? Well, yes up to a point because I had a brother who served in Vietnam, and he was two years older than me, two years older than me, Tom, and he served in Vietnam too. He served with the engineer brigade over there. He was over there about two years prior to me. Interviewer: Was he drafted? Yes, he was drafted. Interviewer: So, you were kind of concerned about the draft, and did you get your draft notice then? 2 �Yes, and I got my draft notice and then that’s when all of a sudden I said, ―Well, I better do something about this, what can I do?‖ So, of course, it was pretty late then, so I called—made a few calls about getting in the National Guard, the Reserves, and all that, but they were all full. 3:14 They were full way before then, so I thought, ―Huh, my brother was drafted and he went, so I can do the same thing.‖ So, for some reason I found out that the Marines were drafting and I didn’t want to be drafted by the Marines. I was nineteen years old and I just didn’t want to be a Marine, so I don’t know, I talked to a recruiter and he said, ―You can sign up for two years‖, so I enlisted for two years. It was something they had going on at that time, because most times, when you signed up, you had to go for three years. Interviewer: When did you enlist then? 4:00 The same day I would have been drafted, May 7th of 1969. Interviewer: And you reported to basic training then? Basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky and I had taken—of course, when you enlist you take the battery—you take these tests and talking with the recruiter, ―Oh you’d do real well on all these tests‖, and I did. He said, ―Oh, you can do any job in the army. You qualify for about any job in the army‖, so I said, ―Okay‖, but it was still two years. Like I said, I went to Fort Knox and then basic training. Interviewer: At Fort Knox you went through the reception center? The reception center, yes, of course, first. Interviewer: Did they assign you your MOS at that point? No, you didn’t learn your MOS until, probably, gee, I would say maybe two weeks. When you first got your orders, I don’t think you knew until you got your orders. 5:03 3 �Interviewer: Really? Yeah, if I’m not mistaken Interviewer: I went through basic in 1966 and in the reception center and off the bus, they stopped you dead and told you what you were going to do. I don’t—you know, you could be right, it’s been a while. Interviewer: You were three years after me. Yeah, and I want to say that it wasn’t until later, you know, later on in your training that you got your orders. You know, when you got your orders and you were in a particular fort, you would know what your MOS was. You didn’t have to have anybody tell you. Interviewer: AIT at Fort Polk Yes sir, you go, ―Oh, Oh, is this North Fort or South Fort?‖ ―It’s South Fort.‖ ―Oh, okay‖ Interviewer: So, at the end of basic you got your orders? I got my orders. Interviewer: For AIT? For AIT, and it was Light Weapons Infantry, 11 Bravo, at Fort Polk, Louisiana, which they called ―Little Vietnam‖, and also, ―The armpit of the United States Army‖. 6:11 But, anyway I went there and went for my training and, of course you know, I wasn’t too happy with the situation, and thought, ―Gee, how did I end up in this?‖ I know how I did now, but that’s water under the bridge. So, I went through training and while I was in training, or after my AIT, they told me I was staying for an extra two weeks. I was going to a leadership preparation course down there at Fort Polk, so I stayed two weeks for that. Then they said, ―Now, you’re going to the NCO school, NCOIC School in Fort Banning, 4 �Georgia‖. 7:01 I said, ―Okay, I’m not going to Vietnam yet, I’ll go to that too‖. So, I went down to Fort Benning then, from September or early October through, probably, March of 1970 down there. Let me go back. I spent twelve weeks at Fort Banning, Georgia training. After that we went to an AIT unit back at fort Polk. So, that’s basically what I did and what my training consisted of. I look back on that training I got through the NCO school and it was pretty good. They trained you how they were fighting over in Vietnam. 8:01 I think by this time I had resigned myself to the fact that, you know, I was going to be in the infantry and I was going to go over there, so I thought, ―Well, I can get this extra training, so let’s go ahead and get it and maybe put it to good use and help me survive‖. Interviewer: So, you had, basically, your two month infantry AIT at Fort Polk, and then you went to Fort Benning and did the, we use to call it, “shake and bake” ? Yes, ―shake and bake‖, yeah, I went there Interviewer: You did that and then how did that training—you said it was more enhanced than the training you had at Fort Polk? Well yeah, when you went through AIT that was like—it was more—well, at Fort Polk they did get into some of the—let’s go back. Fort Knox was conventional warfare. You know your teams and your squads and everything, you know, and then when you got into AIT, at Fort Polk, they got more into the jungle warfare, you know, and stuff. 9:06 then it was even more advanced in the NCO School. So, we went through a lot of training there. We were out there in the field a lot at NCO School. Interviewer: Did you do a lot of land navigation and that kind of thing? 5 �Oh yeah, all that, which I enjoyed, I enjoyed land navigation, you know, and stuff, and I probably did pretty good. I was never lost, even in Vietnam, disorientated, maybe, but never lost. So, I did that and went back to Fort Polk. Interviewer: When you graduated from NCO School were you promoted to and E5? Yes, to an E5—when you went to the NCO School you were promoted to an E4, and then after you graduate you were promoted to either an E5 or E6 depending on how well you did overall. I was promoted to an E5. 10:02 Interviewer: Then back to Fort Polk as a training unit? Yes, a training unit, and I did that for eight or nine weeks, I think. One cycle, and then from there you got your orders for Vietnam and also you—I don’t—I think I might have got a thirty day break, maybe, I’m trying to remember. Interviewer: Was that the first break you had in training? Yes Interviewer: So, you went to basic, AIT, NCO School and then you got a leave? Then I got a leave, yeah, thirty days a year is what I think Interviewer: You were in almost a half a year then before you got a leave? Yes—well, we use to get in training, when I was at Fort Knox, I was only a hundred and fifty miles from home and I got one week-end pass and that was it. 11:00 then when I got down to Fort Polk, you know the training was more intense and it was hot, very hot and if you didn’t mess up, you know, I remember the drill sergeant was pretty good. He was tough on you, but he was good too, and you ended up getting a lot of passes, but there was no place to go. I think one time I went to, I think it was Lake Charles, 6 �Louisiana. I took a bus and went down to Lake Charles, maybe spend the night and come back the next day. Interviewer: Just to get away? Yes, just to get away, and there were other places to go too, but we won’t get into that. Anyway, that’s basically what I did when I was stationed down there and then when I went through the NCO School I went home---wait a minute, let me back off—I know what it was, I went to Fort Benning and then Christmas time came around—wait a minute—I did have my car down there, so maybe I did get a leave between AIT and going and reporting to Fort Benning because I did have a car. 12:10 I went and got my car and brought it down there with me. Really the first time on my own, well, a couple times I’ve gone somewhere like a road trip. A buddy of mine, his car broke down and I said, ―I’m never going on a trip with him again‖. One lesson I learned is to have the car prepared for a road trip. Yeah, then I came home for Christmas, so I had a leave then, and after Christmas and New Year’s, I think two weeks probably, we went back for training after that. Interviewer: When I think back It’s pretty customary that training commands shut down at Christmas time, I think two weeks Interviewer: Two weeks or ten days, something like that. So, that’s what we probably had. Interviewer: So, now you got orders for Vietnam at Polk, and you’re a cadre in AIT unit. Did they have any other special training for you at Polk before you left? 13:08 7 �There was training available to me. I didn’t go through it, like Ranger training, jump school, and I thought, ―Nah, that’s okay‖. Interviewer: Was there any