84 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0d263821fabfdf0aed8c3990fa0ad4be.pdf 5e6c9969f9b3decafbd5dbfe4ad87865 PDF Text Text Day 11 by windoworks This morning has been a sobering one. My children are all working from home and in Australia, in New South Wales and Victoria they are closing down all non essential services. Confirmed cases in Michigan reached 787 yesterday and here in Kent County we had 21 confirmed cases and our first death. Experts are saying that the virus attacks all age groups and young people are at risk of serious illness too. On an even more disturbing note, some experts are saying this virus will come in waves. CB and I are realizing that this will be a long haul, maybe even 12 months. One way to look at it is to suppose it will be 12 months and then if it resolves sooner it will be a welcome surprise. I am sure each of us are considering what this means and I don’t need to make you any more anxious by telling you what I’m thinking about. Yesterday I told you about my new routine. I read an article by the astronaut Scott Kelly who spent 340 days in space on the International Space Station. He talks about the absolute necessity for a daily routine which includes sleeping at the normal time. My son AB says working from home means there is a temptation to work long hours - especially as he is a vital member of his company’s COVID-19 management team. During last week , one staff person in 1600 at his office complex tested positive for the virus and when AB went to work the next day without having read the text memo sent during the night, he was stopped by police from entering the building. The company then spent 2 days and a lot of money having the building cleaned to pandemic standards and then decided that it was cheaper to have everyone work from home. We continue to FaceTime with as many family members saw possible and each day when ZB calls we get to watch OB play on the floor for 20-30 minutes while we chat to ZB. It is such a great comfort to us. FaceTime is the closest we can get to anyone. And yes, OB is starting to crawl and pull himself up (!!!) and may be slowly getting his top 2 teeth to match his bottom 2 teeth. Moving the bird feeder was a brilliant idea as we have seen all kinds of birds feeding and some of them we don’t recognize. Murphy Brown yearns to be outside and spends hours at the tv room window watching the birds (not much else is happening on our block). Oh, except yesterday when our block captain organized a scavenger hunt. Each participating house had to put something in their downstairs window and then each family wandered around with their printed sheet looking for the objects. I think great fun was had by all. ��Yesterday’s walk. We went to a trail that goes between several main roads. The sun was wonderful but it was in the teens with the windchill. A woman came walking past in the opposite direction (carefully apart from us) and said: thats my favorite kind of dog. Normally she would have stopped for a pat - but... And yes, CB IS wearing shorts Today’s flashback . It’s so quiet you can hear the birds singing as you walk. ��This is somewhere in France. We were on a tour of the most important Big History sites in Europe after the Big History conference in Amsterdam. Our coach driver believed no one except his directions app and we spent many frustrating hours getting lost and caught in traffic jams. But this day he outdid himself. He decided to take us down to this tiny town to see the coastline but the Main Street was heavily parked and too narrow fo our bus. It was so narrow in fact that he couldn’t open the front door of the bus and some people, including CB were able to get out of the back door. The bus stayed jammed for a long time until the local police arrived and found all the owners of the cars and vans on the right hand side of the road. The owners all came running and a big crowd of locals gathered to watch our predicament. In the photo, CB is out the front showing the driver how much room there might be for maneuvering. When the parked vehicles were cleared and everyone was back on the bus, the driver started the engine and we inched forward slowly to loud cheers and clapping from the spectators. I think it was the most entertainment they’d had for months. We took his app away. Until tomorrow then. Stay safe and well and tell your loved ones just how much you love them and give them a virtual hug. � 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_2020-03-22_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-11 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-03-22 Title A name given to the resource Day 11 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f0b2ceb037bc1c05659f5540b461b917.pdf b9be2c6500ebb02c1792c0a590ad81e5 PDF Text Text Day 12 by windoworks Well, here we are again then. This is what we woke up to this morning at 6am. It snowed all night long, I mean it SNOWED all night long. What’s next I ask myself? And I’m not even going to entertain an answer. Yesterday CB went walking with Murphy Brown early in the morning. They went through the woods on the campus of Aquinas College and followed the new stations of the cross put up for people who can no longer attend Mass. ��Each box has a station of the cross in it. Then he walked past Blodgett Hospital where the drive through Coronavirus testing was just opening up for the day. Late last night, after we had FaceTimed ZL in New Zealand and ZB with OB in Australia, ZL texted us to say that the Prime Minister Adhern had moved New Zealand to Level 3 followed by Level 4 with 48 hours. Level 4 mandates all citizens must lockdown in their homes. All non-essential businesses and nonessential facilities must close and the police will enforce restrictions. We here in Michigan are at Level 3 with a possible switch to Level 4 coming with total lockdown. In Australia Victoria and New South Wales are locking down but Prime Minister Morrison seems unable to take this as seriously as he should. Over the weekend they had to get the police to close Bondi Beach in Sydney as it was packed with sunbathers and swimmers. Which just shows that if the leader of your country doesn’t take this seriously - why should the general population? ZB ran out to the toy shop over the road yesterday (before it closed down) and bought OB a big plastic bell which he loves. She was going to get a tambourine which daycare had told her he loves but the video clip she sent featured the bell and his happy face. When we FaceTimed yesterday CB was practicing his flute �and OB was entranced. AB is sheltering in place with a delivery of 12 assorted bottles of wine. Perhaps he’s going to drink all his worries away. Just kidding AB. Yesterday we drove out to the countryside to deliver a thumb drive to my colleague (long story, and yes we left it in her mailbox) and then we went for a walk in a little park we found on our way home. I just realized that I didn’t take any photos! And finally, today’s flashback. Bear with me while I troll through years of photos. ��This is October 2016 and we had been living in Brandon, a small village in Suffolk England for 4 weeks and AB joined us after this in Cambridge. We then went on a 3 week trip up through Scotland all the way up to the Orkney Islands. It rained the whole 3 days we were there but it was an amazing place. On our second day there we drove across causeways to South Ronaldsay to visit a Neolithic chambered tomb called The Tomb of the Eagles. The rain was so heavy and the wind was so strong, we had to link arms as we walked the mile out along the cliff edge to the tomb. Luckily the wind was blowing off the sea and across the land or I think we would have been blown off the cliffs. When we reached the tomb, there was only one way in. You either crawled on your hands and knees (as CB did) or you lay flat on your back and pulled yourself hand over hand into the tomb. It’s surprisingly hard to make yourself do this, but I hadn’t struggled all that way not to look inside. Once inside it was amazingly quiet, dim and warm and after a quick look around we had to force ourselves to go back out again into the wild weather. The photo is of AB pulling himself out again, and really, you just had to laugh. Once again a wonderful memory but I don’t have to do that again! Thank you to every one who posts funny things on FaceBook, thanks to Yo Yo Ma who posts wonderful videos of himself playing moving cello pieces - and thanks to all of you who join me on this daily post. As always till tomorrow. Stay well and stay safe - and if you’re really sick, seek help. � 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_2020-03-23_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-12 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-03-23 Title A name given to the resource Day 12 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/742582444e5b1f8dc7ad859fee4c5d3f.pdf 82c1c8b131161f3b0708fc554130c645 PDF Text Text Gosh its Day 13 by windoworks Yesterday evening as we were watching television both our cell phones emitted a loud siren type alarm. For a moment I thought: surely not a tornado to add to everything else? But no, it was a notification from the Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, telling us we were now locked down in place. We can go out for walks, ride our bikes, go for runs, go to the grocery store and the pharmacy as long as we maintain a 6 feet gap from everyone else. Actually not that different for many of us, we have been semi locked down for a week now. This will last at least 3 weeks. Notice how ominous those words ‘at least’ have become? On yesterdays early morning walk CB and Murphy walked along Michigan past Goodwill. So now its obvious what everyone has bee doing while staying at home. I can’t imagine what Goodwill will do with all this snow covered stuff. �And this is the view from the parking lot at Goodwill - and Michigan is usually a busy thoroughfare. This morning we got up very early as the grocery stores around us were opening early and dedicating either the first hour or 2 hours of Tuesdays and Thursdays for 60+ or immune compromised shoppers. I’ve never seen so many grey haired and rubber gloved people streaming into Meijers. Of course they didn’t have everything we wanted and honestly I’ve never seen so many older people who were utterly hopeless at distancing themselves because they were so intent on grabbing stuff before anyone else. There was NO gluten free bread - none! Maybe there was no regular bread left and everyone had to grab any type of bread available Also, there was no GF flour. Disturbing. After that we went to our local D&W, much quieter and there we got everything else except a cooked chicken because they weren’t ready yet. Altogether we spent a fortune. Also yesterday, we ordered vegetable seeds online - and already many of the seeds were out of stock - is everyone planting a Victory Garden this year? Deliveries are slowing down too as warehouses and drivers are overwhelmed. We went shopping this morning because Meijer is considering discontinuing their home delivery. It’s hard to see how those home shoppers who spend all day in grocery stores can avoid getting sick. I think we have enough of everything for about 2 weeks. �I see that the Federal Administration is considering allowing businesses to reopen because it might help the economy. If that were to happen, we would have a worse outcome than China and Italy together. Hopefully anything coming out of the White House will be overridden by the State Governors. In a “you’re never to old to learn” note, my mother-in-law, FB, was given an old iPad by her grandson-inlaw who set up FaceTime on it for her. FB is locked down at her retirement village. Luckily she lives in a beautiful little house with a gorgeous garden on both sides (sadly she’s losing her wonderful gardener he’s moving interstate). She’s already had several family members FaceTime her and we will try soon. You go, Mum! And of course, the flashback photo of the day ��Just for fun. This photo is of OB when he was just over 3 months old. ZB went shopping with my brotherin-law DB and his wife BB. BB and ZB went off to look at other stores while DB was in charge of OB. He couldn’t resist putting OB into a pull up cart basket and having got him in there had a moments panic thinking about how to get OB out. He said later: I thought about tipping the basket upside down and shaking him out, but I thought ZB might kill me. ZB only learned about this episode when she saw DB’s posted photos later. Well thats it for today. Stay well, stay safe and stay inside. � 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_2020-03-24_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-13-Gosh-its-Day-13 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-03-24 Title A name given to the resource Gosh its Day 13 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3cc49100f5f57b92a5ca3e18b87a8da3.pdf 296c81a6af658646e97523ae49211b2a PDF Text Text Day 14…. by windoworks Today it will be 56F (just over 13C) and sunny. Now I know those of you who deal in Celsius that seems cold, but to us here in Michigan, thats a spring day and its time to get the porch furniture out. Also the trees are starting to bud very slowly. It’s going to be harder to keep us inside once the weather improves. This morning I watched Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York State give a 20 minute talk with an excellent power point which was streamed online to all Americans. The situation in his state is dire. His experts are predicting a massive spike of the virus in 14-21 days time. He was pleading for federal help, as are all the governors. He said FEMA sent the state 400 ventilators but they need 30,000. Its staggering and he predicts it will happen in other states, just later on than New York. The Administration seems to think it comes down to a choice between human life and the economy. In Texas the governor there thinks all of us over 60 should be willing to sacrifice ourselves for the economy of the state. Let me just say: I’m never visiting Texas ever again. ��Yesterday ZB FaceTimed with OB and we watched him play for a long time while we talked and then we watched him sit in the high chair in her kitchen while she fed him breakfast. Afterwards CB said to me: its almost as though we were there. And it is but I just can’t kiss that crease where his neck meets his torso just under his ear. Maybe I’ll get ZB to kiss him for me. In the photo above, this is his ‘throw your hands in the air like you just don’t care’ pose. In NZ ZL and his wife AW are locked down at home and AW is experiencing cabin fever. Yesterday I had to resist a temptation to lie on the floor and moan. I may succumb today. how are you feeling? So, today’s flashback photo: This is ZB and me in Maine on a road trip almost exactly one year ago today. At this point ZB was 5 months pregnant with OB and really he was just as active then as he is today at almost 8 months old. We spent a week driving around Maine in a rental car which reassembled a tank. I was the driver and it was almost as hard driving it as it was getting in and out of the dammed thing. The weather was amazing and we really enjoyed ourselves. Look at us, we had no idea what was ahead. Well, as always - STAY INSIDE. �� 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_2020-03-25_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-14 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-03-25 Title A name given to the resource Day 14…. Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c3daf238e205a802c10fb3e7a4a2ecef.pdf d8deeac8ba8faac3caf4d5281190ea47 PDF Text Text Day 15 by windoworks The City of Grand Rapids has introduced a new daily event called Grand Rapids Waves Neighborhood Connection. Every evening we are to step outside our houses onto our porch or front path and wave to our neighbors. I have signed us up for 7:30pm tonight when the hour begins. I’ll let you know how it goes. Its to make sure everyone on our part of the block are still doing well. Every morning CB and I wake between 6-6:30am. It seems our internal alarm clocks ring at that time and then we are awake for the day. This also means by 9:15pm at night we are both struggling to stay awake although it takes time to close the house for the night, walk the dog, clean our teeth etc., and then read in bed so we don’t go to sleep until after 10pm. This morning I have trolled through my email, messages and FaceBook as usual and read funny things, newsy emails from friends faraway and truly disturbing and upsetting articles from well accredited sources. The numbers of cases continue to increase in Michigan, and hospitals in Detroit are in an alarming position. Remember how we couldn’t believe the war zone decision making in Italy? It’s about to hit Detroit and New York and many other places in the US. So, after a compelling urge to lie on the floor and moan passed, I sat up, opened my IPad and here we are. Yesterday CB went walking as usual with Murphy Brown after breakfast. Here are some photos ��The top photo is of Robinson Rd next to Wilcox Park. Further up on the left is Aquinas College (out of shot) completely deserted. This next photo is of the main intersection in Eastown, Lake Drive. This is the start of the business district on Lake Drive and it was taken at 9:12 am on a Wednesday morning. Every afternoon CB and I have started to use an app called Marco Polo and we make a short video of ourselves singing children’s songs for OB to watch with his mother. Apparently he likes them, mostly because he seems to be a very musical child. It’s fun and challenging and is becoming part of our daily routine. And on that topic: routine is everything. It gives us a reason to get up in the morning, eat good food, have a daily shower and try to walk outside for 30 minutes every day (while carefully practicing social distancing of course). So, todays flashback photo; �This is Jarlshof on the Shetland Islands. It is an archeological site that was occupied for thousands of years from the Neolithic (Stone) Age from about 5000BCE through to the Vikings, 1000 CE. Each layer uncovered a different time period and different culture. I loved the Shetland Islands firstly because it is where they film the detective series Shetland and the main actor Douglas Henshall who plays Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez is so damned cute! They were filming Series 6 while we were there but it was Sunday and while our guide said we might see him in the local pub later in the afternoon - we didn’t, and I think he might have gone home for the weekend. It is amazing watching the series now and saying to each other: ooh look there’s Jimmy’s house - we saw that! Secondly I loved it because our guide took us to a shop (in the middle of nowhere) where they make sweaters (jumpers) - the same company who made the one I bought 2 years before in the Orkney Isles. Of course I bought a knitted jacket for a lot of money. And thirdly, I loved it because on our way to see Jarlshof we had to stop the bus and wait for a small plane to land at the airport - the runway crosses the main road! When we got to Jarlshof we had to line up to go inside the nearby hotel to use the public bathrooms , one at a time. This was because they can’t build �toilets anywhere near the site. Every time they start to dig down they strike more ancient ruins and have to stop! So thats it for today. Stay well, and stay inside until the all clear sounds. � 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_2020-03-26_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-15 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-03-26 Title A name given to the resource Day 15 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b9210828fe312fa939e1701f10c56667.pdf 31c455eb8dbf0538b6cc6c78d66536f4 PDF Text Text Good grief! Day 16 by windoworks Will I be able to go outside again when the all clear sounds? I was thinking about that this morning. I used to hug friends and sometimes kiss cheeks. I’m not sure how comfortable I feel about that now. Yesterday we were walking along Wealthy and we saw our friends JS and PA on the other side of the road and for a split second I almost ran across the road for a loving hug with each of them - and then the four of us stood awkwardly on each side of the road and mimed hugging. I miss those hugs, but I’m scared. On a lighter note, watching online I have learned how to propagate succulents (may never need that), learned the differences between various butterflies (did you know the red spots or markings on a butterfly signal to a bird that its not good to eat?), and watched endless cooking videos by Chef Lidia Bastianich which has seriously altered the way CB and I cook. Not that we weren’t good cooks before but her Italian tips and tricks have made our meals even better. And speaking of that, I have to acknowledge that CB has now elevated from sous chef to chef. His meals are wonderful, Again, speaking of CB, he has decided (after watching an instructional video) that all he needed was some electric hair clippers and he could cut his own hair. He ordered them online and I am agog to see what happens. I”ll let you know, but he’s not touching my hair. My big experiment will be getting the shellac off my nails. I’ve got all the equipment now and I’m thinking of trying it next week. Again, I’ll keep you posted. On Vancouver Island, British Columbia, where my brother AS and his wife LS live, they are now completely locked down and here’s an update from my niece EB and her builder partner who live in Cornwall , England. She is furloughed from her job but the government is subsidizing 80% of salaries so she’s not too worried. EB went grocery shopping yesterday and they only allowed 1 person from each household in (there’s an idea!). The store had tape marks all over the floor to keep you apart (there’s another idea) and all items were limited. There is no driving anywhere and its strictly policed. And last night the two of them and all their neighbors went outside to applaud the National Health Service workers. She said it was amazing as you could hear clapping and shouting in the pitch black for miles. And speaking of that, last night was the second night of the Grand Rapids wave to your neighbors. We are asked to go outside between 7:30-8:30pm and wave to our neighbors. CB and I went out and were just thinking of coming back inside as no one else was out, when our neighbor 4 doors down, RH came out and we had a short catch up conversation while staying one velociraptor apart. (You didn’t know? From nose to tail tip velociraptors were 6 feet long, I learnt that online). So, the neighbor wave is on for the foreseeable future and perhaps I’ll just wave out the tv room window. ��Speaking of which, in solidarity with my daughter ZB who has a toy bear in her living room window looking down on the street below, for all the little Balmain children going on a bear hunt, I have put Poochie and a kangaroo with a joey in my tv room window facing the street. Now I know Poochie is actually a puppy, but I’m trying. And, the flashback photo ��This is the Pergamon Museum on Museumsinsel (Museum Island) on the Spree River in the middle of Berlin, Germany. In August 2016, CB and I lived for a month in Berlin in the most elegant apartment I have ever been in. Every day we went out after breakfast and explored all of Berlin and the surrounding areas. Berlin has a very efficient train system, both above ground and underground. It was almost impossible to get into the Pergamon, and we chose a day that we thought might be quieter and we lined up for about 30-40 minutes to go in, which wasn’t bad at all. Unfortunately parts were under refurbishment but what we saw was spectacular. Mostly because the museum is just stuffed full of artifacts that explorers stole or just took. What you’re looking at ia complete Roman temple. This photo was taken from the temple’s second floor. I’ll just let that sink in for a minute someone took the WHOLE THING. It was probably acquired from a Roman town in Turkey somewhere and I bet they would like it back. I made CB do a running historian’s commentary in every room we visited and even though we were speaking in English we gathered a little crowd around us surreptitiously trying to listen in. I loved Berlin and I would happily visit there again. So you know the drill, but be well and safe � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-03-27_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-16-Good-grief Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-03-27 Title A name given to the resource Good grief! Day 16 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c79da1b392d7f8ef883efe62ab68448a.pdf 5942c52b8bd69e0fca77aba93abc216c PDF Text Text And its Day 16 by windoworks Some years ago CB and I were in Wellington, NZ with our son ZL and his wife AW and two friends from Grand Rapids who were traveling with us around NZ. We were driving in our rental van around the extensive bays of Wellington on a truly miserable wet afternoon with AW and I relegated to the very back seat with no open windows for fresh air. This was the first time I experienced ‘car poo’, that is, an unreasoning and overwhelming desire to get out of this vehicle right this very minute and everyone just get out of my way! I tell you this because yesterday I experienced a third day of house poo. Did I want to walk around the block? NO! I wanted to get in the car and drive somewhere where we could safely walk the dog and look at the trees and anything else but not the view from our house windows. And I couldn’t because we didn’t get our car out of the garage before our neighbor put his ladders across our driveway so he can completely repaint the side of his house facing ours. So CB promised that tomorrow (today) we could make a picnic lunch and drive out to the lake and eat our lunch (in the car) and then walk in the woods to the beach. How lovely! I smiled as I fell asleep last night. And then it rained all night and there was even a thunderstorm and as I write this it is still raining. Bah, humbug! We will go for a drive after lunch and walk in the rain, but it won’t be the same. So how are you doing? Yesterday evening, for the first time ever, we group FaceTimed with our children. At first it was disconcerting because every time someone spoke their video feed got bigger. But after a minute or so we all adapted and we talked for quite a while. We asked each other what was happening for each person and their job etc and here’s what we found out. ZB and baby OB will probably be home together beginning next week. The daycare OB goes to 3 days a week has less and less attendees and on Friday the owner began letting casual staff go. ZB will work from home for 21 hours a week spread over 5 weekdays instead of 3 full days. This won’t be easy as OB has learnt to crawl and is progressing fast to pulling himself up on the furniture. Luckily most of her team members that she supervises are in a similar boat with �children at home. And if Jimmy Fallon can broadcast from home with his children climbing all over him, we can all do it. AB is working from home for one more week until all stores and offices are closed and then he will take 4 weeks annual paid leave to begin with. He says he will spend most of each day riding his new exercise bicycle. ZL is still working from home and last week their readership jumped to half of NZ’s population. He works at Stuff.co.nz. Check it out, its a great news service. His wife AW is now home as her Early Childhood Learning Center is closed but the NZ government is subsidizing 80% of her salary. In Cornwall, England, our niece EB is furloughed beginning next week. Her partner T still has contract work as a builder but all building supply shops have closed which makes it very difficult. The government is paying 80% of EB’s salary I think, so she has assured us they will be okay. In Perth, Australia, my friend MM and her husband KM are isolated and doing well pursuing interests etc. Like us they had to cancel extensive overseas travel plans and can only communicate with their children and grandchildren via online. In Finland my friend AS is retired and posting photos of delectable looking berry pies and her husband JS is working from home as they are locked down also. We don’t hear very much about Scandanavia but they are suffering just as much as we are. In local news: the USA has topped the world for confirmed COVID-19 cases and they tell us we haven’t spiked yet. I can’t even think about that coherently. The Orange One wants us back in churches by Easter and every morning I thank whoever might be listening for our Governor, our City Mayor, our Kent County Health Department, our City Police Chief and our City Manager who are doing absolutely everything to keep us out of harm’s way. I am so glad I live in Michigan and not in places like Oklahoma where their Governor was forced to accept the virus as a reality on Tuesday this week and ordered regulations in place. Meanwhile people are dying in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Those poor people. My heart goes out to them. Okay enough. Today’s flashback. It’s isn’t really a flashback, its a video (if I can get it to work) and its self explanatory. I hope this makes you smile. I replay it every time I feel house poo coming on. Okay - stay safe, stay home. Tomorrow then. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-03-28_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-17-And-its-Day-16 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-03-28 Title A name given to the resource And its Day 16 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d8bdbbdcb003a609366e2b3ae288d6ae.pdf 637244e853db5e47a6d0a0cc39769efd PDF Text Text Okay my bad. It’s Day 18 by windoworks I see that every grocery store is now offering senior and immune challenged times - but they’re all early in the morning. I don’t want to get out of bed at 6am to go to the grocery store of my choice. At Trader Joe’s they offer a second line for seniors etc. So far as I know this is the only store which makes you line up outside. I actually think thats a good idea. They only let a certain number in at a time. I am torn between ordering groceries online and having them delivered, or braving the store myself. I can’t decide! ��Here is a photo from CB’s early walk with Miss Murphy Brown. So nice to see this appreciation. Unfortunately it rained heavily last night and I imagine this has all washed away now. Yesterday CB counted 31 cars, 4 walkers and slightly more bike riders in an hour. I swear you could fire a canon down some of our main streets and not hit a soul. Our city mayor reads 2 children’s books every Saturday afternoon, online from her home. This morning I watched Jimmy Fallon interview Tina Fey from both their houses and Tina had the best idea. She and her family have begun weekly theme dinners and the first one was onboard an airplane. Her children dressed up as flight attendants and one of them did the safety announcement. They got dinner on a tray, the chairs were set up in rows and each chair had magazines tucked in the back. Tina said the best part was when they were belted in and eating their dinners, they all watched different movies on their cell phones. Her other idea (with all her SNL friends and their families) was a talent show on Zoom which included all the grandparents watching. Great fun. CB and I try to make a Marco Polo tape for OB every afternoon about 2pm so he can watch it when he wakes up in the morning. We are singing children’s nursery rhymes. I wanted to sing the Carpenters song ‘Close to You’ but CB says we have to work up to that. Its a long way from Od MacDonald had a Farm. Yesterday we FaceTimed with ZB and OB who had gone to stay the night with CB’s brother DB and his wife BB. ZB got to sleep in for a little in the morning as DB and BB got OB up and amused him until she woke up. Next we FaceTimed ZL our oldest in Auckland New Zealand as he was out walking. It was a gorgeous sunny day with almost zero traffic on any of the streets. He showed us a line to get into a dairy. A dairy in NZ is the local corner store. I really don’t know why they’re called dairies - perhaps because they sell milk and ice cream. In Australia they were more commonly called Milk Bars. At the end of our session ZL showed us a bear in a tall hedge surrounding a house - no visible windows from the street so the enterprising house owners put the bear poking out high up in the hedge. Are you doing a bear hunt for children where you live? And then because 2 FaceTimes are never enough, we FaceTimed CB’s mother FB in Canberra Australia. You have to call her first so she can set herself up in her study and then you FaceTime her. She got the old iPad from her grandson-in-law one week ago and when CB’s brother FaceTimed her, you could only see part of her face on the screen. One week later and there she was, talking to us as if it was the most normal thing in all the world. FB is 87 and soon to be 88 and locked down in her retirement village. But on sunny �days, she still goes out on her motorized scooter and rides a couple of blocks outside in the fresh air. I think she is such an inspiration to us all. So todays flashback This is Singapore in 2017. This was actually our second visit to Singapore and here we are exploring the waterfront in the morning before boarding the ship. In the background is that scary hotel shaped like a ship. On our first visit to Singapore we finished our cruise there and had a day before flying home. We went up to the public lookout at the pointy end and looked back at the middle of the ship which is an infinity pool area for hotel guests. It made my feet ache just to look at it (which is what happens on heights for me). Singapore is an amazing place - everything is bigger and spectacular and clean. No trash anywhere and you are fined if you spit on the pavement. �I would post an extra photo of me inside their botanical gardens - huge hothouses with gorgeous plants and flowers - but I just can’t find it this morning. Be well, stay safe and chin up. � 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_2020-03-29_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-18-Okay-my-bad Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-03-29 Title A name given to the resource Okay my bad. It's Day 18 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/79c348f599bce180f4580ab18c95aae5.pdf 2a0ad5a6f2842f5f6e94155b6029ffd9 PDF Text Text Day 793. Oh right, its Day 20 by windoworks ‘And yet, she persisted’. You know those days when you just want to lie in bed with the covers over your head and moan? If you’re having one of those days, I hear you. It was immensely comforting to me when CB recently told me that just occasionally he feels like that too. You know that moment when you suddenly don’t feel quite so alone and its not just all in your head? So on to today’s post. And speaking of which, as CB left this morning he said to the dog ‘Come on, she’s getting ready to work’. I don’t think of this as work really, although I do try to edit it carefully before publishing. It satisfies a need in me to write and its wonderful that so many of you who read it every day. So yesterday, with more rain threatening and a very strong and surprisingly cold wind blowing, CB, Murphy Brown and I went out for a drive. Along Leonard we found the other end of the trail we have walked on before. I think it probably has a name but it crosses the outer area of Grand Rapids in a north/south direction. When I got out of the car to begin walking I realized that I mightn’t have quite enough warm layers on, so I tried to walk faster. The trail has houses set back on one side and woods area in front of houses on the other side. There was almost no traffic noise so we could hear the birds singing loudly. ��Murphy Brown loves walking in new areas because there are so many new smells for her. Just occasionally we meet someone else walking and then it is an exercise to strength to stop her rushing over to greet them. I have explained to her about the coronavirus and how even she has to maintain a 6 foot space, but she really doesn’t understand. So we’re walking along and all of a sudden we hear a noise behind us. A little way back, skipping happily towards us, singing, is a solitary child, all wrapped up in blue and white layers with a hat with ears of some sort on it. Talk about a quandary. He/she was skipping in and out of the woods on the side of the path, disappearing out of sight and then reappearing. My concern was the huge pools of standing water in among the trees. Well, we couldn’t get close to her/I’m and we couldn’t see any sign of an adult. At last, the child disappeared and I can only hope they found their way home to one of the houses beyond the woods. After this we drove out the back way through the countryside to drive through Grand Valley University’s main campus at Allendale. So eerie. ���And then we drove home again and FaceTimed my brother AS and his wife LS, who live In Campbell River on Vancouver Island, BC. All Canada is locked down and the government is paying everyone a large percentage of their wage or salary. Grocery stores are open but all National. Parks are closed. It was great to see them and to talk to them. All these online tools are such a great boon in these difficult times. Our governor, that ‘young woman in Michigan’ (of whom, incidentally we Michiganders are so enormously proud and who we stand firmly with) Gretchen Whitmer is addressing the state at 10:15am today. She may be going to introduce further restrictions or increased social distancing time. Yesterday Michigans confirmed cases jumped to almost 5500 and we had 136 deaths. Kent County had 71 confirmed cases (a jump of 18 in one day) but still just 1 death. However Dr London tells us it will increase and perhaps we will hear of a friend or family member who is ill and in need of care. Such sobering thoughts. As someone wrote on Instagram yesterday and ZB reposted: Thirty days hath September April, June and November �All the rest have thirty-one Except March which has 8000 Today’s flashback ��This is the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland. It connects the Forth and Clyde canals with the Union Canal. It is a rotating boat lift which goes up the right hand side of the grey metal structure and deposits the pink canal boat in the canal above. It scared the willies out of me as we went up. We then sailed along the canal, through a tunnel and then turned around, came back and came down to the dock below. This wheel is the only one of its kind in the world and although canal boats can use it, its mainly a tourist attraction now. Again, I’m glad I did it and I don’t have to do it again. Tomorrow then and in the meantime, keep your chin up. � 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_2020-03-30_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-19-Day-793 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-03-30 Title A name given to the resource Day 793. Oh right, its Day 20 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8fa2176bb0cdbb07135276e6bf20936c.pdf 45f61e00024adcae376cda5390b82454 PDF Text Text Tuesday March 97. by windoworks As it appears I am increasingly confused as to how many days I have been writing the Pandemic Diary, I think I will just note the date going forward . Of course there is no such day as March 97, it just feels that way. Today is the last day of March (31). The latest projections this morning have us inside now until summer when the experts THINK that the virus might struggle to survive . But then , they THINK it might roar back in the fall and winter. These are just well informed educated theories, and a good theory is able to be tested. The CDC is positing that this will be a 24 month affair. (Moan). Now we are being asked to stay home until at least the end of April and I have read posts which suggest Governor Whitmer will close all schools for the rest of the school year (that is, until June when school vacation starts). I can hear a lot of home schooling parents wailing at this news. Suddenly everyone is realizing what a hard job it is being a teacher. You may not know that I was an elementary school teacher myself. You cannot teach if you do not love the job. If you do not love it, it becomes soul destroying. Teachers are amazing people. I think everyone has one teacher that had a positive effect on their life. Mine was a one armed English teacher from Oxford England who taught me in high school. He was not particularly handsome, he always smelt of cigarettes and we all adored him. I think it was the way he brought the classics to life. I have always loved reading books but Mr Allen really enhanced books for me. I can’t believe I just remembered his name. Yesterday in Michigan the number of positive cases jumped to 6498 and the deaths reached 184. In Kent County we have 99 confirmed cases but still only 1 death although Dr London is warning us that this will probably change dramatically. The CDC is also considering issuing a recommendation that we all wear cotton masks when outside. This is because many more people have the virus with no symptoms and this would stop it spreading as easily. I have a couple of masks I wore when gluing windows and CB has some he uses for painting walls, so I guess we better find them and get them ready. Remember I told you that CB had ordered hair clippers? Well now they won’t be delivered until April 16! Why? Has everyone decided to shave their heads as they can’t get to the hairdresser or barber? Yesterday I asked for help on line with seeing what I might look like with grey hair. To explain, I have been dyeing my hair for most of my adult life. In fact, I have no idea what my real hair color might be. As the dye grows out each time I see a little silvery streak appear on each side of my face but I have no confidence the rest of my hair is that color. As my hair grows (and mine grows fast) I will develop a patch of who knows at the hairline. By the time this is over I might have dirty grey hair with burgundy tips. My choices are to shave my head (shouldn’t be too extreme in summer) or wear hats or scarves everyday. So when I asked for help, AW doctored a photo I sent her but then another friend JR doctored a photo of me that she found. I sincerely hope thats �the natural color of my hair. Thanks AW and JR. I’ll not be posting any photos of me until I can get back to my hairdresser. (Hello BSB, I hope you and your family are doing well). In Australia my nephew SM, the doctor, recommended that everyone have a flu shot and so ZB asked her doctor about OB (8 months old today - yay!). Apparently they are designing a flu vaccine for babies under 1 year and so when it is available, OB will have it. My brother-in-law DB who is a lead cameraman for Channel 9 in Sydney appears to be filming from the lead journalists spare bedroom. I guess the show must go on. He organized 2 teams (cameraman, sound person etc) so that if someone tests positive they have the other team in place. I keep thinking about McGyver and a ball of string, tape, a hairpin and a child’s toy. Remember that original series? I have friends making washable cotton masks for medical staff and one of my friends was unable to get any more elastic - so she crocheted the straps! So impressive. I have another friend with a large collection of wind up toys and she posts a video of a new one every day with any amusing commentary. It’s so heartening. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we are all asked to put a luminary or candle on our front walk at 7pm to thank all the medical staff. I’m going to put out a tin Mexican luminary that I have . Today’s flashback �This is December 2016 and the family (L to R: AW, CB, ZB and ZL) are preparing to climb up to and explore the 3 (or 4) ruined castles of Lastours. These were castles on mountaintops and therefore more easily defended and they were Cathar castles. Cathar religion challenged the authority of the Catholic Church. They criticized the church for their hypocrisy, greed and lechery. Not surprisingly, the Catholic Church condemned them as heretical and organized a crusade which massacred as many Cathars as possible and devasted towns, cities and the culture of Southern France (1209-1229CE) CB an I had climbed up to these castles before the children arrived, so while he led the group I stayed down in the village and read my book in the sunshine. I just loved that whole area of France. Till tomorrow then. Get your masks ready. Tuesday March 97. by windoworks As it appears I am increasingly confused as to how many days I have been writing the Pandemic Diary, I think I will just note the date going forward . Of course there is no such day as March 97, it just feels that way. Today is the last day of March (31). The latest projections this morning have us inside now until �summer when the experts THINK that the virus might struggle to survive . But then , they THINK it might roar back in the fall and winter. These are just well informed educated theories, and a good theory is able to be tested. The CDC is positing that this will be a 24 month affair. (Moan). Now we are being asked to stay home until at least the end of April and I have read posts which suggest Governor Whitmer will close all schools for the rest of the school year (that is, until June when school vacation starts). I can hear a lot of home schooling parents wailing at this news. Suddenly everyone is realizing what a hard job it is being a teacher. You may not know that I was an elementary school teacher myself. You cannot teach if you do not love the job. If you do not love it, it becomes soul destroying. Teachers are amazing people. I think everyone has one teacher that had a positive effect on their life. Mine was a one armed English teacher from Oxford England who taught me in high school. He was not particularly handsome, he always smelt of cigarettes and we all adored him. I think it was the way he brought the classics to life. I have always loved reading books but Mr Allen really enhanced books for me. I can’t believe I just remembered his name. Yesterday in Michigan the number of positive cases jumped to 6498 and the deaths reached 184. In Kent County we have 99 confirmed cases but still only 1 death although Dr London is warning us that this will probably change dramatically. The CDC is also considering issuing a recommendation that we all wear cotton masks when outside. This is because many more people have the virus with no symptoms and this would stop it spreading as easily. I have a couple of masks I wore when gluing windows and CB has some he uses for painting walls, so I guess we better find them and get them ready. Remember I told you that CB had ordered hair clippers? Well now they won’t be delivered until April 16! Why? Has everyone decided to shave their heads as they can’t get to the hairdresser or barber? Yesterday I asked for help on line with seeing what I might look like with grey hair. To explain, I have been dyeing my hair for most of my adult life. In fact, I have no idea what my real hair color might be. As the dye grows out each time I see a little silvery streak appear on each side of my face but I have no confidence the rest of my hair is that color. As my hair grows (and mine grows fast) I will develop a patch of who knows at the hairline. By the time this is over I might have dirty grey hair with burgundy tips. My choices are to shave my head (shouldn’t be too extreme in summer) or wear hats or scarves everyday. So when I asked for help, AW doctored a photo I sent her but then another friend JR doctored a photo of me that she found. I sincerely hope thats the natural color of my hair. Thanks AW and JR. I’ll not be posting any photos of me until I can get back to my hairdresser. (Hello BSB, I hope you and your family are doing well). In Australia my nephew SM, the doctor, recommended that everyone have a flu shot and so ZB asked her doctor about OB (8 months old today - yay!). Apparently they are designing a flu vaccine for babies under 1 year and so when it is available, OB will have it. My brother-in-law DB who is a lead cameraman for �Channel 9 in Sydney appears to be filming from the lead journalists spare bedroom. I guess the show must go on. He organized 2 teams (cameraman, sound person etc) so that if someone tests positive they have the other team in place. I keep thinking about McGyver and a ball of string, tape, a hairpin and a child’s toy. Remember that original series? I have friends making washable cotton masks for medical staff and one of my friends was unable to get any more elastic - so she crocheted the straps! So impressive. I have another friend with a large collection of wind up toys and she posts a video of a new one every day with any amusing commentary. It’s so heartening. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we are all asked to put a luminary or candle on our front walk at 7pm to thank all the medical staff. I’m going to put out a tin Mexican luminary that I have . Today’s flashback This is December 2016 and the family (L to R: AW, CB, ZB and ZL) are preparing to climb up to and explore the 3 (or 4) ruined castles of Lastours. These were castles on mountaintops and therefore more easily defended and they were Cathar castles. Cathar religion challenged the authority of the Catholic Church. They criticized the church for their hypocrisy, greed and lechery. Not surprisingly, the Catholic �Church condemned them as heretical and organized a crusade which massacred as many Cathars as possible and devasted towns, cities and the culture of Southern France (1209-1229CE) CB an I had climbed up to these castles before the children arrived, so while he led the group I stayed down in the village and read my book in the sunshine. I just loved that whole area of France. Till tomorrow then. Get your masks ready. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-03-31_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-20-Tuesday-March-97 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-03-31 Title A name given to the resource Tuesday March 97. Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0ec88d5536ddf3959ab18919693635d8.pdf b7795dffde310f148ca82caab197bfa6 PDF Text Text Wednesday April 1. by windoworks �So this is how I’m feeling, how about you? Really though, you’ve gotta laugh - this is OB yesterday, stuck in the playpen without realizing that its open behind him. I think he’s really crying because he wants to crawl down the corridor and out the front door. I hear you buddy, I hear you. I find myself crying at the most absurd things. This morning I was looking at Instagram and I swear I saw a post from Facebook which showed a quick succession of global images and then ended with ‘You are not alone because Facebook is with you’ or so something like that. And now I can’t find it again and I’m seriously concerned - maybe an April 1 joke? No April 1 jokes please, I couldn’t cope. This just in from Auckland New Zealand: This is the intersection of Broadway and Khyber Pass, normally a jam of cars, buses, scooters and pedestrians at morning rush hour on any Wednesday. �Here is Nuffield Street Newmarket - home to many restaurants and clothes stores. Not a soul in sight. (Thank you ZL for the photos) And in other news: �Here’s how Miss Murphy Brown Benjamin is coping with home isolation. I think she might be on to something. Yesterday I was looking through my Word files of stories and ideas I have collected and I came across one tentatively titled: Now You See Me. I have included the opening paragraphs here (its my blog, indulge me) but also because its eerily familiar right now. It was when Mariella came out of the changing room that she noticed it. She had been the usual amount of time in there after her swimming exercise. First she had set the shower on the warmer side and although it was between the Spring and Summer semesters at the college and there was no one else using the changing rooms, the water had taken an unusually long time to warm up. She had showered, weighed herself (no change) then dressed, all in the strange silence that pervaded the room. When she walked along the long basement corridor and paused outside the pool area door and peered through the glass, she was surprised to see that there wasn’t a single person anywhere. ‘How odd’, she thought . ‘I’m sure there were at least two lifeguards sitting there while I was swimming laps. Where did they go? The lights were still blazing, and out of curiosity, she opened the pool door and went in. A wall of hot, steamy air hit her, but there was absolutely no one to be seen at all. Today’s flashback photo �This is Dubrovnik, Croatia. This Old Town is surrounded by massive stone walls completed in the 16th century. The city was based on maritime trade, and was noted for its wealth and diplomacy. �These are the walls of Dubrovnik. You can walk around them on the top but you have to remember that where you began by climbing up is where you will climb down at the end. In other words, once up on the walls you have to keep walking around until you get back to where you began. Dubrovnik was used extensively in the winter months to shoot scenes for Game of Thrones, and the walls featured greatly. I liked Dubrovnik a lot but by this point in our cruise I was very tired (in over 4 weeks we had 1 day at sea) and so I just managed a leisurely stroll around the main streets of the Old Town with a stop for coffee and cake. It was very hot and the streets are cobblestones which made walking uneven. CB walked around the walls and said they were so uneven with so many stairs that there were first aid posts at regular intervals for all the tourists who had injured themselves by tripping over. Also, Croatia had made it through to the final of the 2018 World Cup and were playing France that same evening we docked there. They were so excited. Sadly hey lost to France but they were still so proud that their team (largely unknown) had made it through to the final. So, tomorrow then. Keep smiling. � 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_2020-04-01_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-21-Wednesday-April-1 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-01 Title A name given to the resource Wednesday April 1. Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/71bdd708547d5532cbd37e2d79b610ae.pdf 7041f14c27e3be86f706c224a84c1381 PDF Text Text Thursday April 2 by windoworks Yesterday Governor Whitmer extended the State of Emergency for Michigan for 4 more weeks. And last night Michigan’s positive coronavirus numbers jumped from 7500ish the day before to 9934 and deaths are at 337. Here in Kent County our numbers are beginning to increase: yesterday we had 119 confirmed cases and 2 deaths. Bear in mind that all numbers including the federal ones are only for those tested and only a small portion of the population is being tested. The CDC ave done a complete 180 on masks and are now thinking that everyone should be wearing a mask outside their home. CB and I obtained some lovely home made masks yesterday and today when CB left to walk Murphy Brown, I made him tie it around his neck, ready to pull over his nose and mouth if need be. I have read terrifying reports from doctors in ERs and I am beginning to feel besieged by a scary and unseen foe. On the other hand CB and I are eating amazing meals together and even making food that I would normally eat out, such as spare ribs and macaroni cheese for dinner last night. Our neighbor TJ has resumed the scraping down and preparing for painting of the south side of his house adjacent to ours. He was kept inside for a couple of days due to it raining. Yesterday he became like a candle for moths: over the course of the day various neighbors, friends and fellow tradespeople came to stand far below on our driveway and hold conversations with him. It became an acceptable meeting place with everyone doing their best to stand at least 6 feet away. It also provides a little light relief for me as I watch through the living room window. Also yesterday, my pharmacy delivered some drugs to my house. A very nice young man rang the doorbell and stood expectantly holding the bag waiting for me to open the door. What a quandary. After a moments hesitation, I gestured for him to just leave the bag on our doormat. CB brought the bag in later while wearing his gloves. Some days this house feels like a sanctuary and some days it feels like a prison. In Melbourne Australia, AB is exercising madly and preparing wonderful food for dinner with his housemate. Last night they made pasta from scratch. In Auckland New Zealand, ZL and his wife AW take daily walks and he sent me this photo: ��As he said, this is taking a Bear Hunt to a whole new level. I am really impressed. Do you have Bear Hunt photos to share? In Sydney Australia, OB did this: ��I can hear you saying What? He did what? He pulled himself up to a standing position. As ZL then said: he’ll be asking to borrow the car next. So, today’s flashback: ��This is a real blast from the past. From left to right: my brother AS, my sister MH, me and my father HJS. As I am wearing orthopedic boots I am assuming I am somewhere between 5 and 7 years old. I had to wear these boots because I was diagnosed with ‘weak ankles’. I don’t think thats an actual medical complaint. For the first couple of years, the boots had calipers fitted to just below my knee. These boots meant that once a year we drove to Invercargill (in NZ’s South Island) where I put my feet in an x-ray machine while the doctors looked to see if my weak ankles were improving. I don’t remember walking barefoot and I do remember having shoe envy. I do love shoes and have had to try to control myself from shoe impulse buying. Well the sun is shining and its a warmer day. Stay safe and well. Until tomorrow. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-02_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-22-Thursday-April-2 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-02 Title A name given to the resource Thursday April 2 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1b4871bab39bed1ff19e8dcd92667d4c.pdf de67e05d102832c4c423b6723b10a6e9 PDF Text Text Friday April 4 by windoworks Good morning! Two new developments. First, Governor Whitmer (who wore a t-shirt which said: That Woman From Michigan, for her interview with Trevor Noah - don’t panic he’s recording from home) signed an executive order stating that all schools are to remain closed for the rest of the school year (I’m pretty sure we saw that coming). Second, the CDC has done an about face regarding surgical masks (cloth masks) and is now suggesting that it might be a good idea if everyone wore one when outside the house. CB and I have rather tasteful cotton ones made by a friends daughter and our neighbor AW is thinking of making some and I have ordered two so that CB and I can swap them out daily. With cotton masks you can wash and reuse them. Now I know some people will say: but you just concentrate germs on the inside. Well if you’re asymptomatic, that keeps your germs with you, and like Schroedinger’s virus - how do we know if we have the virus or not? In Michigan the Governor also requested some National Guard assistance and they are building temporary hospitals in the Detroit area and also investigating needs here in Kent County. So here in Kent County yesterday we had 125 confirmed cases and 2 deaths. If these numbers seem low its because not many people in Kent County have been tested. The population count in 2017 was 648,594. So far 460 people living in Kent County have been tested and one quarter of those are positive. It is fair to extrapolate that there may be at least 162, 149 positive cases in Kent County. In the state of Michigan yesterday, there were 10, 791 cases and 417 deaths but again, this is just a fraction of the real numbers. There are 2 drive in testing stations near us but you must have a a doctor’s authorization to get tested. I think about South Korea where they tested over 5000 people per 1 million citizens. There they have a much more accurate picture of the virus and its spread than we do here. China was touted as the best way to combat the spread but now suspicion is growing that perhaps local officials did not report accurate figures. I read a story this morning about 2 Holland America sister ships, the Zaandam and the Rotterdam. The Zaandam developed positive cases after they left South America. The Rotterdam was sailing nearby and offered to take some passengers who were virus free. At this moment they are beginning a complicated system of disembarkation geared to protect everyone involved at Fort Everglades. At first the Florida governor refused to let them land at all but this is the man who refused to put in place a stay at home order and let students hold coronavirus parties in Miami. Cases are beginning to escalate in Florida. CB and I are just so grateful that we were able to disembark form our ship at the beginning of March and get home again. It continues to be a new world of confusion and worry, but to cheer us up, Bear Hunts are popping up all over the world. �This very large bear is in Finland. Thanks AS! ��And here is another one from New Zealand. ZL saw these bears on his walk yesterday. They’re in their own sunroom. And speaking of yesterday, it was such a gorgeous, slightly warmer day that CB, Murphy Brown and I drove out to Lake Michigan to Kirk Park to walk through the woods to the dog beach. The last time we walked there last year, the beach was almost washed away. ��CB and Murphy Brown walking through the woods. There were an unusual number of trees down and a lot were sawn in to short lengths. Then we saw this: So of course we went around the gate and walked further on to this: �And of course CB and Murphy scrambled around this fence to see this: ��If you look carefully (it took me a while) you can see that the sand dune, the trees and part of the staircase to the beach has gone and what dunes are still there are extremely unstable. All access to the dog beach is now by the main beach. And now the flashback: This is 2015 at Jekyll Island off the coast of the state of Georgia. This photo is late in the afternoon as a storm was coming in. CB and I spent a week here exploring the whole area and eating unbelievable amounts of seafood - it was lovely. One night when it was dark everyone came down to this seating area and let go white paper Chinese lanterns. We stood in the dark and watched them all float up into the sky. I think you are supposed to make a wish on them. And one year at ArtPrize in October here in Grand Rapids, there was an artists events where the public were invited to come to the Grand River downtown and light one of these. I stood in the back door of the Sweet House (where I was volunteering) and watched hundreds of them floating higher and higher above Grand Rapids. Maybe we need wish balloons now. Stay safe, stay home and try to stay 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-03_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-23-Friday-April-4 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-03 Title A name given to the resource Friday April 4 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2c92503e7873b2b8562106b3cf0fa677.pdf d48d370ac9c26a9a0a1e7ad0e1c6957e PDF Text Text Pandemic Diary: Day 24 by windoworks As you could see from yesterday’s post, I was confused by the date. Well, when you’re inside the house pretty much for 24 days straight, the date and even the day of the week become very much irrelevant. Yesterday the weather was so very nice that CB decided to move up his annual porch maintenance, and while he was sweeping, sanding, mopping and then staining, a number of the neighbors came outside to chat from more than 6 feet away. It was good to catch up. Ours has always been the block that people only move away from out of sheer necessity - and then they come back to visit on holidays and our annual block party. As I write this morning, the news is not good. It is scary to be living in Michigan at this time. Yesterday the totals reached 12,670 cases and 478 deaths. Masks are starting to be worn outside and both my neighbors are making them. The feeling is that the greater area of Detroit is where the majority of cases and deaths are. It may be due to density or poverty. As this point no one is entirely sure. Here in Kent County our cases are increasing and again, no one knows if this will stay the same, increase or decrease. In other news from Sydney Australia, you might be fined $1000 if you refuse to move on from a park bench. Apparently walking or running outside is okay but stopping and sitting is not. Also in Australia, our large extended family group (around 60 members if everyone shows up) has postponed their annual get together at a cabin site on the NSW coast, and instead we are all posting happy hour photos online and answering quizzes. CB and I are still 5 answers short - and the rule is no googling. Hmmmm. In other, other news, this is the designated day that our little family group is meeting online to discuss our first ever book club book: An Elderly Lady is up to No Good. I chose the book as it was as requested: short and an easy read. We’ve all read it except one family member who’s read two thirds. There may be some words expressed later, I’m not sure. The other day I was talking to a friend on the phone and she said: won’t it be good to be able to hug friends again when this is over? And I said that perhaps I might have to stay inside for another 2 weeks just to be sure. This morning I read that malls might never reopen or recover, because people may not be comfortable in crowds for a long time to come. Even CB has talked about spacing students and sanitizing his classroom at the university in September (if face to face classes resume then). So now its not that I can’t imagine being confined like this for a long time, its that I can’t imagine coming out of the house again or what that will look like. I feel like if the Governor says you don’t have to self isolate any more, I’ll be: I trust you Governor Whitmer but could I have that signed and sealed in triplicate please? �And honestly, if I can’t browse in the grocery store and my daughter can’t sit on a park bench, then no! The Governor won’t open the golf courses so you can play golf. Today’s flashback; This is Copenhagen in July 2018. We were about to sail to Scotland and Iceland the next day with CB lecturing on a New York Times cruise. Scandanavia was experiencing an unusual heatwave and when we landed at the airport we were herded onto a coach with no air conditioning. As we drove from the airport to the hotel we could see that a drought had been happening for some time as everything looked dried up and dusty. We were staying overnight in a lovely old fashioned hotel in the middle of the city. Our room was up the in the eaves of the roof and while it was an elegant suite, it had no air conditioning and even with the windows open it was still quite warm. As the evening drew in, we went for a walk through the streets to look for somewhere to have dinner. The concierge had recommended that we look down some of the side streets to find hidden restaurants. Finally I saw a wooden sign on the sidewalk down a tiny lane way and we went to investigate. It was one of the best meals I have ever eaten inside a tiny restaurant with tiny rooms on several levels. The only downside was - no air conditioning! As the meal progressed it got hotter and hotter. Our waiter told us �that all Copenhagen was struggling in the heat. They simply weren’t equipped for it. Almost no shops, hotels or restaurants had air conditioning. I did enjoy our brief stay in Copenhagen and I would like to go back, especially to visit the Tivoli Gardens. Stay safe, stay home, only one family member in the grocery store at a tome, and wear a mask when you leave the house. Sending huge hugs to all wherever you are in the world. � 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_2020-04-04_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-24 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-04 Title A name given to the resource Pandemic Diary: Day 24 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2284356a01e6696cadfcb6e569e5754c.pdf 08de39986eb748f796b2659456ea6783 PDF Text Text PD Day 25 by windoworks Wow! Nearly 4 weeks. Where has the time gone? Seriously though, some days have gone by extremely slowly. Routine is really good but it may be a bit of a problem if you think “I have to be home from my walk by 3pm because thats when I have a cup of tea and a snack. I can’t miss that”. Well, such are the Days of my Life - if you’re under 40 that reference will have no meaning for you. Yesterday we went for our daily drive and walk. I always think: Nooo, I don’t want to! And then I’m always glad that I did. ��We look like we’re about to rob a bank but this is according to the CDC’s (Center for Disease Control) new suggestion: everyone should wear a mask outside their home. Here we are walking along another section of our favorite trail. We saw 3 other family groups with dogs, 2 runners and 2 cyclists. Murphy wanted to run after the runners and she was outraged that she couldn’t inspect the other dogs bums. She has no idea why she isn’t allowed near other humans or dogs and thinks its a cruel and unusual punishment for something she doesn’t remember doing. �Here is CB and Murphy on their early morning walk. ��And CB photographed this - just made to cheer us all up I think. So last night it was the inaugural meeting of the Benjamin & Lilley’s Book Club to discuss our first book. Here’s what the meeting looked like: And here’s what it looked like a few minutes later. �Yes, we did discuss the book in more detail than I imagined we would and we laughed a lot as the visual effects kept constantly changing. ZB nominated our next book “The City We Became” by N.K.Jemisin. We will reconvene on May 2 to discuss it and we now have 2 more book club members - welcome AW and BB. It was 45 minutes of fun and laughter and although we were in 4 different time zones and very far apart, I loved it and I am so grateful for the willingness of every family member to participate. It was almost midnight by the time EB got to bed in England! In other news, CB and I completed the Family Reunion Quiz with only 3 guesses and surprisingly we tied for 1st place with 2 other teams. Well done all of us! We won a virtual cup which we must bring to the real 2021 Family Reunion. Hmmm, tricky . Well, the numbers continue to climb in Michigan. Last count from yesterday: 14,225 cases and 540 deaths. In Kent County we have 157 cases and 3 deaths. In the US we have most states locked down but not all which is a bit like having a pee friendly area in a public swimming pool (I borrowed that). I continue to be amazed and sometimes angry at some people’s inability to recognize the severity of the situation. It truly is an invisible enemy and no one is safe. I read a dreadful story this morning on WaPo about how a funeral home is dealing with the massive overflow of dead bodies. They have reached the point where they offer nothing but cremation as soon as possible - no viewing, no funeral, nothing. They mostly just drive the �bodies in plain cardboard coffins to the crematorium where they are incinerated. And even there they are overwhelmed. In our area we are getting ready for an Easter egg hunt - so now I have a collection of bunnies and wooden eggs in the TV room window along with Poochie the dog/bear and the kangaroo with the joey. I’m running out of room. Today’s flashback: This was taken last year. CB was lecturing on a trip to Western China and the tour began in Beijing. This is the Forbidden City where the Imperial Palace is housed. All Emperors lived here from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty (1420-1924). It is a huge area and the day I visited (some years ago) was just as hot and sunny as this photo. It was crowded and we walked and walked and walked. There are a number of courtyards and I think they were intended to show the might of the Emperor who was also known as The Son of Heaven. Certainly you would feel cowed by the sheer size if you were hoping to petition the court and had to cross this courtyard first. �I enjoyed Beijing but this day tour was not one of my favorites. It was just too hot and we stood for ages in the broiling sun while our guide explained everything. One quirky thing about China: the time zone is the same right across the nation, spanning 5 geographical time zones. It is known as Beijing time. I find this very hard to understand as in the US we have a total of 6 time zones: Hawaii, Alaska, Pacific, Mountain, Central and Eastern. So in China, if it is 6am in Beijing and dawn it will be 6am and full dark in Xinjiang the furtherest western province. Well thats enough geography for today. Stay well, stay safe and remember to keep one velociraptor apart with your mask on. If you’re outside. � 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_2020-04-05_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-25 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-05 Title A name given to the resource PD Day 25 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/765eed9281a2a4d3dfe0a9749c6223bf.pdf 9ef9f5207fe643dc8398b0d925ee708f PDF Text Text Day 26 by windoworks How are your hands holding out? My knuckles are the problem. They’re very dry and a bit sore. I wonder if we’ll ever go back to rinsing out fingertips ever again. We have ‘organic’ pump pack hand soap in our bathrooms and kitchen sink and I am astonished at how quickly the soap level goes down. CB says don’t use too much but then I explained that the virus has a fat covering that has to be broken down by the soap bubbles. Where did I read that? I don’t know and the amount of extraneous tidbits I now know are never going to come in handy at a dinner party in the future. This puts me in mind of my days at college. At the end of each semester, all that information gathered during the 13 weeks, fell out of my left ear when the next semester began. I remember a friend of mine saying that after years of regurgitating every fact she had learned for the exams, when she reached her final year and he professor said: now tell me what you think, she said: think, I don’t think, I just repeat what you told me! I’m fairly sure thats not what university learning is like now. I can sense CB bristling in indignation. I read a post this morning from an Italian author describing her experience of the virus and isolation and it was eerily familiar. CB and I have spent hours discussing what life might look like afterwards. Will he ever lecture on a cruise ship again? I don’t know. Do I want to go on a cruise again? Not sure. How about an airplane? That might be easier to do - and I’m not sure why I think that. And is anyone else feeling like they might be starting to live in an episode of Little House on the Prairie? I was discussing with AB how eggs have been hard to come by and he suggested that I get some hens. Well I would but as soon as the baby chicken suppliers have new chicks hatch, they are immediately purchased, having been on back order. And speaking of back order, the vegetable seeds we ordered are taking a long time to arrive - and even then some of the seeds I wanted were sold out! With seed companies sold out means absolutely no more to be had, they’re all gone. This is mind boggling. My sister-in-law KM in Australia is an asthmatic and this allows her to register for home deliver groceries. (How about that - you have to register to get permissions for home deliveries). However, there is a time delay and you never know what is unavailable until the groceries arrive. She orders from 2 stores and yesterday everything came except flour. Is everyone making their own bread now? My son AB is making his own pasta, and my daughter ZB says pasta has disappeared from the grocery store shelves. So I’m wondering: will we ever eat out again or will we all say: oh I can make that at home and for less money. When grandchildren ask What did you do during the Great Pandemic of 2020, will we say: I learnt to cook, bake bread, make soap, grow vegetables, sew masks and stretch supplies out. Speaking of which, usually when the bar of soap in the shower gets wafer thin, I throw it out and open another bar. Three days ago I opened another bar of soap and stuck the wafer thin piece on top of it. CB was so impressed. I knew how to do that because my mother did it. She was an extremely thrifty woman. �Also, is anyone else going through cupboards, closets, shelves, fridges etc and rationalizing everything they own? Yesterday I reorganized the kitchen utensils and then my Penzey’s spice collection and moved the spices all to a drawer and put their names on the lid. I needed a couple of spices that were were out of date but when I went online to order them, Penzeys warehouse and distribution center is closed until further notice! Well, I’m not surprised really. I’ll be growing those next I expect. Flashback photo: ��So two photos today. This is the day after Christmas Day in southern France and CB and I had purchased tickets for all the children to visit Grotte de Niaux (Cave of Niaux). The cave has a complex system of more than 8 and a half miles and our guide took us in and handed us all flashlights at the gate. There is no lighting in there at all and we walked a long way in the dark to a salon (gallery) that had drawings in it. Our guide only spoke French and the path was not remotely even and it was scary walking in. I was constantly thinking about falling and how hard would it be to get me safely out again. After what seemed a very long time we reached an area and our guide told us to turn off our flashlights and line up. Then he turned on his flashlight and there before us on the wall of the cave were bison and other animals carefully drawn in black. These paintings were done between 17,000 and 11,000 years ago, and I always wonder, what made someone or some ones walk all that way into the cave in the dark with only a flame to guide them and then paint on the wall? Who were they painting for? Why? CB would tell you there are theories but no one really knows. This cave is one of the very last caves that the public can visit. Even our breath causes problems for the paintings. I have visited a number of caves in France but this is only one of two which are open to the �public. Other caves are reproductions. In both of the actual caves I have visited there is no lighting and only very small groups are allowed in. The second photo is looking out of the cave mouth to show you what a huge cave this is and how interesting it must have been to Paleolithic (old Stone Age) people. I am always astonished by their ingenuity. We think of them as primitive but I think their lifeway suited the epoch they lived in. How adept were they at using what was available. Perhaps we are learning similar lessons now. Today’s final thought: yesterday someone photographed a coyote running along Michigan Avenue in Chicago in the middle of the day. And on FaceBook someone posted a video of a herd of deer (about 15 or so) in an urban street, running between the houses. I wonder what today will bring? So, stay safe, stay well and stay home. Till tomorrow. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-06_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-26 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-06 Title A name given to the resource Day 26 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/19220a2637457eff740d2f68c69d23ba.pdf 3d86f0d4c6cdf65f362e2bf1452280db PDF Text Text Day 27 by windoworks Three days ago I decided that it was time to take the shellac nail gel off my fingernails as my nails needed trimming and the polish was just starting to lift. I had been thinking about this for a week and CB and I had made a visit to our local CVS to purchase the necessary tools etc. So I sat down at the dining table, surrounded by various bottles, tools, cotton balls, tinfoil etc and realized that this was going to be even harder than I first thought. When I got to the bit where you dip the cotton ball in acetone, place it on your fingernail and then secure it with a square of tinfoil, I realized thats why I am a nail salon devotee. Luckily CB abandoned his academic writings and came down and finished securely wrapping each fingernail for me. So then all I had to do for the next 10 minutes was figure out how to turn the page on my ebook on my iPad. To cut a long story shorter, scraping the polish off each nail turned out to be even harder than the wrapping bit. So now I have short plain nails with just a hint of the sparkle polish left in little crevices. I’ve gotta say its exhausting trying to do all these things for myself and I have no idea of what to do in 2 weeks time when my hair color starts to seriously grow out. CB and I are also wondering what we are going to do about Miss Murphy Brown Benjamin whose coat is gradually getting tighter and curlier and who no longer fits in the sink in the basement for a bath. Also I think her toenails might need trimming and I don’t know if we can manage that. They are advising us to stay home and keep car trips to a minimum. Yesterday we went to the grocery store armed with a list, gloves, masks and hats. Grocery shopping is surreal. You’re nervous and everyone around you is nervous too. Some people wear masks and gloves and some people shop oblivious to any threats. I am astounded at the amount of money we spend once a week. I’m not sure that we used to spend that much before. We do seem to have enough food to keep us going and the only item we are running out of is Swiffer duster pads, but if needs be I can improvise with an old face washer. Yesterday there was news of a handful of grocery store workers dying from COVID-19. And although there were Perspex screens in front of each cashier yesterday, none of them looked happy to be there. Well, I wouldn’t be happy either. However none of the staff were wearing gloves or masks and really, I think they should be. In the pharmacy area there is a Perspex screen and both staff (pharmacist and assistant) were masked and gloved. There are so many different instructions or advice on how to best sanitize anything that you bring into the house. Some suggest leaving all groceries in the garage for 3 days (why?), others tell you to wipe everything down with bleach, and then wipe the kitchen countertop with bleach when you’ve put everything away. Other advice says just unpack it all and then wash your hands. After years of telling us �to take our own grocery bags to the store, we are not allowed to bring them inside as they may be contaminated (and really, we should wash them all before storing them away). Our compost collection service has been suspended and the company may not survive. The county recycling service has stopped due to the danger of the virus and if you put your recycling bin out the city will take the contents to a local incinerator. We might have to reinstate some sort of compost bin in our backyard if this continues. If you have one it should be secure and covered but as wild animals are running unchecked in urban areas at the moment, compost bin security might be a moot point. Our mail deliverer is still working without gloves or mask and this makes the fetching and the opening of the mail a bit of a fraught daily exercise. And, in a totally unrelated thought - I just realized I have not used any toilet facility except those in my house for over 4 weeks. It’s the little things, really. Todays’ flashback: ��While we were in Rotterdam to attend the North Sea Jazz Festival, we took the train out to the coast at Scheveningen. As you can see from the top photo it was a wild and windy day but that didn’t stop people from visiting the beach and even a few hardy souls swimming. And not in the photo, but there were windsurfers further out at sea having a fantastic time. The bottom photo is inside the pier. It is a long pier stretching out into the sea and it has an odd collection of shops, cafes and restaurants. This is the first time I experienced fries with mayonnaise ( a European tradition) as opposed to ketchup - and I am now a lifelong convert. And now something to lift your spirits on this overcast day. ��OB reading a book with his great aunt in the early morning while his mother sleeps in. So, stay well, stay home, stay safe and chin up buttercup. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-07_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-27 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-07 Title A name given to the resource Day 27 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/95614cc8f1fe76a43c2854d8346b3095.pdf dc608d500a5f97097d5be1d0420a0a2e PDF Text Text Day 28 by windoworks A month! A whole month has gone by! It’s Wednesday, right? The sun is shining this morning (no, gone now) and the leaf buds are just starting to appear on our neighbors maple trees out front. Yesterday the temperature reached 72F which was pushing ahead of a severe thunderstorm. It wasn’t too bad for us but other areas around us had hail as well as strong winds. The moon last night was gorgeous and when we woke at 6am this morning it was still huge and beautiful in the clear sky. Yesterday the Michigan State Health Department advised everyone to wear masks when outside. I have friends and neighbors who are making masks by the truckload and I know people are getting them, but when CB and I are outside walking, we don’t see very many. Also yesterday, the City of Grand Rapids closed all playgrounds, sports grounds, drinking fountains, sports courts etc. You can still use trails and parks but with masks on and maintaining at least a 6 foot separation , or as I like to say, one velociraptor apart (velociraptors measured 6 feet from nose to tail). Paris, France closed all sidewalks yesterday. Obviously they are desperate to contain the spread. In New Zealand where they are under some of the strictest restrictions in the world, they are more than flattening the curve, they are crushing it. I think big props go to Jacinta Adhern their Prime Minister who has remained absolutely resolute about continuing this lockdown for at least 4 weeks. And the other plus factor: they have substantially increased aggressive testing for the virus. There is a big lesson to be learned here. On a much lighter note: every day somewhere around 6pm, we FaceTime with our daughter ZB and her son OB. While they were still living at home, she would often put him in the high chair and feed him breakfast and CB and I would watch as he ate and banged his spoon on the tray. Two days ago she had him on her lap and after he squirmed and wriggled and lay on his back with his head hanging down backwards, ZB put him on the floor so he could play with his toys. After a while he crawled under the dining table which has a double strut between the two legs and OB decided to crawl over them. By this time ZB is siting on the floor under the dining table with him, with her phone and we all watch as OB gets his foot stuck in the middle of the strut and has to get his mother to extricate him. It was almost like being there. Then yesterday while we were chatting with ZB and OB he kept grabbing the phone to look behind to see where we were. ZB kept saying: they’re IN the phone, not behind it. Does he think we are miniature people who live in his mother’s cell phone? �Yesterdays’s walk with mask. �Last nights full moon about an hour after the thunderstorm. not a cloud in the sky. Flashback photo of the day: �When we were living in the South of France in a tiny village called La Bastide de Bousignac we would go walking every day. Sometimes we walked along old disused train tracks called the Voie Verte (Green Way). These trains originally ran all over the region where we were living, but for some reason they fell into disuse and so then they were torn up and miles and miles of trails for walking, biking and horse riding appeared in their place. We would drive to a small parking lot, get out and walk to the next parking lot and back again. The trails wound through farms, woods, villages, beside rivers and streams, and up and down hills. This photo shows me walking through a disused train tunnel which was part of the Voie Verte. As you walk through the overhead lights switch on and as you leave the tunnel they switch off again. Sometimes there was horse poop in the tunnels. Perhaps the tunnels made the horses nervous. So, stay safe, stay well and if you live in Michigan - wear your mask outside! � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-08_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-28 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-08 Title A name given to the resource Day 28 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8fc8dee29aff4aca6cbf4ea8d0d9cb0c.pdf 86e195060993ea18af9da172e59bb311 PDF Text Text Day 29 (of the Pandemic Diary) by windoworks I have taken to checking the title of the previous days post so I don’t get any more mixed up about what day it is. First the stats for the day: Michigan recorded 20,346 cases yesterday and 959 deaths. Kent County has 207 cases and 8 deaths. In the US there are 434,791 confirmed cases as of yesterday and 14,802 deaths. These US stats are staggering - almost 3 times the number in Spain which is the next affected country after the US. Here in Michigan, Governor Whitmer is to give another update today and the speculation is that she will extend the ‘stay safe, stay home’ executive order to April 30. She would like to extend it to the end of May but the state republicans are fighting against it. It seems a bit of a cleft stick: stay home and the economy tanks, go back out and the population dwindles and the economy tanks. Certainly the governor, the county administration and the city administration are doing their best to assist those on low or now no incomes. The food banks are working hard, there are numbers to call for assistance and yesterday 3 local institutions banded together to offer counseling services via phone. But yesterday Wisconsin held its May election for some state and local seats and the democratic and republican primaries. The Governor wanted to delay the election and offer access to more absentee voting but at the eleventh hour (literally) the Wisconsin Supreme Court overrode this and insisted the election go ahead. So, in Milwaukee instead of 130 something polling booths there were 5 and in Green Bay there were just 3 polling booths. Even so, the people rugged up, donned their masks and gloves and stood spaced apart in line for 3 hours or more to vote. The results will not be known until Monday 13 and then I suspect they will be challenged. Every other state has delayed their primaries and in Michigan we voted just before the shutdown. In other news from yesterday: Bernie Sanders suspended his presidential run. I’m not sure why they say suspended as opposed to finished or ended. Here’s hoping that all his supporters will get behind Joe Biden now, especially as it appears Joe is incorporating many of Bernie’s platforms into his campaign. On a totally different subject, yesterday CB finished taking out the lilac bush in our back garden. It had been quietly dying for a couple of years and even though it had rallied this year with a show of new buds, it had to go. CB had already chopped one side of it back hard after our home insurance company said it posed a threat to the garage (??). Well, you can’t argue with home insurance companies, you either comply and get insurance or you don’t and you won’t. We also received half the vegetable and flower seeds we ordered and the others are on back order (which is better than All Sold Out). �Yesterday we drove downtown to walk. We were going to walk at Riverside Park but apparently a lot of other people thought that was a great idea as the parking lot was almost full, so we drove downtown instead. I am too nervous to walk with lots of other people, I prefer lots of empty space around the 3 of us. ��Here we are walking around the GVSU downtown campus. ��We walked past the Burger King and this sign appealed to CB. This photo is courtesy of ZB and comes from Balmain, Sydney. When I was there last year this was my favorite donut shop as everything they sold was gluten free and delicious. Here is some Easter kindness from Nutie Donuts. And today’s flashback: �This is Highclere Castle in Hampshire England, which is the setting for Downtown Abbey. CB took this photo of me as we were walking in for our ‘private’ tour of the castle and afternoon tea. This is the scene from many episodes as the cars drive into the abbey. It is a huge sprawling estate. The house was built in the 19th century in the Jacobean style (I’m not quite sure what that means), but the original house dated from 1679. The park around it was designed by Capability Brown who was a famous garden designer in the 18th century. It is owned by the Carnarvon family and the present owner is the 8th Earl of Carnarvon. We toured the first and second floors but not above those which is where the family lives and we were not allowed into the basement where the original kitchen is located. We did see the stairs to the basement which were extensively used for filming the staff going down and coming back up, but the kitchen scenes and downstairs staff offices were all filmed at a studio. We did go through the sitting room, the library, the main entrance and the dining room etc. and they all looked exactly as they did in the series. Afterwards we went outside to what was the stables and now the tearoom and the major domo welcomed us in for our afternoon tea. I was sure they would have nothing for me but they had sandwiches and cakes specially gluten free for me. Delicious! The major domo told me that the tv series had been the saving of the house as it paid for the reroofing of the entire house - several million dollars. And of course, because of the tv series and the recent movie, the tourist influx pays to keep the house and estate in good running order. �Downstairs in a part of the basement we were allowed into, there is an extensive display of reproductions of artifacts from Tutankhamen’s