more Vietnam appropriate training/ Well, the whole thing was orientated towards the Vietnam War. Interviewer: What I mean is, once you got your orders is there anything that you had to go through? Like in my case when we got orders to Vietnam we had the whole nine yards of, you know, we had ambush procedures and making out a will, and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, we had to do stuff like that, but we didn’t have those procedures. I think basically, if I remember correctly, we just went home on leave and then reported to the Oakland Army Terminal. Interviewer: You reported to Oakland, California, and how long were you in Oakland then? 14:04 Two days—I got there and I said, ―I want to see San Francisco‖. I’d heard about San Francisco, the scene there and I wanted to see some of it, and I did. Interviewer: In Oakland did they tell you when you were going to ship out? Did they still make you do the four or five formations a day? We did the four or five formations a day if I remember correctly and yeah, I had that. Interviewer: Did they call off people’s names? Yeah, it basically worked like that, yeah. Interviewer: So, you’re in Oakland and they call your name and did you shop out of Travis Air Force Base? Yeah, I guess it would be there by Oakland. From there we flew to Alaska. 8 �Interviewer: Did you fly commercial or on a military flight? It was a charter flight. Interviewer: A charter flight. 15:03 We flew from there to Alaska, and if I’m not mistaken, we flew from Alaska all the way—is that possible? To Japan and from Japan to Vietnam--I never really thought about it. Interviewer: That’s probably the—I left out of Oakland and Travis and we went from California to Hawaii to Japan to Vietnam. I remember going through Alaska, I do remember that because I remember landing there in Anchorage. I guess it was the sunset and there was snow on the mountains, and this is April, April of 1970. It was beautiful, and I never saw those mountains before and to this day I remember saying, ―Wow, this is beautiful‖, and it was, it was awesome, it was almost kind of eerie because there is all this red coming at you, you know. But I do remember that and then we went to Japan and we had a little break there for a while like we did in Alaska. 16:04 I don’t remember a lot of that, you know, and stuff, and then we went to Vietnam. Interviewer: Where did you land in country then, near Saigon? Yes, Hoa Bien I think it was Hoa Bien [Bien Hoa]. I remember flying over the countryside and seeing the bomb craters and stuff like that and thinking, ―Oh my gosh, oh, oh‖, so we landed. I remember them taking us out of the plane and kind of hustling us along and getting us on these buses, school buses, which maybe some type of what do you call it around the windows? Interviewer: Fencing or screening or something like that? 9 �Yeah, and the bus took us to the what do you call it where you check in there at the replacement--17:01 Interviewer: Replacement Depot. I spent some time there and it didn’t seem like it was very long. Interviewer: Now to back track, when you got your orders were you just ordered to that replacement unit or did you have an idea where you were going to be assigned to? No, no, I did not know where I was going to be assigned to. I remember that real well because when I was over there the replacement company—we heard rumors about what was going on and, of course, there were men who were coming back from the bush who would tell you. I remember two specifically, it was the 1st Cav, and about the 101st and they said, ―You don’t want to go to the 101st because they’re getting their ass kicked. Nor do you want to go to the 1st Cav because they’re getting their ass kicked‖. I’m thinking to myself, ―I’m going to either one of those‖. Okay, if I may back track just a little bit. 18:02 On the way over to Vietnam, the men I had been with through all this training, a lot of them I went over to Vietnam with, we all went over there together. So, different people, a couple of names I remember is Dan Davis, he was from Illinois, and Darrell Dickey who was from Kansas, because we did a lot of our training together, which might have included AIT and the NCO School, and then going to the training unit back at Fort Polk, so we knew each other and stuff. Those two went to the 1st Cav and I went to the 101st. Interviewer: At the replacement depot then they just called your name out and said where you were going to go? 10 �It was just like in Oakland, you just get in line formation again, or something like that, if I remember, and they would call your name out. 19:01 That’s when you got your orders and they said, ―Okay, you got to go here‖. You jump on some mode of transportation and you go to the airfield and probably got on a C130 and went up there. Interviewer: To backtrack just a little bit. In Oakland did they give you your jungle fatigues and that kind of thing, or did you travel in Khakis and have to draw them when you got in country? I want to say we got them in country. That’s a good point, but I want to say in country is when we got them. Interviewer: So from the, was it the 90th Replacement Depot in Saigon? I’m not sure. Ok, the 101st, so they trooped you over to an airport and you got on a plane and where did you go? 20:00 We ended up at Camp Eagle and then we went into the replacement company there. We went into what they called SERTS and there they would give you some training. Interviewer: What kind of training would they give you there? Oh, they would just like review and go over your training. Zero your weapon, and they would take you out and zero your weapon in as best you could, and some refresher courses in what we were trained to do, and everyone went through this. Interviewer: This was at Camp Eagle? Yes, this was at Camp Eagle. Interviewer: This was the division’s base camp? That was their main base camp, that’s right and that was the headquarters for the 101st, right. 11 �Interviewer: How long did that training last? I don’t know, some people say a week, I don’t know, it flew by. Interviewer: So, you zeroed your weapon and they warranted you to the country to get use to the heat and humidity? 21:04 I don’t know, maybe back up a minute—as far as zeroing, maybe I’m getting that mixed up. When you zeroed your weapon it was after you got to your unit. That makes sense, right? You get your weapon after you get to your company area. That’s when they assign you to the supply room, and I’m probably getting mixed up with that. But, I think we went through some refresher training and stuff like that, probably, except for that part of it. After I left SERTS I went up to my unit and got in my unit and then--Interviewer: Then you were assigned and you went up to Delta Company to the 506? [D/1/506} Yes Interviewer: Now, at that point, the 101st wasn’t—I know airborne is in your name, but you didn’t have to be a jumper? No, they were air mobile at this time. They quit jumping, I guess, in 1968. It didn’t work out too well for them, so they added this Air Mobile and, in fact, when you would sign your address you would put 101st Airborne Division (Air Mobile) in parenthesis. 22:05 Today it’s known as the 101st Airborne Air Assault, and we were the fore runner of the air assault. Interviewer: So, now you’re assigned to your company, where was the company at? The company was out in the jungle and the company had really been through some hard times. They had just had a platoon virtually wiped out. They had been under a lot of 12 �heavy contact on an abandoned firebase, and I’m going to say a couple of days later I was sent out there to the bush. I want to say, I went out there with this one guy names James Fowler. I always say we went out into the bush together and he disagrees with me. Anyway, we go out there together and I’m thinking, ―Oh my gosh, what have I gotten into?‖ Interviewer: Now, you went out on a regular logbird or whatever? 23:03 On a longbird, yes, went out there on the logbird and got off at the helicopter LZ and I thought, ―Oh my goodness, look at all this, trees blown away‖, and, of course, you see all the craters and everything, and bald tops of mountains that were once maybe firebases. Beautiful country by the way, I really thought it was great. We go out there and I thought, ―Oh, my gosh‖. I met the company commander, he was there. They took us back and we got off the bird and then they went and they took in who met us and we met the company commander, his name was Don Workman, his call sign was ―Ranger’ at the time, so everyone called him ―Ranger’. If I remember correctly he said something like ―Do you know how to hunt?