tomb (ah yes, I hear you saying: that Lord Carnarvon). Most artifacts are housed in the British Museum but there are some items that Lord Carnarvon hid in the upstairs doorways in concealed cupboards. I loved the whole experience and I see that it is temporarily closed to the public now like most other places in the world. One last word: I often wonder who is reading my posts and if they are enjoying them. I feel that in this difficult time that this is something I can do, introduce something of interest in people’s day. I have heard from friends that they are reading it and yesterday my neighbor said every morning she wonders if I am awake yet and have I written the days post. Thank you to you all. I hope you are enjoying reading these as much as I enjoy writing them (and researching the flashbacks to make sure I don’t write any misinformation). Ah, the sun is shining (for the moment) which lifts my spirits. Stay safe, stay home, video chat with friends and family and remember: chin up, buttercup! � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-09_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-29 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-09 Title A name given to the resource Day 29 (of the Pandemic Diary) Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c345538a4319baf11454a45797dc7f23.pdf 21c7030b1ccf6e27723e668c8373d4ef PDF Text Text Day 30 (and almost halfway to day 70, the Governor’s preferred lockdown period). by windoworks And, I think we could do it. I mean we’ve done 30 days, how hard could 40 more be? Will we all reach a moment when we won’t want to come out? I was thinking of wild animals that have been injured and wildlife workers catch them and take them into a facility to be operated on and then nursed back to health. Then one day the decision is taken to return the animal to the wild and they drive them caged in a truck to somewhere near where they were found, and they open the cage door and the animal looks at them as if to say: “Really? You want me to go out there where I’ll have to find food and shelter and safety? Don’t I already have that here safely with you?” That could be me. Just sayin’ In the daily news roundup, two days ago Governor Whitmer took her lead from New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinta Adhern, and declared the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny essential workers. Our block is doing a virtual egg hunt and I have already placed some wooden eggs in the tv room window. I believe that children are going to decorate our sidewalks with chalk if and when it stops raining or snowing. Governor Whitmer also came online yesterday to extend the Stay Home, Stay Safe executive order until April 30 and she also mentioned that this might not be the last extension. Governor Whitmer also advised all 60+ citizens to stay home, only 1 person to go grocery shopping and we may still walk outside but at least 6 feet apart and always wearing a mask. We are gradually seeing more masks and she also advised us to wash them daily. There are many ideas on how to sanitize mail, parcels, groceries etc. and honestly you just have to work out the best system for yourself and your family. But I’m not putting my groceries in the garage for 3 days before unpacking. Oh, and I will not be the designated grocery shopper, CB will. There are many many stories coming out about tracing cluster outbreaks to one mildly symptomatic person who attended church, birthday parties, weddings etc and the catastrophic results. I watched Chris Cuomo (CNN) talk about his experience with COVID-19 and how a pulmonologist called him and made him get up out of bed, stretch his arms over his head and hold his breath for 10 seconds, all painful and difficult things Chris didn’t want to do but which are now emerging as the best way to fight the virus no matter how bad you are feeling. Statistics say that up to 80% of patients put on ventilators will die anyway and those who survive need months if not years to recover both physically and emotionally. I have found some days to be more of a struggle than others and last year I saw a counselor weekly. I am thinking of contacting her and seeing if she is doing video counseling from home. I want to say to everyone reading: be sure to ask for whatever help you need. These days are so far beyond our experience we need to find our best way to cope. And speaking of that, Ina Garten the chef posted a very funny video �of herself making the biggest Cosmopolitan cocktail I’ve ever seen while assuring us that any time was cocktail time now. All right Ina! ��So this is what “The basketball court is closed” looks like. Here are ZB, BB and OB doing Pilates from home. As they couldn’t get the Pilates lesson video to run on ZB’s laptop, they ran it on ZB’s phone, propped on OB’s green and white bouncer. If you look carefully you can just see the phone propped sideways. ��And here is OB practicing standing up while hanging on tight. He’ll be walking soon. In Melbourne Australia AB and his friends had fun at brunch on Zoom. ��In Finland Spring is on its way. Thanks AS for the gorgeous photo. While in Perth Australia, my friend MM found this cutie in a bucket outside her house. In Michigan our numbers keep climbing and in the last two days, our numbers in Kent County are starting to escalate: 233 cases and 9 deaths. Kent County is 872 square miles and has an official population of 648,504. We are doing our best to stay at home etc but there were gatherings and parties held as late as last week, so I’m not confident that we are flattening the curve. Flashback photo; now I just wanted to say that I have a bazillion photos on iCloud but usually they just have the date at the top. Now this is very useful for knowing when the photo was taken but not so useful for knowing where. So this morning I instigated a new procedure - CB and I look through the photos before he goes out to walk the dog, so I know where we were as well as when . So here goes (oh and this is one I didn’t need to ask him about, this is one we came across together and remembered ) �This is Dhobi Ghat in Mumbai. It is a 140 year old open air laundry which services a large number of hotels and businesses each day. This is a labor intensive job, the washing is soaked in soapy water and then beaten on a flogging stone, hung out to dry and then ironed and packed for delivery. It developed in to huge area with the Dhobis living in among the laundry facilities and it turning into a massive slum. I think that shortly after we visited the area and stood on the nearby bridge to take this photo, the city left a portion of the Ghat but pulled down the slum area for redevelopment. Of course there are laundry machines for doing this job now. And, like everywhere else in the world the Dhobi Ghat in Mumbai is temporarily;y closed due to COVID-19. One last staggering statistic from India seems to remain the same: 70% of all households don’t have access to toilets - they have to defecate in the open. This statistic dates from 2016 but I am not sure things have changed significantly since then. On our tour that day we did hear about a bride who was insisting that there would be no wedding until the groom’s family had built a proper bathroom inside their new house. I’m not sure how that turned out. Well, stay safe, stay inside, wear a mask outside and remember to wave to your neighbors. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-10_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-30 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-10 Title A name given to the resource Day 30 (and almost halfway to day 70, the Governor's preferred lockdown period). Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/82486245d3b31c62b1ab376577e0e3b0.pdf 39a6c7f3a2727d8c30babc854dca2b20 PDF Text Text Day 31 by windoworks It’s another lovely day here in Grand Rapids although that may not last. The temperature is supposed to climb to 59F and after the last 2 days of freezing winds and occasional snow showers, I’ll take it. All around us people are mostly tucked up in bed by 10pm and most sleep in late. We, on the other hand, wake up shortly after 5am and make ourselves snooze until at least 6am. It’s a long day when you’re awake at 5am and I find I do tend to nod off in front of the tv just after lunch. We have been watching a lot of different cooking shows and I notice that we are both slightly adjusting our cooking techniques. We also routinely make enough dinner for 2 nights and sometimes we don’t have a new meal to eat for days. One note about gluten free pasta - it tastes indistinguishable from the non gluten free sort but when you reheat it, it becomes mushy. Luckily it still tastes good but the texture is markedly different. In family news, my two brothers-in-law have established a daily email thread with each one trying to outdo the other in humor. As they have very different senses of humor, each one is excellent and lends a very cheery note to the start of my day. Yesterday we spent some time driving around trying to find the other end of our favorite trail. Just as we were about to give up, we came across it by accident. The start of the trail at this end is boardwalk over a wetland area, complete with Murphy’s favorite types of bird - ducks and geese. ��Here she is staring intently at This - a very bold bird who actually waddled towards her. We had to pull Murphy away and continue our walk. ��And yes, it was REALLY cold and my mask makes my glasses steam up as I breathe. But it is nice outside in the clear, fresh air and there’s usually very few other walkers. And here is Oliver to cheer us all up: ��Is this somewhere exciting? No, just a little bathroom I think. ��And what about here? Is this where I can play with water? And how did I get up here in the first place? ��Oh Great Aunt B - how did you know I love a bright screen? In other news, the case rate in Kent County is rising faster and the death rate is increasing too. The whole Detroit area is struggling with cases and deaths accelerating. They have asked us all to wear masks and some people are complying and now they are restricting the number of people in grocery stores quite significantly. At butchers and other speciality stores such as the Cheese Lady, you must order and pay online and then pick up outside the store. At least these stores are continuing to operate in a limited way. The first beer pub and brewer in our local shops is closing today. They have been offering take out pizza and beer supplies but this week they decided that they couldn’t continue to place their employees in harms way. Other local restaurants (and we have a lot) are gradually shutting down also and each day the area looks more and more like a ghost town. Unemployment is climbing as I am sure it is doing in your corner of the world too. In Australia and New Zealand it is the Easter long weekend with Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. It seems to involve an enormous amount of chocolate, more so in Australia, and mostly huge chocolate eggs with other edible treats inside and humongous chocolate bunnies - like this. ��In England they go outside one night a week and clap for the nurses, doctors, grocery store workers etc and then they chat briefly to their neighbors. Where my niece EB lives they’re not very chatty at all. I try to call at least one friend a day and catch up on how they’re doing. CB does most of his catching up through email. ZB FaceTimes each day with OB and BB and DB (who nearly always shows us the vegetable garden). Sometimes we FaceTime with ZL and AW in New Zealand and yesterday we had a long chat with AB in Melbourne Australia. I remember as a young teenager living in New Zealand that we would call my brother AS and his wife in Vancouver Canada at Christmas. This involved getting up in the middle of the night (during the day in British Columbia) and each person speaking for a minute at most. Your mind goes a total blank when you know (a) its costing a fortune and (b) there’s a line of other people waiting to speak after you. It is always amazing to think that you are sitting in your house talking to people on the other side of the world in real time. I mean, you can see their lips move in tandem with the words you are hearing. It allows us to see and hear ZB and OB going about their daily routine. We’re almost there. So, todays flashback. I wanted to show you a photo of some very cute little Pre Colombian statues but as neither of us could remember the name of the museum or the actual origin and time period of he statues, I decided to post this photo instead: �Every day in Berlin we walked through a large park called History Park Cell Prison Moabit. No really, thats its literal translation from the German. It was a state park and the site of a former prison with a reproduction of one of the cells. Standing inside the cell you could hear prisoners talking. It took 25 minutes to walk along the streets, past the little home gardens (complete with sheds) and then 10 minutes through the Prison Park. Then across the Main Street to the train station - the Hauptbahnhof. Other days we went up our street to another park on our way to the Hauptbahnhof, which was made from mounds of rubble that were constructed after the Second World War by women laborers. This park wound its way past a kindergarten and beside several hills and forested areas where Berliners often walked their dogs and their children. The dogs were almost never on leashes and never strayed from their owners sides. There were an astonishing number of preschool age twins seen in this park and apparently IVF was popular 10 years ago. This photo was taken late one afternoon when we arrived back by train to the Hauptbahnhof and as we walked through the huge station with 5 levels, we came across this impromptu tango demonstration on one of the main levels. We all stood and watched the dancing and it was a welcome surprise at the end of another tiring and exploring day in Berlin. �Thats it for today. Stay healthy, stay optimistic and stay in touch. � 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_2020-04-11_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-31 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-11 Title A name given to the resource Day 31 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1601b14317ebf11ce45f22e712bc18f6.pdf abd4c8b00a153b064569dd78319cdde8 PDF Text Text Day 32 (but also Easter Sunday) by windoworks So here we are. I feel like I should ask you all if you slept well! I read an article this morning that explained that the daily anxiety is what is causing those really peculiar dreams we’ve all been having. Oh well thats a relief - both CB and I have been having quite unnerving dreams. Yet another thing to blame on COVID-19. This is the weirdest Easter I can remember. In Australia Easter is a really big deal. I think a lot of it is about the chocolate. And to give you an example, here is OB’s chocolate haul for Easter. Yes, you heard me correctly - this is all for OB who has (a) never tasted chocolate as far as I know and (b) probably won’t be allowed to eat any of it anyway. �Easter is, of course, a religious celebration and one of the bigger days of the year for going to church for a lot of people. This year the churches are closed in most states, but with technology, many congregations are able to worship online. And speaking of online, we were FaceTiming with AB the other night and he said he thought that workplaces may change dramatically when the lockdown abates as many people and companies have discovered how successful everyone is becoming at working from a virtual office. Here’s a thought: I have never been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and I will