‖ I go, ―Yeah, I’ve done some hunting and stuff‖, and he goes, ―Basically, all you’re doing is you’re hunting‖. 24:02 I said, ―Well, okay‖, and I remember Kish because he didn’t come out there. They had been on a rec, and they had come out and were talking about the reconnaissance patrol they had been on and overhearing some of that, and then I was assigned to what was left of my platoon and there were about five guys left. They were the ones who had taken the—maybe a couple of days earlier had been in that one battle for their lives. I remember Gibb and Dean, John, Ernie Banks, machine gunner, and a couple more and that was about it. 25:03 So, I became--what happened what was left of the 2nd platoon became an extra squad of the 13 �third. The 101st operated three platoons, two squads per platoon, so with what happened with the second platoon they made an extra squad in the third platoon. We had an extra squad until we got new recruits in, which I was one. Interviewer: Were you joined as a squad leader? No, they had a squad leader. Gib Rossiter was an E5 and he was the squad leader at that time. So, I joined them and Merle Dean Finch was given the assignment of showing me the ropes, you know and stuff, you know. 26:00 So from that day on, and there was a lot of enemy activity in that area, so it wasn’t long before we were in fire fights or contact with the enemy, light contact that happened before to them, and these guys, I remember them being real serious because of what they had been through and survived that battle and stuff, they were hardened, which is understandable. Great guys, great guys, I know them well now and they are good friends. Interviewer: Were you received well at initially or did you have to— Reserved reservations, with reservations Interviewer: You had to pay your dues first? Well of course, of course, you know and stuff, and then—so, we’re going on these missions, you know, setting up ambushes and stuff like that going on, and every once in a while making contact. 27:00 Going about the day to day business of being infantrymen out in the boonies and stuff like that and we stayed out in the bush a long time. Interviewer: Now, you’re in I Corps, were you in the heavy, heavy stuff like the hills? Yeah, in the mountains, and at that time we were off what they called Moraine ridgeline and we were just working that ridgeline and there was a lot of enemy activity in the way. 14 �There were just things off and on that would happen, and some of it I’ve forgotten. I remember one time they were calling in Napalm and it almost landed on us, you know and stuff. Things like that and they were bringing new men in. 28:00 We were constantly getting new men in. Some were with us and some of them might have been a replacement for 3rd platoon, because they suffered some casualties. They got ambushed trying to go to the aid of the 2nd platoon. They suffered casualties and 1st platoon suffered casualties, but I would say probably the majority were coming to 2nd platoon. I think Merle DeLaGrange came in at that time and Merle and I have remained friends throughout that time. Like I said, we were just humping the boonies getting fire—search and destroy missions, firefights, call in support, mostly artillery, gunships, airstrikes, a pretty hot area. Interviewer: With the fights, your contact then, would you consider it major or minor? It was minor, but it was very intense, you know. 29:05 Interviewer: That’s what happens, and was anything pitched at that point? No, not at that time, it was we’d just get in these firefights and we’d just learn, you know, I’d just follow along trying to learn—―Shoot‖, ―oh, okay‖, you know. At that time, that’s what we would do, just try, you know. Interviewer: I would like to get on record basically what you carried. What was your basic load? I carried an M16 with three ammo belts, 7 clips per belt, so about twenty one magazines. In those magazines, we never loaded them up to twenty. We put maybe sixteen, seventeen rounds to keep them from jamming, right? 30:02 15 �Interviewer: Right I learned that and I was taught that, and was kind of told, ―You don’t need this and you don’t need to carry that‖, and stuff like that, because it was kicking my ass carrying that rucksack, because you carried your house with you. You carried you C rations with you, your water, very important water, very hot. Interviewer: How many canteens did you carry? I would say, at least, maybe five, maybe six, and some of these canteens were like bladders and they would hold more, but they were more apt to leak on you too. You think you got this, and they would hold, maybe two quarts, ―Oh boy, I got this water left‖, and the next thing you know it’s all wet and it’s leaked and you’re without water. I tried to keep the old style plastic canteens and stuff, you know, and we’d just go on the missions and stuff. 31:04 We would stay out in the bush a long time. Interviewer: Now, were you required to hump some extra ammo for the machine guns? No, I wasn’t, I carried just what I was supposed to. I might have at some time, but I’ve just forgotten you know, and stuff. Your claymores and frags, lots of frags, and I just made a base like the light infantrymen and tried to learn the ropes as best I could. Interviewer: Would you keep most of your frags in the tubes or would you have them out? I think we had them out, because you had to understand where we were at was very active with enemy activity. I never really saw that many, of course, being new and fortunately we had a good point man and slack man and stuff, you know, that kind of helped you out there. 32:02 Like I said, I’m just learning the ropes. I’m kind of like, 16 �―OH, what was that noise?‖ Someone would say, ―You dumb ass, get down‖, you know. They’re shouting and that’s the nice words they were saying, anyway that’s it basically. Interviewer: How much did your equipment weigh, everything that you had to hump that you had? A bunch, it was never weighed, but I know it was a bunch because you—the thing that it is with the 101st is when you would go, your missions—I know some divisions would go out on missions anywhere from three to five days and they would come back, maybe to base camp, I know that’s how some of them worked, and I don’t know how you guys worked with the 1st Cav, but when we went out on a mission, our missions lasted anywhere, I would say, from forty-five to sixty days, a long time. The only reason the mission might be aborted, or anything, is heavy contact and lots of casualties, or something like that. 33:09 Otherwise we stayed out there and there was a reason we stayed out there, there was a reason they kept us out there. It was because there was a drug problem back at Camp Evans, and from what I’ve read in the book ―Hell on the Hilltop‖ by General Harrison, I think there’s a passage in there that states—that talks about that, about leaving us out there that long to keep us away from the drugs and stuff. There was some violence back there too, I understand, so I never spent much time at Camp Evans. Interviewer: Was there any drug use out in the field? No, we wouldn’t allow it. It was not allowed and if somebody—I know it’s been seen that later on in the years of 1969 and 1970 guys blowing through a shotgun and inhaling it, no that was not allowed, never. 34:06 The area was too hot and there was a major buildup by the NVA there. They were getting ready for the big push there, and of course, 17 �with what happened with the focusing all their attention on that far support base Ripcord, they did not want it open. The A Shau Valley was their base camp and they did not want any Americans in that and, of course, all the things going on in the war too, you know. There were troops coming home, Camp Sunrest at home and the protest, Kent State happened, I think when I was over there. Didn’t that happen in 1970? Interviewer: I’m not sure when it happened. It might have happened around that time. Yeah, I think it did, so you know, it was very volatile back then, as far as the protest. 35:05 So, basically it focused on the protest back home, you know, and stuff, and of course we were sad to hear about the loss of people on the campus and stuff, and everybody gets the National Guardsmen, or something, some of these guys that just got back from Vietnam or something, so they claim. I really haven’t checked that out and stuff like that. You know, some of the veterans who were in the National Guard or still on active duty. Maybe not National Guard, but an active duty unit, but that’s basically what we did, it all came down to survival and looking after your buddy. Interviewer: It was tough, we went there in 1968. 36:00 Yeah, and it’s still tough, and it was tough in 1969 from what I understand too, you know, with Hamburger Hill and all that stuff too. Interviewer: So, you’re basically out on extended operations? Yes, search and destroy missions, you know, and that’s basically all we did. What do they call it, ―moments of boredom followed by sheer moments of terror‖, and that was basically it, you know. 18 �Interviewer: On the whole, I mean if you can quantify it, how many men did you have in your company at any one time?  The most that I can remember was in the eighties, and that’s after—we had suffered a lot of casualties after I’d first gotten over there, so what the battalion did—okay, everyone had an AO, area of operation and that usually involved a firebase. 37:10 The 2nd Battalion of the 506 had Ripcord firebase, the 1st Battalion of the 506 had the Kathryn, Firebase Kathryn, and you would work the area around there that the guns could cover. They would always bring, of course they had to bring the guns out to the jungle because they’re not going to shoot from the lowlands, they can’t do that, so that’s basically how we worked. It happened at that one time, as far as Ripcord is concerned, the NVA decided they don’t want Ripcord there, it’s on the edge of the A Shau and we don’t want anybody. We don’t want American troops, and of course they’re trying to kill off American troops too to put even more pressure on the administration to get them out of there. 38:00 The more they can kill the better off it is, you know. Like when the 1st Cav went into Cambodia, that took a lot of the spotlight, if you want to call it, away from us and all of it was focused on the 1st Cav. Up with us was a major thing too because we went into their sanctuary, it’s their base camp, the A Shau. I remember one time, I was told by a company commander of another company that we were basically—we were set down in there childlike, that’s what he said to me, because of where we landed at, we were in the A Shau Valley in those two days, July of 1970. 19 �Interviewer: During that time I don’t believe there was any other American division up that way. 39:01 No, the 101st took over for--I think it was the 5th Mech was attached to that. Interviewer: The Marines had left and the 5th Mech was running around the coast over there. Right, down by there and the 101st was stretched thin and I think at one time the Ripcord operation involved about four hundred troops against many thousand NVA, I learned later in life. They’re trying against the 101st and they had to have that spring offensive in 1970, you know. To be honest with you, I thought, well you know, they’re pulling troops out, I had been over there, so I’m twenty years old and what the hell do I know and I’m thinking, ―Well, it might not be too bad‖, we were talking to a friend before I went over to Vietnam, talking to a couple of my buddies, and stuff, that I grew up with, ―Maybe when you get over there it won’t be so bad‖. 40:01 I get over there and I get with the 101st and they’re trying to—and they have a major offensive in A Shau and it’s not working because the NVA did not want us in there, so there was a lot of stuff going on, and these offensives always started in the springtime, you know. Interviewer: Because of rain Because of rain you’re socked in the mountains and you’re not coming in. Basically their monsoon season was during our winter season and they’re monsooned and it happened, so they could—but they were out there all year. We were back in the lowlands, the first ridgeline, maybe and stuff like that, and they’re back up in there doing a lot of work. They’re working every day, I understand. It slowed down maybe. 20 �Interviewer: Just to put it in perspective, when we went to A Shau we went with two brigades, plus there was a Marine regiment and an ARVN group that was coming up from the south. 41:03 I can’t believe it, and two years later they fortified it a lot more than they had and you know how that Ripcord thing went. Now you’ve been in the field for a while, did you then become a squad leader? Yeah, eventually I became a squad leader. I remember being on firebase Kathryn and we had to build up the firebase defenses. I remember being down there, I remember being in charge of the detail that was spreading the concertina around, you know and stuff like that, fortified positions and stuff like that. We did that for about three weeks and as we were doing that, we were also getting new men, ―Cherries‖, as they were called; they were coming in and everything. We were—you take by late June we were basically a new unit. 42:09 We had, I think, maybe eighty, eighty-five people total you know. Interviewer: What was your TOE strength, A hundred and fifty or so? Yeah, so—and the squads—two squads per platoon, plus the CP, so that’s basically how it broke down with the three platoons and everything, and at that time we were thinking, ―We’re getting a lot of guys‖, but later you learn we’re still only at half strength, and that’s all they were committing to them. Interviewer: How did you feel, obviously having new people coming in, but also the rotation policy? 43:01 People leaving after a year, people going back on R&R, coming back, people trying to pull various scams to get out of the field for a little while, how did you feel that affected your, if you will, combat effectiveness? It’s something that was and it affected it a lot. You know, you build up—when you’re working together you build cohesions and everything and that was lost. You know, you 21 �take me coming in as a new guy, and everything, and some of the people who were there, who learned all the experience and everything, all of a sudden they leave. That happened with me. I built up experience, I had survived, I built up this experience and the next thing, I’m going, you know, but at that time things had kind of quieted down. 44:00 They had that one major offensive when the Vietnamese, South Vietnamese, you know, were part of that major offensive, but we were in a secondary position. We were basically in a defensive mode then. Yeah, sure, I can look back now and say, ―Yeah, sure‖, and it’s kind of easy to look back as a fifty or sixty year old man just look at the actions of a twenty or twenty-five year old, maybe even a forty year old and say, ‖Whew, that wasn’t very smart, you know‖. It would be nice, but I don’t get into that, we were what we were and we did the best we could. I know from my perspective I tried to do the best that I could against some overwhelming odd, you know. When I got into a position of leadership, well the thing you wanted to do, you didn’t want to see anybody die, they did, but I can look back and say, ―Well, I tried to do my best. I didn’t want to get anybody killed‖. 45:05 Interviewer: Now you were wounded, would you care to address those circumstances? Okay, after we had been on Firebase Kathryn, which we were up to relative strength, and they sent us to the rear. At this time, the 2nd of the 506 Interviewer: The rear being? Camp Evans, I think we were sent to the rear there, and then at this time we were sent to the rear, we were pulled off of Kathryn and we went back and we had a cookout, and all that stuff, and all of a sudden we found out we were going to be going on a mission. I 22 �remember Captain Workman, Don Workman, was real serious about this being some bad stuff we were going to get into. 46:00 You know, you’re supposed to go around and double check and make sure everyone had everything they needed and worked, and everybody was in pretty good shape and all this stuff, yeah, because we knew we were going to hit it. We didn’t know how or why, because at the time, the military didn’t really let you know a whole lot, just enough that they thought you needed to know. And it might have been that if they let everybody know the truth, a lot of them might not have went, which is possible. So, we were—basically what happened was the 2nd of the 506, I told you they were AO, they worked around this Firebase Ripcord, and I told you the NVA did not like that firebase being there, put in simple terms from me. Anyway, then what happened is they were just suffering a lot of casualties. 47:04 All three or four companies and the recon, they had sustained a lot of casualties, so what it was, was they needed the battalion commander, Lucas was his name, he needed more people, he needed more soldiers. So, during this time, it happened before us, along some of these units, the 501st, the 502, there were many opconed to the 506 command, the 2nd of the 506 command, and we were one of them. This was towards the end and it was really heating up, and getting pretty hot. 48:01 A lot of casualties, everybody had suffered a lot of casualties. We were told, and this is what ended up, we ended up going to report AO and they had like Triple Hill, Hill 902, Hill 805, 1000, and these were really some hot sports, and then what it was, where they put ripcord was not the most ideal area. The 1st Cav had used it as a firebase I think too, but it wasn’t-Interviewer: I’m not sure of that. [it had been a Marine base] 23 �I had heard that it had been, so anyway, what ended up is we got sent out to their AO. We flew out to the Triple Hill area, and I don’t remember any contact, or it was light contact. 49:00 I remember seeing a lot of bandages. A lot of people had been wounded around the LZ. We stayed there, maybe, a day and then from there we combat assaulted into an area south and east of hill 805. What we were supposed to do, I think it was in the joint operation of another company, I think it was Alpha 2nd of 506, and we were supposed to have a joint operation going up the ridgeline back up to hill 805 on search and destroy missions looking for intelligence, anything. They went up one side of it and we went up the other. Well, needless to say, when we landed at the LZ, on the 20th of July, after about the second or third bird we started getting hot LZ or maybe it was after the second or first bird, it was a hot LZ. 50:12 So, we got in there and tried to get everybody together and make sure no one was going to do badly and I don’t think anyone was at that point. I remember, with my platoon, setting up a defensive perimeter around the LZ, I think. I’m trying to remember like if we came in at twelve o’clock when the birds came into the LZ. I think maybe at three o’clock was a ridgeline up to a knoll and I think maybe 2nd platoon and maybe 3rd platoon were all secure in that area and in the nine o’clock position on the other side of the LZ, 1st platoon was securing that area. 51:04 This is where I get kind of mixed up. I haven’t read the book in a while, the Ripcord book, or anything, but I do know that’s when we started getting in firefights and we had to clear that saddle, I guess, we had to clear that saddle to that knoll. But, in the meantime 1st platoon was running riffs off, recons, off the other side and they made contact and heavy contact. They didn’t really know it at the time, but they suffered four killed in action on that day. So, we went up, the other platoons went up close to the knoll 24 �and set up a NDP site and then some of them had to go back down and try to rescue those casualties from 1st platoon. 52:09 I can’t really say a lot about 1st platoon because I wasn’t in it in that spot there. You get some guys from 1st platoon, and I don’t know if there is anybody here, but they could say a lot about that, and they’ve got a lot to say too. One of the guys couldn’t make it. But anyway, we secured that area from the knoll down to the LZ, then on the hot spot basically we were where 1st platoon was. We were trying to get the men from 1st platoon, trying to recover them and we were pinned down by fire. We couldn’t go anywhere, we were pinned down. Of course by this time the choppers had left and everything, so you couldn’t cross that LZ, you were going to get shot up, you know. A lot of incoming, 51 caliber—they had some pretty big stuff in that area. 53:05 They had been waiting and you could tell they were really prepared. So, what happened, we couldn’t get to them, down to them. Some of them made it back, but we couldn’t get to them, we just couldn’t get it, so everybody regrouped on that knoll that evening. We were up there on that knoll, some of us had dug fighting positions, but it was rock and we did what we could, so we set up on this knoll, what was left of the company and, of course put LP’s out and stuff like that. We were probed during the night, and then I remember the next day, the next morning, all of a sudden you heard that. 54:06 We were getting prepared to move out and move back down to the LZ, and then all of a sudden you hear ―thump‖, ―thump‖, and you kind of like, ―What’s this? Is this coming from—it could be from Ripcord‖, because we weren’t far from the firebase itself. ―Thump’, continuously, I guess and the next thing you know we’re taking incoming at our NDP site, and we suffered a lot of casualties there. A lot of wounded, they may have killed three or four in that area. We had to try to get back down to the LZ, so we had to 25 �hurry up and get our equipment, and I mean this is in a short period of time. We had guys dying, we tried to help them stop the bleeding, and stuff, in fact, I carried Doc Heyges down to the LZ, to get a medevac and stuff. 55:08 We had to set up a perimeter down there and set up out positions down there, secure the LZ, while we’re getting-Interviewer: Were you still under fire? Yes, that whole—from the knoll through to the LZ, I think they said, I read it in the book, that we took eighty rounds, someone counted eighty mortar rounds hitting our NDP site, so, of course, a lot of casualties, a lot of guys wounded. So, what we did, and I think that’s when I got it too, so we all made it down to the LZ to secure the area for ourselves and there we were in battles all day. We got gassed, we got rockets and we were in the old saying, ―a world of hurt‖. 56:03 Interviewer: Did they use CS? Yes Interviewer: Did you guys have gas masks? Yeah, I don’t know where mine was though, in all the confusion that was going on I didn’t know where the hell my rucksack was at. I just knew I had my ammo, and my frags, you know, I had that with me. Interviewer: Did you have your weapon? Yes, yes, of course the weapon, the weapon was very important, and we went back down, like I said, and tried to secure the area and we got into a battle. We were in a day long battle with them and gradually taking casualties because were getting incoming and we’re still getting more. Interviewer: At this point you were wounded right? 26 �Yes, I got shrapnel in the back and those that were more seriously wounded, we got them out. We got them out and I stayed back there and I asked somebody if they could—my back was burning, I knew that. 57:05 But, with the intensity of the battle you just kind of, you know, forget about the adrenalin, and stuff. Interviewer: Right Sometimes there would be a pause, you know and kind of go, ―Oh, what is this?‖ I remember it happening up there, but you had to get out of there and stuff, and like I said, sometimes there’s kind of a lull and it stopped me, maybe. But I continued to stay out there and all the men got medevaced out and we just stayed there a tried to maintain our position the best that we could, in a defensive position. Then it got really bad and gradually we were getting more casualties and everything, and the medevacs were super, my hats off to those guys for what they do. 58:00 then what happened—I remember going on a little reconnaissance patrol taking three or four guys, and we went up trying to get our dead, we left a couple of bodies up there. I think on that first one, we brought some—we found one and couldn’t find the other, so we came back down and we had to go back up. We went back up and got ambushed on the way back up. Now, this is happening over a period of time, and we got ambushed. One of the guys with me was Paul Muir, he was walking point and I was kind of like slack and one time we had two guys behind us and I happened to turn around and they were gone, so here’s Paul and I out there by ourselves on a two man patrol. Interviewer: And you’re wounded. Yes, and Paul’s probably wounded too and maybe the other guys were too, you know. 59:06 I think by the time it was all over there were more wounded than weren’t 27 �wounded. So we went back and ―Well, you’re going to have to go back up‖. There were dead, and that’s one thing, we try to find our dead. Then we kind of got into an argument with our CO because at this time I think our platoon leaders were wounded and I think one of them, Lieutenant Smith was still out there, he was with our platoon, he was still out there, so Captain Workman said, ―Well, you guys ought to go back up there‖, so at this time, me and another guy named George Porchow, and a couple other guys, went back up there and got—I had to walk point this time and we went back up there. 00:11 We went back up there to see what equipment, bodies, if we could, retrieve our dead and so we went back up there and we got—what happened, the enemy, as I’m walking around the NEP site, the enemy’s coming up behind me to my left and I think as the guy— George hollered out and he turned around and he fired him up before he could get me. And at that time we see more coming up over the hill and I fired at them. I don’t know if they went down because I hit them or because they were ducking or something, and the next thing you know everybody’s gone back to the NEP site. I’m, ―Well, wait for me, I’m coming back too‖, and we went back down there, so that’s how it was, and we were just surrounded. We had many, many, NVA surrounding us. 1:06 Interviewer: How, eventually did you get out of there? You’re at this hot LZ and all this firefight and pinned down, how did you get extracted and when? Well, if I may back up some, a little bit. We got to the point where the company commander, Captain Workman, I can remember some conversation of him having and one even to the effect—something was said about we were going to have to take—they didn’t have anybody to come in and help us and we were going to have to stay there. 28 �And by this time we’re running out of ammo, fortunately we had an ammo drop. A lot of guys risked their lives to go out on that LZ because that LZ was zeroed in. 2:00 Interviewer: You had an ammo drop and, obviously, people risked their wellbeing to go out on the LZ. It was dangerous to cross that LZ because it was zeroed in. It was taking incoming mortars, 51 caliber fire, whatever they could throw at us, rockets, we were getting rocketed, in fact, they came to a time after being there for such a period of time that you kind of got an ear for it, if I may say. 3:06 You could kind of tell, at least I could, I could kind of tell when they were close, you know, after having all this incoming. I remember him telling us that we were going to have to spend the night, he didn’t know if we would make it through the night, there was a lot of enemy in the area, in the thousands, and we were going to have to spend the night there and it might get down to ―every man for himself’. I can remember having conversations with people about being taken alive. 4:00 Then what happened, evidently the battalion commander of the 2nd of the 506 , Colonel Lucas, Lieutenant Colonel Lucas, decided he was going to bring D Company of the 2nd of the 506 and C Company of the 2nd of the 506, he was going to have them come in and help us, you know, to help us out. So while C Company secured the LZ, I think it was, D Company came in and humped to us from another LZ and that was a hot LZ. So they—I want to make sure I get these events—sometimes I, over the years, trying to forget,--so they came over and I remember them coming in, and they found our--they had contact, but they found our dead and brought them down close to the LZ, which I was grateful for. 5:03 Interviewer: Were these the ones you went out a couple of times trying to retrieve? 29 �Yes, yes, yes, and then they came down and helped us. So, we were going to try to extract everybody from the LZ, and for some reason our company commander—there was a lot more going on and I know I’ve missed a lot of it, but I’m just basing it on what I know from my unit. He decided that we were going to get out and he left some of us back and he got maybe the second or third bird out and what had happened was the bird—the birds were coming in, the first one came loaded up and got out, the second one came in—6:05 Interviewer: Was it just a one ship LZ? Yes, and now I need, okay, I need to back up there again. There already had been a medevac ship shot down, I think it was one, there might have been two shot down already, you know, but oh, okay, what I’m leading to—the process of getting everyone out, he got out, he was going to go out on the third bird, I think it was, and the rest of us were securing the area, plus waiting for our turn. A lot of incoming, alright, and what happened was that bird had come in and he, you’d have to read the book, the chopper that was coming in to land for him was actually crash landing, it was not under power, and we didn’t know that. 7:01 I’ve been in touch with a guy and I can’t remember Larry’s last name, but it was coming in for a crash landing and it had been shot up. He had no place to go and he couldn’t make it back to Camp Evans, he probably couldn’t have made it out of the jungle, so okay, where do you go, back to the LZ. Interviewer: Was this after he picked up some guys and was leaving? Yeah, I think he was like the third bird. One, two had come in and I think in the process what happened when he came in there was kind of like a holdup. I think what happened was when the choppers got ready to take off, they had to come up and reverse and go 30 �back the way they came in and in the process that held him up and some of the others and I guess he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and they really shot him up. 8:03 Alright, so he couldn’t land then, so he said, ―Hey, I’m shot up so I’m going to have to go and try to make it back to Evans‖, well he wasn’t going to, his bird was all fired and everything, so he came back around and unbeknownst to us, he was crash landing, and we thought he was landing. He don’t pick up, so most of the guys who were getting on there, including the company commander, when they see it coming down they go out there to catch the bird and the bird is kind of wobbling coming in, and the next thing you know, I can’t remember what side it landed on, but it landed on and one of the rotors, or a couple of them, broke off and cut our company commander in half. It got him across this way (diagonally). I remember seeing what I thought was, maybe, a rucksack going through the air and it was parts of his body. 9:04 So, needless to say, after that happened I thought, ―Oh my gosh, what more can happen here?‖ I think he was the only one killed there. There might have been a couple of wounded, but I think they all got out, including the guys in the helicopter, the majority. A couple of guys had to, a couple of our guys had to go down there and dig out—someone was pinned underneath the chopper, and a couple of guys went down and got him out from underneath the chopper and brought him back out, and to the relative safety of the three o’clock position on the LZ. Now, we couldn’t use that, there were two helicopters shot down and we could use that LZ. What we had to do was turn around and walk, and this is where it’s all kind of like a blur. 10:08 We had to go to another LZ. There was another LZ to go to, so we had to hump to it and we couldn’t take our dead. There was no way we could take our dead, the company commander of D Company of the 506, said we had to leave him, 31 �we didn’t have enough men. They had casualties D Company of the 2nd, Charlie Company of the 2nd; they were down to half a company, maybe less, you know, maybe thirty guys or forty guys. I always thanked those guys for coming in and helping us out because you know that’s something else when you have to go in there and rescue somebody else when you’re in dire straits yourself, you know. So, we had to hump back to this hilltop, and I want to say it was hill 605 that comes to mind. 11:09 You could get shot up even—that was a hot LZ. We got shot up, we got on the bird and I’m trying to remember who I was with. My buddy Dean was on there and kind of guided me through and helped me out as part of becoming the squad leader. He was on there, and I can’t remember—I remember Dean and I remember getting on the chopper and they finally got us out, and we went back to Camp Evans and landed. I remember guys coming out to greet us and I remember this one in particular, his name was Servanti, he was in my squad. 12:05 Coming out there and he was telling me, ―Tony, I’m really glad you made it out‖ and I said, ―I’m glad you made it out too Craig‖ , so that’s basically how it ended for us. Interviewer: Then what happened to you? You were wounded and did you get medical attention? I went to the 326 Evac, I think it was. I went back there to see what was going on because I still had the back thing and now the pain comes back again, so I went back there and they stitched me up and fixed me up and they said, ―We’re going to put you in for a purple heart back there‖, so I said, ―Okay‖, and at that time it didn’t really mean anything. 13:05 Interviewer: Did you return to duty? 32 �After a couple of weeks, and I can’t remember what all they did, but they were superficial wounds and not like some of the guys who got medevaced out and I never saw again. At that time, that was basically how I remember that, and rebuild the company again. Interviewer: I was going to ask you, because you said when you committed to that action the company was considered at pretty full strength. Pretty good strength Interviewer: You had eighty five guys as opposed to whatever. What was your—do you have any idea what your effective strength was when you were evacuated out of there? Fifteen to twenty maybe not even that. 14:03 I can remember someone saying that— who else was with the 1st Battalion of the 506, saying something about that they had a battalion formation and when they got out there was no one from B Company out there, I do remember that. Like I said, after that it just kind of—I stayed in the rear, the company was regrouping and we ended up going to a firebase. There were a lot of us who probably were wounded like I was, you know and stuff, and probably went back to the company, which wasn’t unusual. I think Dean was injured too, and that was probably his second or third purple heart. Interviewer: Did you stay; medically did you just stay at Evans? 15:01 Yeah, I stayed at Evans, light duty probably, going and having the bandages changed and stuff like that because you had to worry about infection, which was rampant. Interviewer: Any problem with you with infection? No, I seemed to heal pretty well. The only problem with me, I got badly sunburned, I got badly sunburned and my lips were even sunburned. 33 �Interviewer: At Camp Evans? No, at Kathryn, in the jungle, I got really badly sunburned and now I have skin cancer on my face. That’s all I’m treated for, not on the rest of my body, just my face and occasionally on my hands. Then I think, ―What was I wearing then during those times?‖ Jungle fatigues rolled up to about here, your fatigue shirt, right? 16:00 In your face, so I’ve had two battles with skin cancer, but I remember being badly burned on the lips and I think that got infected too. They would bust open and bleed and stuff and then we went to the rear and got some medication for that and everything. I had a constant problem with that and that was just July or the first of August and still I had to go back out in the jungle. They brought in a bunch of new troops, but unfortunately for some of the troops down south whose divisions were going home, guess what? Instead of going home they got transferred to the 101st, and that happened before—that happened even before and it happened even more so after what happened to us in that battle. 17:00 It was something else and you know it’s kind of funny—I know we were in kind of minor skirmishes and stuff like that, but nothing compared to what we went through at that battle of July 19th, that lives with me always, and a lot of the other stuff. I can remember from May to August first or the end of July pretty well, but after that it kind of fades, and I know we— people have told me that we were in battles then after that. After—I had been in the 2nd platoon, and I guess because of the many casualties in the 3rd platoon, I was transferred to the third platoon as a squad leader, and I ended up with the 3rd platoon for the rest of my tour over there. I was still a squad leader. I basically remained a squad leader for the majority of my time and occasional—I think there for two or three weeks I became a platoon leader for the 3rd platoon, you know. 18:10 We still suffered casualties and 34 �stuff, and even in that position it was even more you didn’t want anybody hurt, and you wonder about the futility of it all, all these battles and stuff. Interviewer: What was the morale of the guys? Obviously they know the U.S. is winding down in its commitment and this and that, is that an issue? You know for some it could be bad. I know there’s times it was probably bad for me, but considering what we went through and the psychological effect of that period of time, very volatile for our country, I don’t think it was that bad. 19:02 It could have been better, sure, sure it could have, but at that time all you did was try to, because you didn’t know in war, in battle, it’s to help your brother. Interviewer: Make the best of a worse situation. Yes, right, that’s all you could do basically. I look back on it now and that’s basically what we did. Every one of us from platoon leader, squad leader on down is to help save each other if we had to, so in the end you create that strong special bond of an infantry man that had been through battle, and that’s why you get that, and a lot of people can’t understand it unless you went through it. Interviewer: What was the racial makeup of the unit when you were there do you recall? 20:06 I’m thinking probably close to what the, maybe, what the racial makeup of the country was, maybe Interviewer: About eight or ten percent, maybe? I would say maybe that and I know we had a lot of problems in the rear with people not wanting to go out into the bush and there was some racial strife back there too, but I guess in the end that works with the division commander wanting to keep the best troops 35 �out in the bush to keep us away from that. I would say that worked out pretty good, not to say that when we got to the rear there was nothing wrong with a nice cold beer and a ―doobie‖ to go along with it, but that was recreational use it was not like how it was, you know, you’re a Vietnam vet, you come back from Vietnam, you’re the expert when it comes to ―pot‖, no. 21:07 It was for recreational use, it was a way to wind down, just a beer and pot went together and you could use it to, maybe, get high and feel good in certain circumstances. But I would say for the most part, when I was in the position like I was and we went out to the bush we had our act together. We weren’t going to go out—and I don’t ever remember that being out there, it might have been, but I can’t ever remember that being out there when we were out there, we wouldn’t allow it. Especially when we were with the 3rd platoon we never got it. Merle was a squad leader and I was a squad leader and we just wouldn’t allow that stuff, no. Interviewer: There was no racial tension out in the field? Some people said there was. 22:02 I don’t remember a whole lot, I’m not saying it didn’t, but I, maybe, didn’t see that much, and there could be some in the squad, but I told you about--Jiggs Falery went out in the bush with me when we were in the same platoon and I became the squad leader, he was a black man, and he’s a good friend of mine today. He used my machine gun and he had a way to temper that. James joined, joined the military, so he was in for a while and I think, maybe, three or four years, I can’t remember, so maybe in that respect he helped temper that with me and there was some guy saying, ―Oh, he’s just picking on us‖, and stuff like that and James would come in and say, ―Oh, you know‖, which would work to our advantage of the whole squad. Interviewer: Sure 36 �And he’s a dear friend today. I wish he could have made it up here, but he couldn’t. 23:00 We have kept in touch over the years, you know, and stuff after losing contact with everybody about the first over ten years. I finally decided to start getting in contact with everybody and started looking for people through organizations and through luck, you know, and everything. I remember him quite well. Interviewer: Now, your year is winding down, tell me about your deross process. Okay, I got a drop—my deros would have been April 20—no, no, I’m trying to think how long before you---I was going to ETS out of the army because of all the training I went through. I went to that for nine months, had a good time, came back and immediately tried to put in for a leave and was denied. 24:00 I thought at one time I might get a real job, you know, in some position, and that didn’t pan out either, so I spent my whole time out in the bush. When it came close to deros, I was a squad leader, we had a platoon leader and a platoon sergeant, and I was a squad leader and Merle was too and they brought a new squad leader in to take my place. He was Batts, a good guy and he had served a tour in Vietnam with the exact same company. I guess, I don’t know if he had requested to go back to Delta Company, but he was back with Delta Company, 1st of the 506, and he was a buck sergeant. 25:00 He took over the squad and I was basically relieved of duty. I was just another grunt now—basically when he came I had to kind of show him the ropes, you know, and stuff like that, and he finally took over control of the squad. The day I was supposed to get out of the bush they cancelled—they cancelled it and I had to wait an extra day. We were in the lowland at the time. We were like around the first ridgeline around Camp Evans, patrolling the area, secured for this, because this is when that other operation was going on that we talked about earlier, and 37 �so I finally got out of the bush. 26:00 I had two weeks to be home, two weeks prior to going home I got out of the bush, maybe not even that long. It seem like by the time I turned in my equipment, for a couple of days humping out of the area and going down to the replacement company down at Cam Ranh Bay this time. I got there, got on a bird, the bird took of and everybody let out a big cheer, I remember that. A long flight back and we flew to Japan. I think at that time, maybe because of the airplanes they were using, it was a charter plane, I think by the time we got on the—I think we flew from Japan all the way to Fort Lewis, Washington. I remember coming in and we’re getting close, and seeing the ocean, and all of a sudden you see the United States coming into view, and everybody let out a big cheer. 27:04 You could see the coastline and that was always a wonderful site, and we got to see Mt. Rainier, which I thought, ―Man that’s a wonderful site‖. We flew to Fort Lewis and I got ETSed out of the army. Interviewer: How long were you in Fort Lewis? Three days, maybe, so I got out, I think, the 5th of April 1971 I want to say. My parents didn’t know I was coming home. Instead of going military standby, I think I changed clothes and put on some civilian clothes I had from R&R. I put them on after I ETSed, got a cab, waited for a couple other guys and we all took a ride down to the Tacoma, Seatac Airport. 28:08 I went there and got me a flight, and I had to fly from Seattle to Chicago and get a connecting flight from Chicago to Indianapolis, and I went first class. I said, ―To hell with military standby‖, and I was on a 747 at the time, and I’m going to say it was a double decker. Some people said, ―No, it wasn’t‖, but I’m pretty sure that it was, and I remember a very nice flight and they would say, ―What would you like?‖ I said, ―Give me a whiskey and water or on the rocks‖, or something like that, so that was 38 �nice and I’m sitting there relaxing, and there were movies on and stuff. I think I finished with that and had one more and I passed out, so needless to say, I did not enjoy the rest of my flight. 29:00 They had to wake me up when we got to Chicago, ―You’re here‖, so I had to hurry up and run to get my flight going. Interviewer: I didn’t get to ask you, where did you go on R&R? Taiwan, Taipei, single guy, I didn’t have anyone in my life at the time. I went there and had a good time, I went with a Marine, he was on R&R too and we were probably both from the Midwest or something and I said, ―Let’s go together‖, so we did, and we had a great time. We were on R&R together and had a good time and came back and I thought maybe I’d get me a real job and, ―No, you’re going back out in the bush‖, and I said, ―Hey god, what you saw back there, forget about it‖ Interviewer: “I was just testing your forgiveness”. Yes, ―I’m testing your forgiveness‖, yeah. Interviewer: So, you get back to Indianapolis, surprise the family? No, I didn’t tell them. 30:02 They knew I was coming home. They thought maybe I – which would have been around—later on in April. Interviewer: You had about a two week drop? Three, yeah, twenty one—twenty two days it ended up. So, I came home and I surprised them. I got to Indianapolis and tried to get a cab to my house, which was probably, where my parents lived at that time five miles from the airport. I couldn’t get a cab because there were a lot of planes coming in, soldiers going to AIT at Fort Benjamin Harrison there in Indianapolis, AIT at Fort Ben Interviewer: Bean counter AIT 39 �Yes, yes, and it was hard for me to get a cab and I remember I was getting ―pissed‖, but I finally got one and went home and surprised them, and of course, they were happy to see me. I remember there for a while I guess I just got depressed. 31:06 I didn’t write anybody, my parents got upset, and the next thing you know I got a letter from a congressman or senator, and the company commander said, ―You go write a letter to your parents now‖, so I had to write a letter to them. After what I had been through it took me a while to get back and then I started writing again. That’s basically it, came home, run around for a while, got married, had kids, got divorced, it didn’t work out, your 2000, so I’ve been on my own. I got a good relationship with my son. Interviewer: Well, thanks for sharing your story, it was fantastic and we appreciate it. All right 31:59 40 � 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 Cox, Anthony (Interview transcript and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cox, Anthony Description An account of the resource Tony Cox was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on August 31st, 1949. He received basic training at Ft. Knox, Kentucky and AIT at Ft. Polk, Lousiana. He also went to NCO school in Ft. Benning Georgia. He was assigned to Delta Company, 1st of the 506. He became squad leader after being in the field a while. In the battle around Firebase Ripcord in July, 1970, his company got into trouble in an area southeast of Hill 805. It was a very hot LZ and there were many casualties and many wounded. Mr. Cox went back to the bush after being treated for a gunshot wound, transferred to the 3rd platoon as a squad leader for the rest of his tour. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource McGregor, Michael (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 2011-10-06 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CoxT1278V 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/e6dedf59db4fbaa18dd7a369717c32fd.jpg 58266e5c69968e1005fe1c4d010474c9 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 Grand Rapids Boat and Canoe Club collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Rapids Boat and Canoe Club Description An account of the resource Scrapbooks of newsclippings, photographs, postcards, and ephemera of the Grand Rapids Boat and Canoe Club. Photos were taken at regattas on Reeds Lake; the Grand River; Peoria, Illinois; and in Chicago of club members, and events. Historical articles, reports of regatta events, and articles featuring members Charles McQuewan and Jack Corbett are included. Programs include the First Grand Regatta on Great Salt Lake 1888, and Peoria Rowing Festival, and banquet and music programs and the GR Log, a publication of the Grand Rapids Boat and Canoe Club. Materials from the Central States Amater Rowing Association, and the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen are also included. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1980s to 1940s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/481">Grand Rapids Boat and Canoe Club scrapbooks, (RHC-54)</a> Subject The topic of the resource Grand Rapids (Mich.) Outdoor recreation Boats and boating Racing shells Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-54 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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-54_Photographs-GRRC09 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Rapids Boat and Canoe Club Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1919-08 Title A name given to the resource Coxed Fours Crewboat in Water Description An account of the resource Unidentified 4-man crewboat in the water, with the cox position empty. In the foreground, two men standing on nearby dock. A shoreline with trees in the background. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Rapids (Mich.) Outdoor recreation Boats and boating Racing shells Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/481">Grand Rapids Boat and Canoe Club scrapbooks (RHC-54)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/">No Known Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg 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