probably never visit it in reality, but I can visit it online any time I want to. And the same goes for the Vatican Museums in Rome, the Louvre in Paris and so on. I can also watch whole Broadway Musicals at home as well as enjoy �musicians like Yo Yo Ma play wonderful music under the banner ‘Songs of Comfort’. The list goes on and on. In Canberra Australia, my mother-in-law FB reads books, sits and looks at her beautiful garden, watches movies on tv, plays Solitaire on her new computer and is always ready to FaceTime with us all. Recently she taught herself how to forward on funny memes she gets on email. And back to OB who wondered where his blue duck sticker went to. Naughty Great Uncle DB! ��From Perth Australia, my friend MM sent me these photos: This is a Kookaburra and yes, he’s eating a snake (well a little one) �And here is a bear in a tree, ready for all the little bear hunters. �This is Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids in the early morning yesterday when CB and Murphy Brown went for their morning walk. What a gorgeous day it was. So here are the stats for Easter Saturday (the new stats are posted at 2pm each day) Michigan cases - 23,993 and deaths - 1,392. In Kent County, cases - 270 and deaths - 13. Most people here are doing their best to comply with the Executive Orders except for few on FaceBook who feel that their constitutional rights are being withheld. I have no idea what to say to them. I think the problem is that it is such a silent disease. There’s no way to tell who is asymptomatic and who is not. Added to this is the fact that is so hard to grasp: humans have NO immunity to this disease at all because we’ve never encountered it before. In Australia there is talk that Australians may not be able to travel abroad until the very end of this year. I am not sure how long the ongoing restrictions might be here in the US. In 3 days time I was scheduled to fly out to New Zealand from Chicago and help my sister MH celebrate her 80th birthday. Then a few days later I was booked to fly to Sydney Australia to catch up with ZB, OB, AB and all the family in Sydney and Canberra. And then on May 13, ZB, OB and I were flying home here to Michigan so everyone could see ZB and OB for 2 weeks or so. �Poof! Gone! Oh well, I would rather we were all safe and well. Flashback of the day: This is the first cruise that CB ever lectured on. It was a Scientific American cruise, that is, a portion of the 2000 passengers had paid extra to have a series of lectures onboard from scientists and historians. Here we are docking at Nga Trang in Vietnam. We had sailed there from Hong Kong which was also somewhere I had never been before. This was the first port of many exciting ports. I had never been on a real cruise before (we sailed from Sydney Australia to Auckland New Zealand one Christmas, but that was just 3 days at sea). I did not have these photos on my iPad and CB has begun sending them to me. I will have more of Vietnam and other places over the next few days. This was the first time I encountered the nightly towel animal on our bed. Holland America is famous for them and they even have an instruction book you can buy to make towel animals when you go home. This was our cabin attendants version of Poochie, my travel companion. �I see that a large number of crew are stuck on some cruise ships as they are unable to get home to their own countries. I believe that there are still cruise ships trying to get the last passengers safely off the ship and into quarantine before they can go home. In a recent photo I saw airplanes with big red covers over their engines, I imagine it is so animals do not get inside. It is hard to imagine how travel will begin again and what restrictions there will be to keep everyone safe. will they now take our temperatures as we go the customs and immigration? Will we have to have an annual travel pass which shows that we are healthy? The hardest part to wrap my head around is that this virus has reached every continent except Antarctica. I can hear you all saying: well that’s why it’s called a global pandemic, Pamela. So thats it for today. It’s another grey day with more rain forecast. I plan to read more of the strange book that ZB chose for our second family book club book. So far, of the 4 of us who have begun reading it, its a strange one! So, stay home, stay healthy, stay 6 feet away from outsiders (1 velociraptor, remember), try to control your chocolate intake and keep going. � 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_2020-04-12_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-32 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-12 Title A name given to the resource Day 32 (but also Easter Sunday) Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ab7f0b66778e098a9c6dc9363ead0f87.pdf be83f40db132c0bd16684091345027df PDF Text Text Day 33 by windoworks Sometimes it takes me a while to think of how to begin a post and sometimes I write and discard the first paragraph a number of times. Today is such a day. It has been pointed out to me that identifying family members and friends by their initials can be extremely confusing for some readers. I have always done this because I thought it impolite to publish people’s names on what is essentially a public forum. So beginning today I will just put a person’s first name and if that person has a problem - please let me know. Yesterday (or the day before - who knows? One day is much like another) I lost my hairdresser. No its not that I can’t find him, its that he emailed me to say that this seemed like a good time to hang up his scissors. I’m really sad. He’s a great hairdresser and always makes me look terrific (well the hair part anyway), but he’s been such a treat to spend time with every 5 weeks. We’ve shared stories, laughs, photos and recipes. I’m really going to miss you Ben and I will go to the person you’ve recommended but it won’t be the same. And speaking of hair, Craig’s hair clippers arrive from Amazon tomorrow. He’s very excited about cutting his hair and he keeps offering to cut mine. I’m not quite that desperate yet. We are shopping for food about once a week and its always so irritating when you come home, bring it all in from the car, unpack it all, wipe it all down and then put it all away - and you realize that there was 1 or 2 items that you completely forgot to get - like small onions. It’s so nerve wracking going into a grocery store. Are the aisles wide enough? How many people are in here with me? How long will the germs stay on my debit card? I am that odd person - a grocery store browser. I really enjoy wandering around, looking at new products, thinking about what meals we will have this week and so on. To wander in the store now would be completely irresponsible and anyway Craig is a ‘get in, get what we need and get out’ kind of guy even in non-corona times. When this is over will I return to browsing? Who knows? I remember my aunt telling me a story about shopping for clothes with her husband. She said he was a patient man and so much so that when she was trying on an outfit in the fitting room, she could feel his patience seeping in under the door! My uncle was a Presbyterian minister and my aunt said she thought the phrase “poor as a church mouse” was coined just for them. My friend Merrilyn in Perth so liked my towel photo that she sent this one back. �This is a pair of swans on their hotel bed in China (sometime ago - don’t panic). So clever isn’t it? And a small correction to the photo of Oliver and Zoe and all those eggs that I posted yesterday - they weren’t ALL for Oliver. Craig and I have begun going through an old thumb drive of mine and his online photo collection and yesterday we looked at our trip to Italy in 2010. We met up with 2 other couples at Rome airport. We had come to Italy to attend a meeting of Big Historians at a tiny village called Coldigioco, in the Province of Macerata. It was more or less abandoned by the 1990s and so the Geological Observatory was established there and gradually the houses were purchased and refurbished by professors of geology. It has been in operation now for over 25 years. Anyway, the 6 of us met at the airport and then spent a week traveling up the west side of Italy, into France and then back down the east coast of Italy to the village. We actually missed the turnoff to the village several times - but thats another story. So Craig had planned the itinerary and after we picked up our 2 hire cars, off we set in tandem. We were all tired and hot and all the way to our first hotel Craig was worrying that we wouldn’t like the hotel where we were spending the night. Eventually we left the freeway and drove around a roundabout and then turned down a dusty driveway overshadowed by cypress trees and pulled into this parking area: �We all got out of the cars and wandered into the gorgeous 16th century baronial hall with hand painted ceilings and lovely wooden floors. We ate a fantastic dinner and then fell into bed. The next morning Craig asked me if I thought it was a good choice and I said that he had us with this first night - we could sleep on camp beds now and be happy. Of course every other night was just as fantastic. �That first night was in Orvieto and this photo is of the medieval town high on the hilltop (great defensive position) and was taken early in the morning. Our hotel was close by on the flat and we did explore the town before moving on. Tomorrow we will explore the next place on our journey. So, stay a velociraptor or 2 hoop skirts apart (you choose) and chin up, buttercup! � 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_2020-04-13_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-33 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-13 Title A name given to the resource Day 33 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c38cb1ce2cfcfef15607496109b4adf0.pdf e71b910e238ba9792f20ce6cfe3819eb PDF Text Text Day 34 by windoworks Some days I have to decide if this blogpost is a fluff piece or is it a vehicle for how I feel. Today you get both. And first up is how angry I am. Here I am staying at home, wearing a mask if I go out to walk, staying more than 6 feet away from everyone else except Craig, letting Craig handle the mail and the unpacking of the groceries etc. As well as that, I worry about all my extended family in England, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, some of whom have compromised immune systems and have to be extra careful at this time. My sister-in-law got a very sore throat and scared us all for a few days until she began to recover. But nothing is certain anywhere in the world . And yet a portion of our population in Michigan feel that the Governor, who is doing her best to keep us safe and fighting hard on the open market to find and purchase PPEs for our hospital workers, is doing all this for some mysterious personal gain and even more importantly: closing all garden stores so we can’t buy seedlings AND even worse, not allowing the golf courses to open! So, in retaliation, they are planning a traffic jam around the Capitol Building in Lansing tomorrow, so that she will sit up and take notice. Governor Whitmer said: go ahead, but please don’t get out of your cars and then endanger the lives of the police or the first responders. Of course there’s no one in the Capitol Building except security. Everyone else is staying home just as they are supposed to. But I find it really hard to understand why some people see this safety precaution as a personal affront and see no reason to stop themselves from endangering others. If I am positive but symptom free and I go out and mingle with just 2 other people, and they mingle with 2 or 4 other people each and then - you can see the easy and quick contagion rate. And then 10 of us go to the hospital and 6 of us need to be placed on a respirator but uh oh, the hospital only has 10 respirators and they’re all in use right now. Do I have to wait for (a) someone to be taken off the respirator because they’ve recovered enough not to need it or (b) the respirator is free now because someone died or (c) while waiting for the respirator, I die? Which part of this do the people protesting being unable to buy seeds or play golf, not understand? If I can’t go to the mall for a shopping expedition and a nice lunch in the middle of the day - then no! You can’t play golf. Moving on. My friend Merrilyn sent me these photos last night. I think the Bear Hunt has become a Bear Escape. �Or a Bear Relaxing �Yesterday we were promised strong winds and so Craig and I organized coffee and a snack and drove out to Grand Haven to look at Lake Michigan. The wind was blowing strongly across the lake and when we got to the main parking lot, there was a line of cars all pointing out to the lake. We all sat and watched the waves pound in and the few hardy surfers. ��And here is Craig, taken out of the windscreen (I’m not going out there, it was very cold - even if Craig was just wearing shorts). �I didn’t post any stats for the day before in yesterday’s blogpost so here they are for yesterday. In Michigan state there were 25,635 positive cases and 1,602 deaths. In Kent County, as of 2pm yesterday we had 311 positive cases and 13 deaths. Bear in mind that the positive cases both for the state and the county only account for those tested. The true number is probably 10 or 20 times greater. Also, the deaths are only those recorded in hospital - there are probably more deaths at home. Today’s flashback: ��When we left Orvieto we drove on to Siena and arrived close to lunchtime. In this photo you can see the Siena clock tower behind us. This is the view from inside the clock tower looking down at the interior courtyard. There were beautiful frescoes inside the tower which is part of the town hall. There’s another story about Chardi, our companion and artist, describing what was happening in the religious frescoes - but you had to be there. �This is the fan shaped square in the middle of the medieval city called Piazza del Campo. The city’s 17 historic districts spread outward from the piazza. Siena is famous for the Palio, a horse race held twice a year on July 2 and August 16. Ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the colors of 10 of the 17 districts (wards) circle the square, on which a thick layer of earth has been laid. It’s only 3 laps and lasts about a minute and a half. Sometimes riders fall off on the sharp turns - and there is a slope on the square a bit like a velodrome. The first horse Palio took place in 1633. If you look carefully in the above photo you can see booths selling district flags. Our visit was a few days before the August Palio. After we had explored the city, Chardi remembered a restaurant down a side street that she had visited many years before. After a couple of false starts we actually found it and went in for lunch. From memory we were the only customers and they made a fuss of us. First we had housemade bread with oil and herbs then salad and then handmade pasta with sauces. It was delicious! And then we asked for the check. They were horrified - what? No meat? No dessert? No we said. It was wonderful but we’re full. We were to learn later that lunch in Italy is a very serious affair and takes at least an hour or so and includes several courses. I still have my district flag on the wall in the basement. �So, stay well, stay inside and practice smiling every day. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-14_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-34 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-14 Title A name given to the resource Day 34 Description An account of the resource Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng