85 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4e683a63b502c9dfffa176508454d660.pdf 4a34fa4b0b5f78110a9427b2fdf3d975 PDF Text Text Day 35 by windoworks This morning I woke up to - more snow. It snowed on and off yesterday and quite a bit overnight and now it is snowing again. To be fair , it is April and I have known years when it has snowed heavily for a day in May. Well fortunately we didn’t get the grill out of the garage and although Craig did put the table out on our back deck, he didn’t put the chairs or umbrella out yet. Tradition says that nothing should be planted before Memorial Day at the end of May. This is because by this point the ground should have warmed up enough for seedlings to survive and grow. This year is different. Because it kept freezing, snowing and then warming and melting, the ground didn’t freeze as solid as it usually does. Could this be global warming/climate change? I debated with myself whether to include this next bit, but here goes. Yesterday started off pretty well in that when I woke up my first thought wasn’t to pull the covers over my head and just stay in bed until the pandemic was over (yes, there are more mornings like that for me than I would like to admit). We had agreed to go shopping for groceries and in line with the item I read about not using your cell phone in a grocery store, I had written a list on a piece of paper (I know, very retro!). So we drove to one of our local grocery stores that is not a megastore, thinking less customers, less contagion. When we get there we see that they have taken the Governor’s Executive Orders seriously and they have closed one of their two entrances. So far, so good. We get inside and Craig cleans a cart for me and I set off for the fruit and vegetable section. Two workers are repacking the shelves, chatting and not moving out of Craig’s and my way, which is irritating but okay. Then as I look towards the garlic display in the middle of the section, on a flat top table with many different vegetable sections, one of the workers takes off his mask, leans down to the table top, and heartily blows the detritus high up into the air. I stand with my mouth open in shock, which you can’t see because I’m wearing a mask. And it wasn’t a dry blow, it was a juicy, spitty blow times three. I ask; Why did you do that? And he says: What? And then I explain to him exactly what I saw him do and I tell him to go and get a spray cleaner and paper towel and clean that area thoroughly. He says: I forgot, and sheepishly walks away to get the cleaner. So although I am hysterical, we finish our shopping. Then, to add insult to injury, our cashier ran half my groceries through onto the tab of the man in front of me. So that meant half my groceries were handled 3 times - once by mistake, once to refund and once for my account. After this I went to the service desk and told the service manager what had happened in the produce section and said I would not be shopping there again. And I won’t. I can’t cope. Craig will do all the shopping from now on. My anxiety levels are high enough. �So the rest of the day is okay. I cut my nails really short because without shellac they revert to their soft, easily torn state. I resurrect my coloring books and pencils and I make a little headway on my jigsaw puzzle, both calming activities. I make phone calls, and I have my first video counseling session. After dinner Craig and I are about to watch a new cooking show from my favorite Southern cook Vivian Howard called Somewhere South, when I see that I have an IMessage from my nephew, the doctor, in New Zealand. He is writing to say that my stepmother who is 94 is in hospital (not with COVID-19) but because she had a fall. I begin to write back when my brother Allan calls from Vancouver Island. He had just been speaking to our nephew and he was calling to explain what had happened to Elaine. My stepmother Elaine sold her house last year and moved into an apartment at a really nice retirement village. A couple of days ago (I think) she fell and hit her head and suffered a small bleed into the brain. She is recovering nicely and they have discovered that she has some heart rhythm problems that is causing dizziness and falling, which they are putting her on medication to correct. So all good, but here’s the thing: not one family member can visit her and when they allow her to return to her village, it is completely locked down and no one can go to see her. My nephew lives further down the North Island and he can’t drive up to see her (or his mother for her 80th birthday) because driving long distances is currently a fineable offense in New Zealand. Today was the day Craig was going to drive me to Chicago so I could catch my flight to New Zealand for 3 days to celebrate my sister’s birthday and then fly on again on Monday to catch up Zoe and Oliver and all the other family members. I’ve told you this before but today is that day. I think that what I am taking from this is that there are so many people in the world who are really ill and perhaps dying and they are doing it entirely without family or friends. It’s not so much about dying because we will all die sometime - its doing it alone, really ill and afraid. And its even the same for patients with other diseases or medical emergencies. They’re probably alone too. I think this is the scariest aspect for me and thinking of my stepmother soldiering on by herself breaks my heart. Today I have read of 3 countries who are beginning to experience the second wave of infections. How troubling is that? Some experts are saying that we will have to maintain some sort of social distancing for the next 2 years. So maybe today will be the day I pull the covers over my head and wait patiently for it to be all over. And maybe not. Lets go to today’s flashback because that always makes me feel better. Thank goodness for photographs which make us remember happier days and smile. ��This is Lucca in the Tuscany region of Italy. It was a Roman colony in 180 BCE and you can still see the grid formation of streets in the town center. We stayed in a B&B up 3 flights of narrow steep stairs. But once up there in the beautifully renovated apartment you could look out at the street below. Our landlady sent us to a private club for dinner under the Renaissance town walls. We had to join the club to eat, but once we were seated outside under the grape arbor, we had a delicious dinner and way too much wine. These are the famous Renaissance walls. You can actually walk around the top for some distance and we all did. Here is Craig on our way to dinner. �The next morning our landlady rode in on her bicycle to bring us our breakfast including a cake her mother had baked. Very few cars are allowed within the walls of the old city. I loved Lucca and then we returned to Lucca 2 years ago while on a cruise. The weather was not as nice as our first time and the highlight of the second trip was a drive up behind Lucca to a winery in the hills where we sampled the wine and wandered the the vineyard in the sunshine. Just lovely. Well that’s it for today. You know the drill. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-15_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-35 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 2020-04-15 Title A name given to the resource Day 35 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/e868424053eb03b2234000db30d42210.pdf 8be07ec942d8884e272ebfa37d9b015f PDF Text Text Day 36 by windoworks You do know that I have to keep looking at the previous day’s post to see what day we’re up to, don’t you? The other day the board of the Women’s City Club held a virtual meeting on zoom and towards the end our president said: lets meet again on Wednesday week. Does that work for everyone? And my friend Wendy said: wait while I check, and she made a great show of picking up her planner, opening it to that date and then exclaiming: oh look! Yes I can make that! We all laughed and laughed. Many years ago a colleague and I were sitting in the teachers staff room and she was telling me about her failed marriage to a wealthy Saudi Arabian, and we were laughing about something that happened with her mother-in-law, and the Principal overheard us and said: how can you laugh about such terrible things? And we said: because if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry and laughter is better. I think about that day often now. Yesterday it was supposed to stop snowing about 9am but it snowed on and off all day. Craig and Murphy walked to Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids, and I think Craig takes Murphy there because of the ducks and geese. ��Craig teases her by quacking and honking and she gets very excited and looks frantically to see the birds. Craig said that in East Grand Rapids the benches and tables all have signs on them now saying ‘These benches and tables have not been sanitized’. Remember I told you that in Sydney Australia you are not allowed to sit on park benches and you could be fined $1000AUS? Well now you can’t sit on the grass in the parks. The police will move you on. I know that these measures might seem draconian to us, but in New Zealand and Australia, these measures are making a big difference in contagion rates. In New Zealand a group of singers got together online to record a song - Tutahi (Stay). You can find it on YouTube. I would try to include it here but it often doesn’t work. Also in Auckland New Zealand, Fall is approaching. Thanks for the photo Zar. �Another exciting event happened yesterday. Here is Craig’s before shot: ��I actually think he pushed his hair up to make it look worse. ��Here I am helping with the hair at the back of his head and yes, I’m still in my pajamas. ��This is the finished product. Using electric hair clippers is not as easy as you might think. And there was a lot more hair on the bathroom floor than I was expecting. My hair salon posted yesterday that they were hoping to reopen on May 1. That’s literally 2 weeks away! How are they intending to dye and cut clients hair and yet keep to social distancing rules? It might be a long time before I am brave enough to go into a hair salon or a nail salon for that matter. The other day I got a letter reminding me it will soon be time for my annual mammogram. I have this picture in my head of me positioning my boob on the machine while the technician stands 6 feet back saying: a bit further in, dear. Now wind the knob down further, further, just a little further... I think I might have to wait a bit longer for that appointment. So here are yesterdays stats: in Michigan, cases: 28,059 and deaths: 1,921. In Kent County, cases: 354 and deaths: 16. During the afternoon yesterday, a large group of people created a traffic gridlock outside the Capitol Building in Lansing (Michigan’s State Capitol). They were protesting the restrictions, mainly because Governor Whitmer closed all the big box gardening and hardware stores over a certain square footage (although plenty of smaller garden and hardware stores are still operating). Also I think it might have involved protesting golf courses staying closed. In the footage and photos on FaceBook some of the protesters got out of their vehicles and stood in close proximity on the Capitol Building steps. They were carrying guns, Confederate flags, but not a mask in sight or protective gloves. Apparently someone handed out candy to accompanying children - again without gloves. And worst of all, their gridlock closed all access to the nearby hospital and an ambulance was stuck in the middle trying to get through. I even saw a photo of a doctor from the hospital, gowned, gloved and masked, standing in the middle of the cars and trucks, pleading with the drivers to open up access to the hospital. I was watching Governor Whitmer give a video update as the protest was going on and she was very concerned about the possible contamination for the protesters and the consequences for health workers and the shutdown continuation. A Republican State representative posted the first photo I saw, stating: this is what Freedom looks like! No, thats what stupidity and selfishness looks like. Now to today’s flashback: ��The next stop on our Italian adventure was at Carrara in the mountains of Tuscany. This area is famous for the marble that is mined there. For Michelangelo this was the marble of his dreams and he journeyed there to look for the perfect piece of marble. He would hang by a rope sling on the marble face and instruct the quarrymen to chip out the exact piece he wanted. He sculpted his slaves series and the Pieta in St Peters from Carrara marble. There are a number of marble mines in the area and they all use huge heavy machinery now to extract the marble and ship it all over the world. It was a hot day, and we ended up covered in white dust. I just remember it being an astonishing dazzling white as the sun reflected off the walls. Many thanks to all those who commented on yesterday’s post. I will let you know how Elaine is doing when I hear from New Zealand. Here’s hoping that all your friends and relatives are well and safe at home. And remember : laughing is always better. � 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_2020-04-16_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-36 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 2020-04-16 Title A name given to the resource Day 36 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/10e508d3ceb3fb3b1db86a8b3f80223a.pdf 009c355335fdf65bda120fac6330e86a PDF Text Text Day 37 by windoworks This morning Craig asked me what I would write on Day 70. Well its only 33 days away and I’m sure I’ll think of something. And on that note, here are the stats: in Michigan we had a total of 29, 265 cases (confirmed new cases yesterday: 1,204) and a total of 2,093 deaths (172 new deaths yesterday). In Kent County, my favorite, Dr London, told us that we must do more and isolate very carefully. Yesterday (in Kent County) we recorded 382 cases ( a jump of 30 new cases from the day before) and 17 deaths (2 more than the day before). So wondering why Dr London was using this tone with me and all the other people watching, this morning I looked up what is the projected peak for the virus in West Michigan - and its not good news. Here in Kent County we’re about 4 to 6 weeks away from the projected peak. Thankfully our Governor (I love that woman) has joined with the governors of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Minnesota, to plan to reopen the economy. This plan will be based on at least 4 factors: sustained control of new infection and hospitalization rates; enhanced testing and tracing capabilities; adequate health care capacity to respond to a resurgence and best workplace social distancing techniques. There are 2 other coalitions of governors on the west and east coasts. It seems people are looking to their state and local governments more and more for reassurance and competent guidance. So yesterday it snowed a bit and was bitterly cold and then the sun came out later in the day and the snow melted, and we all thought thank goodness thats over. But no, its snowing again, because Michigan. Oh and I nearly forgot. I do research items, but yesterday I posted about big box hardware and garden stores being closed. As my friend Paul so correctly told me, big box stores are not closed, just stores that are over 50,000 square feet have some sections cordoned off. This is to stop people browsing and loitering in any area of the store. I am confused as to why you are not allowed to run your motor boat with an engine - I’m not sure what that restriction is about but honestly as I don’t own a motor boat (not even ON my bucket list) I might dare to say I don’t care that much. And anyway - its snowing! Has anyone else noticed an amazing number of people running? And an even more extraordinary number of people walking dogs? Dogs that are absolutely hopeless at walking or really angry and fierce? Is this a new part of being in quarantine? You can’t just go outside and walk, politely distancing yourself well away from everyone else, you have to run and pant very heavily (NOT WEARING A MASK) as you pass me, or struggle valiantly to keep your aggressive dog away from my gentle one. Just because we’re outside doesn’t mean the virus doesn’t hang in the air for some seconds as you pass me. I feel a number of the foolish �people at the protest in Lansing on Wednesday might be finding that fact about airborne transmission out in a day or so. It would be so much easier to understand if COVID-19 came with big red spots all over your face and body. Also, and this is embarrassing to admit, I assumed because it is called COVID-19 that it is the 19th version of a COVID virus. No, it first appeared in 2019. And another thing: if you joking call it Rona, then to me you’re making it sound somewhat cool and groovy and after the daily posts from ICU nurses and doctors and the new information that its not just the compromised lungs that kill you but the kidney failure and the liver function failure and so on, there is nothing groovy about it. In other news, I have managed to find my embroidery frame, the silks and a large canvas that I put away some years ago. I have finished the edges on my first jigsaw puzzle and I am beginning on the middle. And I resurrected my coloring books and pencils, so I have quite a busy day. I strongly recommend coloring books, its very calming in these anxious times. I have yet to take up bread baking - partly because I am concerned that might lead to weight gain and I’m hovering on the edge as it is. The strawberry plants arrived 2 days ago but we’ll have to wait for the snow to end before we can plant them. We are still waiting for some vegetable seeds that were on back order and I have purchased some clothing online, coffee beans and meat from our local butcher - so I’m doing my bit for the struggling economy. So, today’s flashback. The next day we traveled along the Ligurian Sea which is part of the Mediterranean Coast of Italy. We had originally wanted to visit Cinque Terre which is a National Park and includes 5 seaside villages. However there is only a coastal path and you can visit the villages but you have to drive directly to one village and park behind it. This was August and high summer and everywhere was overrun with tourists and vacationing Italians, so we drove on to a seaside village further up the coast, called Rapallo. �This is the view as we walked down to the beach. We had 2 cars and Craig and David dropped the rest of us off and then drove back up the steep hill to spend some time searching for available parking spaces. In the meantime, the rest of us found an inviting restaurant where we could sit out on their verandah and look over the beach below. When Craig and David eventually joined us we had a fabulous seafood lunch. Well I love all Italian food and this trip was a gourmet extravaganza. �After lunch we wandered around and looked at the next beach. Then we sat on the beach (no sand just big black pebbles) and watched the locals swim and sunbathe. The man next to me changed into his speedos without single blush and there were a number of topless women who I think might have regretted the lack of sunscreen later. As the day drew on we walked the long way back up to our cars and drove on to Genoa - but that’s tomorrows story Stay safe, stay well, and 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_2020-04-17_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-37 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 2020-04-17 Title A name given to the resource Day 37 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/d6ef0f9b6a82b5788ea658f609b20192.pdf e71519c4a1b0112e0dfe6a4f8f24a551 PDF Text Text Day 38 by windoworks Well its finally starting to happen - my roots are growing out and its not pretty. If you see me outside from now on I will probably be wearing a hat. Craig keeps offering to use his hair clippers on me but I’m not that desperate yet. And in other household news: Murphy Brown has contracted giardia, and apparently she got this from licking the grass when out walking with Craig and I. She doesn’t lick the grass when she’s walking with Craig because he walks too fast. So she isn’t allowed to walk with me in the meantime. We discovered she had this after she pooped on the floor in the spare bedroom four nights in a row. Craig took a stool sample up to our vets yesterday and it was very cloak and dagger. You have to call first and ask for May - no just kidding, but you do have to call first and prepay for the stool sample diagnosis. Then someone comes outside to you and takes the sample back inside. Then they call you with the results, you prepay for the medication, go back and wave at them inside to get someone to come out and give you the drugs. This morning Craig and I were reading an article about life after Coronavirus. And I wonder. Will we ever shake hands again? Will masks become an accepted item of clothing when outside? Will we always feel most comfortable 6 feet away from non family members? How scared will we be on a airplane? How long before we will feel comfortable visiting other countries? Some friends here who own small businesses have not received the funding they applied for and I have seen stories in the media which suggest that chain restaurants have gobbled up the emergency funding for all restaurants, cafes etc. We live in an area with a large number of independent, interesting restaurants and some of these may not survive. Some others have been able to switch to take out only and have adapted their entrances and exits so that the customer never sets foot inside. Our favorite bakery closed at the beginning but then after a huge outcry, they reopened one of their stores (luckily the one close to us) and they take phone orders and curbside pickup. Now they are sold out most days. The other big thing that is beginning to happen is a small group of people who feel as though this shutdown (lockdown, social distancing, mitigation - whatever you want to call it) is a personal punishment and infringement. Having been told for almost 4 years by the President and various cohorts that news is fake and science isn’t real, they feel perfectly confident that this is being done to them as spite by the liberals or just a way of controlling America by the Democrats. It seems insane to me that they feel that instead of staying home and keeping their families safe, it is their job to go out into the world with no masks or gloves and stand or sit closely together to show what a lie we’re all being fed. So last Wednesday they turned up in their cars and trucks at our state capital. They were supposed to keep inside their vehicles - but that didn’t happen. Instead they got out, with flags and automatic rifles and very offensive placards. Now this was a huge inconvenience to the nearby hospital and a massive �embarrassment world wide for Michigan. There were other protests in other states but nothing as big and obnoxious as the one in Michigan, so the news cameras concentrated on us. The President then tweeted Liberate Michigan. This has been a source of great entertainment to our international family members and quite a lot of sympathy. Now as they apparently didn’t get the result they wanted (one man attended because he wasn’t able to fertilize his lawn, yes, that was his reason for attending. I don’t know how anyone could tell that to a reporter with a straight face). Anyhow, to continue, they are intending to do it again on Wednesday and this time they mean business, while they didn’t fire their weapons, this time they might. I can’t even. Bill Schuette, the former Republican Michigan State Attorney General, who ran against Gretchen Whitmer for Governor and was beaten by a landslide, has taken to the media to say this is the perfect time to dismiss Governor Whitmer as her restrictions are draconian and possibly Hitleresque. And I do have to share 2 things from last Wednesday in the ‘You can’t make this shit up’ category - 1) a Republican congressional candidate took a selfie of himself and a group of others before the protest. He has since tried to say he was photobombed by a man wearing a Michigan Proud Boys mask giving a white supremacy hand signal. (Look up Proud Boys). I think he is watching his political career go down the drain. And 2) a city commissioner for Royal Oak (in the Greater Detroit area) with 20 new deaths reported on Wednesday and 273 new cases (Royal Oak is part of Oakland County and all counties in the Detroit area have been extremely hard hit). Royal Oak alone has seen 14 deaths. Anyway Commissioner Gibbs felt it was her duty to be there and she said (and I quote) “I’m not a doctor, but my personal belief is that the people who got it or are going to get it, have ready gotten it, so lets get back to work”. And if that wasn’t stupid enough, she then said: “When you are out in the air, the air disperses it. I didn’t feel in danger”. Possibly not Kim, but you were observed by the media constantly trying to jump out of the camera frame, but stupidly you were wearing bright red coat which made you very easy to pick out. Not surprisingly, the Mayor of Royal Oak has asked her to consider resigning, but just in case she doesn’t want to, he has asked the city attorney about removal, recall and censure. Lastly for those who follow our stats, yesterday Michigan recorded a total of 30,023 cases and 2,227 deaths to date. Kent County recorded a total of 430 cases and 20 deaths. We continue to be carefully looked after from the Governor down to the Kent County Health Department and then down to the City Of Grand Rapids and finally down to the Eastown Community Association. Now to the flashback: After we left Rapallo, we drove north along the coast to Genoa. It’s a port city and the capital of Italy’s Liguria region. It is mostly famous for its maritime trade over many centuries. It was also the birthplace of �Christopher Columbus and there is a replica of one of his ships on the dock at the harbor. I took a photo but its too dark to see the ship. Genoa is also famous for focaccia and pesto. Who knew? So we drove into Genoa which was confusing by itself and then Craig and I had a loud argument as to which way it was to our hotel. After I finally convinced him we were driving in the opposite direction, we turned around and then eventually found it, but you had to go up stairs from the street to an elevator to the reception desk. It was a beautiful refurbished hotel and after we had settled into our rooms and David and Craig had parked the cars in an underground facility around the corner from the hotel, we all went back downstairs to ask at the desk for somewhere to eat dinner. He recommended his favorite seafood restaurant and after we had walked past the door twice and after a passing stranger took pity on us and showed us the door, we entered and had yet another fabulous dinner. Once again we might have drunk too much wine so it was fortuitous that we were walking back to our hotel. ��Genoa in the early morning - an interesting mix of old and new. Part of a Roman temple close to the old town area. People had said Genoa was not a safe place but that wasn’t our experience. ��This is Oliver looking very happy at visiting his house. Zoe and Oliver went over to Balmain yesterday to get flu shots and they spent a little while in their apartment and catching up (at a proper distance) with their neighbors. It’s hard to know how long it will be until they can safely return to live at home. So, keep safe, stay home, and start that project you’ve always put on hold - you’ve got plenty of time. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-18_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-38 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 2020-04-18 Title A name given to the resource Day 38 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/e22a830780ec2ea6893f800b03c7dea5.pdf 92c6786076e39cbc4d67c7f4a2a5b82f PDF Text Text Day 39. by windoworks Today I thought I would start off with the negative stuff and get that out of the way first. Stats: Michigan 30, 791 cases, 2,308 deaths. Unfortunately in Kent County the numbers are continuing to climb - 460 cases and 23 deaths. But this was the reality check for me this morning. I read WaPo (Washington Post) and they ran an article entitled ‘Will I be trapped inside my house forever? The answer: nobody knows’ and at the end of the article was this fact. “Experts believe that fewer than 5 percent of the more than 330 million people in the U.S. population have already been infected”. So that leaves approximately 90% of the population as vulnerable. Are Craig and I in the vulnerable category or are we immune? Have we had the virus already? Going forward I have to operate on the ‘I don’t know’ theory until I am able to be tested and perhaps vaccinated. Our son Zar, the journalist, had a long FaceTime with Craig and I last night. He lives with his wife in Auckland New Zealand where their government has imposed the strictest lockdown imaginable. They can walk outside around their neighborhood but can only drive their car to the grocery store. Any driving anywhere else is likely to be stopped and challenged by police. If you persist, there are substantial fines or imprisonment (if you continue to flout the rules). Unlike here, there are no order and pick up facilities such as restaurants, fast foods, bakeries, coffee shops, greenhouses etc. If it isn’t available in a grocery store, then it isn’t available. Now this sounds truly draconian to me, and yet its making an enormous difference. At this moment New Zealand has a total of 1,098 cases and 12 deaths. Of course it is a small island nation with a 2020 population of 4.8 million, less than half the population of Michigan. Their restrictions are at Level 4 which is technically what our restrictions are but really we’re at Level 3 and we have allowances that New Zealanders can only dream about. Their Prime Minister is considering taking the country back to a Level 3 restriction where they still won’t have access to a coffee bar (and New Zealanders love coffee and all the coffee choices) but they will be allowed to drive through MacDonalds - and MacDonalds has cappuccino! It puts our situation in to sharp focus. We are locked down but we still have access to so many things. We can still drive to the lake, we can visit some bakeries and restaurants as long as we order ahead and pay for our food online, and pick up outside. At a local greenhouse you can collect your plants and seedlings etc in the parking lot. These privileges are unthinkable in places like New Zealand and England. And with the weather warming up, people in our area are starting to come outside and walk wherever they choose with no social distancing and no masks. Friends are starting to visit other friends houses, all the while ignoring the fact that they might be asymptomatic. This morning I read a post from a woman who was shopping at the grocery store with her mask on and another woman walked past her in the aisle and as she drew level, she coughed so hard with no elbow use and it ruffled the writers hair! Now, this �other woman might have a smokers cough or an asthmatic cough - but how would the writer know? And for me, thats the point of wearing a mask - its not to protect me from you, its to protect you from me, because I don’t know - do you? Well that turned out to be more of a rant than I intended. So the bear hunt is still in progress. If you look closely you can see as well as the big bear there are a number of smaller ones too. ��Here is Oliver attempting to befriend Archie the cat. Good luck with that! And today’s flashback. After Genoa we drove out of the city on that precariously high road viaduct (Polcevera Viaduct). Part of it collapsed 8 years later during a rainstorm and 43 people died. It is a part of the artery linking Italy and France. After driving north we came to Courmayeur, an Alpine resort at the foot of Mt Blanc. We stopped in the town square for lunch. Because food is very important in Italy, especially lunch! Earlier that day we had been driving as usual in tandem with Craig and I and Jack and Cynthia in the lead car and David and Chardi following. It had been this configuration since the beginning of our trip in Rome as Craig and I were the de facto tour leaders. So on this morning, imagine our surprise when Chardi drove happily past our car and took the lead. Now 10 years ago there wasn’t the ability to use your cell phone overseas and none of us were adept at texting, so we just had to follow her and wonder what was wrong. She finally pulled over at a convenient spot and we all tumbled out and asked “WHat’s wrong?” She explained that in an almost trance space she got tired of following the slow driver in front and sped past. Suddenly she realized she had lost sight of our car and woke David (who was napping) and said: “David! I’ve lost Craig!’. “No”, he said, “he’s behind you”. We laughed and laughed and laughed. I don’t think she’ll ever live that down. �Approaching Mt Blanc. The road takes you under Mt Blanc into the Chamonix Valley in France. The tunnel is 7.2 miles long and it takes you 17 minutes or so to drive through. It has a very checkered history because there have been a number of accidents in the tunnel, including one where there was a huge multi vehicle pile up with a resulting fireball and many deaths. When we drove through, an overhead sign flashed at you if you got too close to the car in front of you. We also had to wait our turn to enter the tunnel and there were police everywhere. I was really glad when we came out the other end. 17 minutes is a long time deep inside a mountain. Chamonix tomorrow. Till then, stay safe. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-19_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-39 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 2020-04-19 Title A name given to the resource Day 39. 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/c909e929c006b44ef37d7f5ee1fec2df.pdf d472a2a9a31c50db6ff273387e483ab6 PDF Text Text Day 40 by windoworks It is another sunny day here in West Michigan. Yesterday Craig planted the strawberry plants that arrived by parcel post a couple of days ago. It is absolutely amazing what you can order through the mail. We now order sliced sourdough gluten free bread. You can buy it in 3 packs, 6 packs or 12 packs. It comes in 3 flavors: regular, french or rosemary and yes, you can order a mixed pack. I have no idea where it comes from in the States, but it is a very efficient company and the bread tastes really good. Two days ago I cleaned my mothers silver tea service. I am thrilled to own it and it reminds me of her whenever I look at it, but it is a chore to clean. I wonder about a silver plating service and whether that would bring back its sparkle - but that will have to wait until the isolation order is amended. And I have begun redesigning areas (in my head) some areas of the house that annoy me. I haven’t actually moved any furniture yet but that may come. Yesterday I expounded my idea for the lawn in the back garden to Craig as (lets be honest) he’ll be the one doing it. As the snow melted and the grass re-emerged, the areas where Murphy pees have become glaringly obvious. I think its time we gave up and instead sowed all those packets of wildflower seeds that we have. Craig could put a path around the area but I think a back yard that has vegetables, herbs and a meadow area would look wonderful. I am also saving up to replace the double kitchen sink with a farmhouse sink with a faucet with at least some water pressure. Our brand new faucet (we replaced the old one because it had become so blocked and only a trickle of water came out) is now mimicking the old one. Is it me? I wonder. Here are the stats for yesterday (Sunday). Michigan: cases - 31,424, deaths - 2,391. Kent County: cases 503, deaths - 25. And apparently some people are getting very lazy during the lockdown and one police chief (not in Michigan) posted “Please put pants on when checking your mailbox. You know who you are”. In other news: animals are now appearing in urban areas - because they can. There has been a marked increase in squirrel activity locally and we have seen flocks of wild turkeys in parks and between houses. Last week we saw a herd of 10 deer in the large backyard of a house and then there was that photo of a pride of lions lying sunning themselves on the asphalt highway in South Africa. In New Zealand, native eagles have been spotted in the downtown areas on the tops of high rise buildings. And in the ‘I really didn’t need to know that’ category, in New York City rats have begun eating each other as the scraps from restaurants have dried up. In London England, the pigeons have begun attacking unsuspecting people as no one is feeding them anymore. In our own animal news: Murphy has finished her giardia medication (honestly that dog will eat anything if you coat it in peanut butter) and that means that today is a bath Murphy day. I don’t know why, we’re just following the instructions that came with the tablets. Unfortunately, she is too big to fit in the �laundry tub in the basement and the local pet stores have closed their dog washing facilities, and we don’t have a bath, so it is outside in the back garden with a bucket of soapy water and the hose for rinsing off. She’ll be thrilled. And then the next thing is to trim the hair around her eyes and clip her nails. I can hardly wait. ���These photos are just meant to make you smile, because: kittens and cute children. The top photo needs no explanation but the bottom one is of Oliver finger-painting with a strawberry. And to today’s flashback. After we went through the Mount Blanc tunnel we drove to Chamonix. This is one of the oldest ski resorts in France and was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. We stayed there for 2 nights in a lovely wooden chalet style hotel, so that Craig and David could do some mountain hiking. Jack and Cynthia also went hiking in the lower hills, but Chardi and I did some washing and then went shopping in the very expensive tourist shopping area. We ate lunch at a nice little cafe but we really didn’t buy anything. ��Two photos from the downtown area. �David on the Montenvers rack railway which runs from Chamonix to the station near the Mer de Glacé glacier at an altitude of 6.2 thousand feet. ��The top photo is of the Mer de Glacé and where Craig is standing is where it used to reach up to in 1990. Bear in mind that this was 10 years ago and I can only imagine how much further the glacier has retreated since then. The bottom photo is of the famous Mer de Glacé ladders that hikers must climb down to reach the Mer de Glacé itself. I’m pretty happy that I saw this photo of the ladders after Craig and David had climbed down them. �After we left Chamonix we drove on into Switzerland and went up to the top of the Simplon Pass between Switzerland and Italy. The Stone Eagle was built during the Second World War by the Swiss Military as a reminder that in order to protect one’s freedom, you have to remain vigilant. What is intersecting about Switzerland is that they remained neutral during both world wars but when you drive through the valleys you can’t help but notice the artfully concealed airplane hangars (grassed over) and then you spot the runways beside them. And if you look carefully at the cliff walls beside the valleys you will see huge doors. I imagine thats where they keep the tanks etc. So, neutral but prepared for anything. Tomorrow we’ll look at our next stage of the journey - Milan Italy. Well thats it for today. Be careful, be sensible and be 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_2020-04-20_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-40 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 2020-04-20 Title A name given to the resource Day 40 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/41f80e9021b1accc76a6ea251d64dadf.pdf 82ae7ec7c093072495d91502318760f8 PDF Text Text Happy Birthday to … by windoworks I don’t know about you but I’m exhausted. I was washing my hands singing Happy Birthday to Me through twice but it was embarrassing. My birthday isn’t until November and it felt weird singing it to myself about 12 times a day, so now I count to 30 because that’s roughly the same as 20 seconds, right? And also, 12 times a day or more? Should I be keeping a tally? Do I have to fit a couple more hand washes in late at night if I haven’t reached my goal? What about the mailbox? The mail deliverer has to open the box to put the mail in. Should I disinfect the latch daily? Oh and what about the mail sorters? Do they wear gloves? CB came home from school yesterday and told me that his class had a long discussion of the virus. Because all professors had been told that they needed to be ready to conduct classes online should the university close, he felt he should discuss preventative measures. The ramifications slowly dawned on his students especially because while their discussion was going on, one student told him that as she was watching alerts on her phone, 4 universities closed in Ohio in the space of 45 minutes. Last night Governor Whitmer declared a State of Emergency with 2 confirmed cases in Michigan. She said our main objective is to slow the spread of the virus down. At the Grand Rapids Neighborhood Summit on Saturday I attended a breakout session on climate change and disaster readiness. I was heartened to realize that we have every emergency supply except a generator and a wind up radio. I do know that as long as the gas lines remain intact, I can cook by lighting my stove with matches. In Sydney Australia there is no toilet paper left. There’s no hand sanitizer, no sanitizing wipes and no antiseptic sprays. They’ve even begun panic buying baby wipes which is driving my daughter ZB crazy. There’s no alcohol in baby wipes so they won’t kill a virus but they will clean a baby’s bottom without hurting it. In New Zealand for the 4th consecutive day, there has been no new cases of Coronavirus – and their stockpile of emergency masks in 18 million. Their population is almost 5 million. I think they’ve got it covered, don’t you? Meanwhile in Michigan we have 300 test kits. Our population is at least 10 million. I”ll just leave that there. So its back to hand washing, coughing and sneezing into your elbow, not touching your face (good luck with that), maintaining a respectful (and safe) distance from others, elbow bumping others or waving (no handshakes or fist bumps), and staying home if you’re sick. �It’s hard to conduct life as usual under these circumstances. Many things seem up in the air. The best we can do is remain careful but cheerful. As someone once said: All things pass – both good and bad. And as my friend RA says: that is all, carry on. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Happy birthday to... Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Benjamin, Pamela 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. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-03-11 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-03-11_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-00_Prelude Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/abd80e2876a888ec1612534ed16b2241.pdf bda00b9e0b479bf1e34d89c39d343966 PDF Text Text Day 41 by windoworks Well where to start? I feel like a pack rat - all day long I tuck bits of news and information away for my blogpost the following day. Of course sometimes I finish the post and publish and then later I remember some tidbit I really wanted to include but forgot. So to today’s collection: first the stats. Michigan continues apace with 31,424 cases in total and 2,391 deaths. Kent County has a total of 559 cases and 24 deaths. I am not sure if the cases are people in hospital or people confirmed. I do know that I read of 3 critical patients here in Grand Rapids 2 days ago that they were trying plasma treatment on. Yesterday Governor Whitmer gave an announcement of where we are and she began with the news that a 5 year old girl, the daughter of 2 first responders, had died from the virus. She asked those considering protesting their lack of freedom to do as they wished, to consider whether they were that person. That person who wanted to be able to ride their jet ski even if it meant that others like that 5 year old might die because of their selfishness. She said she and her team would look at the situation in 10 days time and consider next steps, but If we wanted those next steps to be a cautious lifting of some restrictions, then Stay Home. and that’s how she said it, three times, with capital letters, looking straight into the camera. You know I have 3 friends that are making masks in the hundreds, and as soon as they are completed and put out on their front porch for collection they are whisked away - and yet when Craig and I are outside walking or at the grocery store, there don’t seem to be many people wearing them. Yesterday I read an article about how much virus floats near you when a runner or a cyclist passes you and apparently it’s negligible. So I feel much better about that and yes! Two days ago while we were walking on the Fred Meijer Trail, a cyclist passed us wearing a mask. We gave him the thumbs up. Yesterday was not my shining hour. You know the days when you wake up and think: how much longer can I stand this? I’m sure I can’t be the only one feeling like this. And then I feel guilty because I have food, shelter in a very comfortable house, plenty of clothes, a loving partner and a sweet dog. Anyhow, Craig asked me what would I like to do that would make me feel better and i said: can we go to the lake and look at the water please? Remember, I lived in Sydney, 10 minutes drive from the beach (all year round) for just under 30 years. Water in vast quantities calms me. Salt water is better but the lake, especially after strong winds, is easy to pretend that its the sea. So we drove out along Leonard which winds through farmland and we came across this: ��I’m pretty sure this is a scaled replica of Noah’s Ark. it is standing on the front lawn of a church. I’m not sure if this is a statement about the coronavirus or just a project constructed by a congregation member. And really, we haven’t had that much rain. Then on to Grand Haven and the lake which was much calmer than the last time we visited. ��Here I am, Pamela Grumpy Pants. That wind was way too fierce and cold for me to get out of the car. But we sat there and drank the coffee we had brought from home and then we drove home again. And I did feel better. My friend Merrilyn who lives in Perth Australia and is writing a Bear Hunt book for her grandchildren, sent me this gem. �This is a very patriotic bear! Also, Craig told me that there was a report of a kangaroo sighted hopping down one of the main streets of the city of Adelaide in South Australia. Thats a long way out of its natural habitat. This morning a friend who posts on FaceBook, anxiously asked what the symptoms of covid-19 were. She received many responses, some with charts of flu and coronavirus comparisons etc., but what surprised me was the 2 or 3 responses from people saying - well when I had it ....Until I read this, I had only heard of one person who had a confirmed case. I haven’t heard of anyone I know dying from it yet but I am worried that I might. �Now, today’s flashback: After leaving Chamonix we drove back down towards Milan in Italy and on the way we drove alongside Lake Maggiore. I remember there were huge houses along the lakeshore where I am sure the rich and famous live. If you look up Lake Maggiore online it has an interesting history from prehistoric times onwards, including a story about a Bugatti roadster that someone sank in the lake to avoid paying taxes on. �Milan’s duomo and town square. Milan is overrun in the summer by tourists. It is the fashion capital of Italy and perhaps the world. We stayed in a very modern hotel just off the edge of the main shopping area. This is a very interesting city with lots to see and we spent 2 nights here. We ate risotto and polenta because northern Italy is not so fond of pasta as the south. �This is the main shopping gallery. A very imposing edifice full of gorgeous but expensive boutiques and eateries. �And here we are inside. I know its a dark photo but you get the idea. �So tomorrow more Milan and then we move on to Bologna. Remember: stay home, wear your mask outside when shopping or walking and stay either a velociraptor or a regular sized refrigerator on its side apart. You choose. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-21_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-41 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 2020-04-21 Title A name given to the resource Day 41 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/fdbbf9e11be93ccfdaadb6179c4122e6.pdf fa67afda213249be7f12f2dafe06ea8d PDF Text Text Day 42 by windoworks It’s still snowing! And its freezing! Well the only good thing is that it makes social distancing a whole lot easier because no one is wandering about in the cold. And of course, the cold weather seems to really promote COVID-19. As of yesterday about 3pm, here in Kent County we had 639 cases and 25 deaths. Thats an increase of 80 cases in one day which is a bit confronting. Two days ago when we had 503 cases, Dr London, Chief Medical Officer for the Kent County Health Dept, broke that number down thus: approximately 300 recovered, 100 recovering at home and 100 in hospital. But the problem is that although doctors are mandated to notify the dept of any positive cases, they are not mandated to notify of those patients recovered. Also this morning, Craig read of three deaths in early February on the West Coast which have just been determined as COVID-19 deaths, AND none of the three people had traveled anywhere. This was before the first cluster at a nursing home in Washington State. Very interesting was the article I just read this morning asking CEOs in all types of businesses and enterprises what the future looks like after the virus subsides. The short answer is: more working remotely; a return to regular 9-5 hours with the evenings and weekends for fun and family; much closer manufacturing centers; redesigned workspaces in offices to accommodate social distancing and digitalized medical records that follow a patient for their lifetime. All those questioned saw this as a great opportunity for positive change. In one of those tidbits that I forgot yesterday: Virgin Australia airline has gone into receivership. I looked this up because its different to bankruptcy. I think someone is appointed as the receiver and they investigate ways of rescuing the company. Now if I’m wrong, thats okay but be gentle when you explain it to me. The other airline news is about Air New Zealand. The company is operating mainly as a domestic airline for the time being. And speaking of airlines, Boeing has begun manufacturing again at a couple of its West Coast factories. It’s being seen as a test case by authorities in D.C. but fewer workers turned up for their shift and those that did were apparently ‘deeply uneasy’. Why do I get the feeling this may not end well? Yesterday afternoon we drove to Millennium Park to walk. We had intended to find the other end of a trail that we like, and we did but there was absolutely nowhere to park, so we drove on to Millennium Park instead. The gates were open so we drove further in to another parking lot and set out walking. �Sometimes I wonder what I am doing and why I am doing it. If you think I look overdressed you’d be wrong. Five minutes after this photo was taken it snowed - straight into my face. It was so windy and cold that my glasses steamed up completely and the freezing cold wind blew inside my hood (and I’m wearing a wooly hat underneath the hood) and down my back. And yes, we walked all the way across that bridge in the background and a complete circle back to the car. This photo is about halfway round. I think I’m losing weight due to the daily walking - well I sincerely hope so. Last night we had two lovely online experiences. First we talked to some friends who usually go to Vinecroft on Tuesday nights for spaghetti dinners. My friend Fred set up Virtual Vinecroft on Zoom and we chatted with some Vinecroft regulars for a few minutes. And then Zoe called on FaceTime and Oliver was in a wonderful mood, right up to the moment Zoe accidentally tipped him over by pulling the play mat towards her. He did a face plant and he was shocked and outraged and screwed up his dear little face and yelled - with tears as well. So it was up to Grandad and Mimi to sing “If you’re happy and you know it” to cheer him up again. And it did. Flashback photo. Day 2 of our stay in Milan. �You have to laugh. ��As you can see this is a statue of Leonardo da Vinci. He lived in Milan for two periods,1482-1499 and 1506-1513. He lived at the Sforza Castle where he worked for Duke Ludovico il Moro. During his time in Milan he created The Last Supper. His statue is close to this building: The famous La Scala Opera House which was not open when we were there. �But Sforzesco Castle was open. It houses about 9 different collections or museums and from a castle it became a fort and changed hands many times throughout the centuries. I enjoyed Milan a great deal and would love to visit again. Tomorrow we’ll visit Bologna for our last stop before the Big History meeting. As I finish writing it is snowing a little more heavily than yesterday. Our neighbor TJ gets out in almost all weathers and sands, caulks, repairs and paints the side of his house. As the weather fluctuates, so do his clothing layers. Yesterday he looked even more wrapped up than I did. The south wall of his house is starting to look very smart. Craig’s thinking about painting some of our house - but I want the meadow started first. Stay well, stay home and keep on 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_2020-04-22_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-42 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 2020-04-22 Title A name given to the resource Day 42 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/d606f25e89bf0d74728bbd8638d46212.pdf 3a40586ed7bb966ddd3b8dff43eeceba PDF Text Text Day 43 by windoworks So much information. At the top end (and I use that term loosely) the president has continued to sideline and replace scientists, doctors and researchers who appear to disagree with him. In an astonishing about face (well not really astonishing) first he loudly encouraged governors to reopen their states and when the governor of Georgia did just that, he decried the action as too soon. I just watched Trevor Noah interview Governor Cuomo of New York State. His state has been the hardest hit and he mentioned that the previous day (the interview was sometime this week) there had been over 400 deaths which was less than the previous days. When Trevor asked what you open first, Cuomo said that hair salons, barbershops and tattoo parlors were way at the end rather than the beginning. He said he would be interested to see the haircut after it was done following 6 foot isolating guidelines. But the most interesting thing he said was that the virus will always be with us so we have to wait until the infection rate is so low it is manageable. Cuomo also said if you go out tomorrow and shake hands with 3 people and you are asymptomatic , those 3 people will turn up sick 3 days later. Apparently its that quick. In Michigan we had a total of 33,966 cases yesterday and 2,813 deaths. In Kent County yesterday there were 757 confirmed cases and no new deaths over 25. It’s hard to know if the new cases are due to increased testing or just an increased spread. Thats well over 100 new cases in one day. Yesterday we were FaceTiming Zoe and Oliver (he’s still crawling as fast as he can after the cat - but the cat’s quicker) and Zoe is thinking of returning home in the next week or so. Oliver’s daycare is still in operation and they are keen to have him back. Zoe will probably continue to work from home for some time. In Sydney they are considering reopening the beaches but only for swimming and surfing. Sunbathing and sitting are prohibited and beaches will be policed and closed if people do not obey these rules. Australia has done some of the best contact tracing in the world and have flattened the curve fairly well. We then had a long conversation with Asher in Melbourne and he told us that his fashion company conglomerate, through their warehouse and individual “dark” stores (small staff, no customers in store) doing online shopping only, have reached at least half their normal revenue. Consequently he will be returning to work next week, still from home and 3 days a week to begin with - but a really positive step. He belongs to a rowing club and has spent the last week or so working on how they can safely resume training. Will it all be single sculls or eights with only 3 or 4 rowers? Difficult decisions. Here in Michigan Governor Whitmer hinted that she will extend the Stay Home order for a little longer. She told us that the Detroit hospitals are not as completely overwhelmed as they were and we have �enough PPEs for 2 weeks or more, compared to enough for a single day as was the case a couple of weeks ago. My guess is the order might be extended to May 15. I continue to receive postcards (remember them?) from some very kind Women’s City Club members, and they do cheer me up. And while I think of it I want to mention our family book club. If you belong to a book club (and I now belong to two) you’ll know the tension involved when the months book is your choice. You choose a book and then the rest of your club then reads it. And then you have the meeting (online at this time) in which you discuss the book and whether or not you enjoyed reading it. To my family book club members I want to say: if the book was challenging or hard to understand or raised many questions - thats a great book club choice. Some of the best discussions with my other book club have been about a book that I either didn’t understand or labored to read. Yesterday Craig and Murphy walked past our local synagogue where this was happening Not entirely sure what the line of cars was for. And then he saw this: �And lastly, Craig has begun trimming Murphys hair. He started around her eyes (she kept bumping into things), then around her jowls, then her ears and then the top of her head. Then yesterday afternoon he tried to trim her nails with a proper dog nail clipper. He got one front paw done and then 2 nails on the other front paw and then she ran away to the back of the garden and sat with her back to him. So he gave up. Zoe suggested wrapping his head in cling wrap and smearing peanut butter on his forehead to distract her while he trims the rest. I promise I’ll take a photo if he does it. Anyway here she is looking a little tidier and you can see her eyes. ��And today’s flashback. This is a photo of the University of Bologna. It was founded in 1088 by an organized group of students and it is the oldest university in the world. Today it is one of the most prestigious universities in Italy. It is historically notable for teaching canon and civil law. Over the centuries many famous people attended this university including a number of those who would go on to be Pope. �The center of the old city is famous for its colonnades. �We asked the man behind the desk in our hotel where he would take his family for dinner. He recommended a restaurant in the old part of the city, easily walkable from the hotel. When we entered the restaurant, the owner/chef asked us if he should feed us. We were surprised but we said yes. What a meal it was. I lost count of the courses, all with his choice of wine. Then at the end he gave us his house made limoncello, icy cold from the fridge, tart and deadly. I almost crawled back to the hotel on my hands and knees and I might have had a teensy headache the next morning. And yes. Spaghetti Bolognese did originate in Bologna but with tagliatelle noodles. Another cold windy day here. Stay safe, stay home, stay well. 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_2020-04-23_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-43 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 2020-04-23 Title A name given to the resource Day 43 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/a344125f83c08d9eac33fa9428a911b1.pdf 092d7b609ff4fc2f5ad48903e6c0845e PDF Text Text Day 44000. No, just day 44. by windoworks My oh my, where does the time go? On this 44th day, I realize that routine has become everything. There is comfort in knowing what you will be doing at a certain time each day. It makes things feel, dare I say it, normal. And perhaps some form of this daily routine and an accompanying degree of restrictions will persist for the next 18 months to 2 years. Surprisingly i feel okay about that now. I think we are all experiencing the 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I might have missed bargaining and I feel as though I am just emerging from depression into acceptance. How about you? I am “seeing” my counselor on FaceTime once a week and I am grateful for her continued support. Speaking about our feelings in this time is enormously important. Otherwise, as my friend says, its way too easy to fall right down the rabbit hole. So make sure you look after your mental health as well as your physical health. By all accounts, Grand Rapids and Kent County is showing up on graphs as a possible next hotspot. I am confident that the city government and Kent County are doing their best to keep us all safe, in spite of the crazies out there. I can’t even talk about Georgia where they’re opening up all kinds of breeding grounds for the virus and causing unprecedented amounts of racial vitriol to be aired. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live in a state where the governor doesn’t have your back or best interests at heart. The Lieutenant-Governor of Texas continues to expound the ‘acceptable losses’ theory and as I seem to be included in the right age group for that, I’ll not be visiting Texas any time soon. Well, I won’t be visiting anywhere any time soon. Yesterday, on their morning walk, Craig and Murphy saw this: �In winter these stone lions wear red woolen scarves but their coronavirus masks are very cute. Then, when we drove to Trader Joe’s (first time in over 43 days) we saw this: �Well he’s free to recall Whitler whoever he is. Trader Joe’s was an eye opening experience and by far, the best run coronavirus adjusted grocery store we’ve been to. First this; ��Then we lined up, standing carefully on the designated mark. ��After about 20 minutes lining up in the frigidly cold wind, it was our turn at the head of the queue. The staffer at the door waited until a second shopper came out before letting us both inside. The doors were locked and you had to be let in and let out. They are working on the one out, one in, schedule. Almost everyone lining up had masks on and no one was popping in for a few items - everyone bought a lot of groceries. There is a limit of 25 customers in the store at once. The staffer at the door constantly disinfected the grocery carts and pointed to the one you could take. The checkout was very strictly regimented. They take your cart, run the groceries through, pack them in paper bags all while you wait 6 feet away behind a blue tape line on the floor. Then when you move forward to pay, the checker and the packer move right back away from the register. And then another staffer unlocked the door to let us out. I don’t know when I will ever feel comfortable shopping anywhere again, but Trader Joe’s made me feel safer and much more comfortable than other stores. We’ll shop there again. �We continue to shop online for a lot of items - clothes, shoes, toiletries, gluten free cookies, gluten free bread, seeds, seedlings, makeup etc. Some other items we order and pay for online and then do a curbside pickup. What a new life we’re living! I wanted to add this story: in Pennsylvania at a factory, 43 workers worked and stayed in the factory for 28 days to stay healthy while manufacturing millions of pounds of the raw materials that will end up in face masks and surgical gowns. They did 12 hours on, 12 hours off, sleeping and eating at the factory. Now thats an amazing team spirit, dedication and patriotism. On his late afternoon walk, Craig photographed these signs: ���And finally this one which really says it all: �And at last! Today’s flashback: After Bologna we drove into San Marino. This is a mountainous micro state inside north-central Italy that was founded in 301 AC. �It covers 23,63 square miles. This is the view from one of the 3 towers. It is a Republic and it is jointly ruled by 2 Captains Regent. �This is the view of the surrounding Italian countryside from the top of the tower. All I remember was how steep it was to walk up to the top and into the castle. I didn’t climb up any towers. �And lastly, here is the sign we found but which didn’t help us find the actual driveway in to Coldigioco. It was late in the afternoon and we went up and down the same stretch of road 3 times until David and Craig asked some workers in a walled graveyard. Of course they only spoke Italian and so after much gesticulating and miming we figured out where we were going wrong and we drove into the top of the hamlet, tired, hot and crabby and were greeted kindly by friends and colleagues and given very big glasses of wine with snacks to calm us down. It worked. And so began an extraordinary week, but more of that tomorrow. Graduate to acceptance, stay calm, stay safe and maintain a velociraptor distance from others when outside (wearing your mask). � 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_2020-04-24_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-44 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 2020-04-24 Title A name given to the resource Day 44000. No, just day 44. 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/f0786ed1f377ab56cfd0c56c8df409ed.pdf ac96f835d616fa8f9a4c96836daee316 PDF Text Text Day 45 by windoworks I’m going to start off with the stats today. On Monday April 20 Kent County had recorded 550 positive cases and 24 deaths. Friday April 24 Kent County recorded 906 cases and 29 deaths - 4 days later. In the US as of yesterday we have 927K confirmed cases and 52,400 deaths. The US tops the world list. At the very bottom of the world list is Yemen with 1 case and 1 recovered. In Michigan, the south east side,( Detroit and surrounding counties) which has been the hardest hit, is slowly beginning to plateau. But here is Kent County, Dr London from the Kent County Health Dept thinks we are up to a month from peaking. Yesterday Governor Whitmer extended the Stay Home order to May 15 but at the same time she eased restrictions on landscaping companies, nurseries, golf courses (no golf cart use though) and gardening/lawn mowing companies. She did allow motor boating and opening up your cottage for the summer. But she also added the compulsory wearing of cloth masks inside any store and she emphasized strictly adhering to the 6 foot apart rule and continuing to wash your hands. Lastly she said we must be ready to be nimble and I think that meant if there is a new increase in positive cases - those lessened restrictions will be taken away. I don’t know about you but in some ways I’m happy to be safe at home. We had a Zoom meeting of the Enrichment Committee for the Women’s City Club yesterday. We are the committee that organizes all events and programs for the members. In life before the coronavirus (LBC) we had a weekly Thursday program and lunch at a nearby golf club. That’s practically every Thursday of the year which is a big job. Recently our board director of communications and our board president have been organizing a fun online activity every Wednesday and a virtual offering every Thursday. This week we watched the Boutique Emmanuel owner present an online fashion show, just for fun. At our meeting we discussed possible opportunities to physically get together again. We would really like to do this but the burning question is when? And thats the hardest thing about this virus. Nobody can say when a semblance of normal life will resume. That’s another disturbing thought - what will life look like in one or two years time? Because nobody in our lifetime has ever experienced a global pandemic, we just don’t know what will happen. I think this is the hardest thing for all of us to bear - the ongoing uncertainty. Added to this is the worrying realization that as fast as doctors and scientists think they have a handle on the virus, some new and disturbing element pops up. Even more disturbing is the experts saying: well at least we’ll be more prepared for the next pandemic. Thats similar to the captain of one of our cruise ships telling us visitors to the bridge that the Titanic sinking allowed the passenger shipping industry to be ready for the next maritime disaster. �Yesterday we found another section of our favorite trail. We only saw 4 other couples and three of them were wearing masks and carefully distancing. This part of the trail is wide and although its still within a residential area, the houses were far away. The amount of wildlife appearing everywhere in Grand Rapids and surrounds is just amazing. And yes, it was still fairly cold and I finally worked out that if I tucked the top of my mask under the bottom edge of my glasses, my glasses didn’t steam up. We also saw a plane fly overhead - a most unusual occurrence. Also, if you are wondering, Murphy has recovered from giardia but she doesn’t come on the daily walk with Craig and I. She gets plenty of other fast walks each day with Craig. Coldigioco flashback What an amazing week that was. It was important too as we formed the International Big History Association. �Here we all are at the first meeting to discuss Big History. Every day Sandro, the Director of the Geological Observatory based in Coldigioco, would drive to the local bakery and bring back breakfast. Some days we had meetings and other days we went on excursions to important geological sites. In either case, every day except one we went to a restaurant for lunch. That was when I discovered lunch was a very serious affair in rural Italy. It lasts 2 hours or more because all stores close from 12 to either 3 or 4pm. So actually there’s time for lunch and a nap. One lunch that stands out clearly in my memory was at a restaurant about 40 minutes drive away that specialized in truffles. Amazing. Then every night we drove somewhere about 8pmish to a different restaurant for dinner. On our last night we drove to a pizzeria quite close to our hamlet and had a large number of pizzas, each with one simple topping. Delicious! And then everyone got Tiramisu and it was to die for! I will never eat a Tiramisu like that again. One day we visited this �This is a charcoal burners stack. This is an ancient art. The wood is ignited and burns very slowly with low oxygen and what is left is, I think, lump charcoal. I can’t remember all the details and it is very hard to find a comprehensive description online. Once lit, it has to be constantly watched in case it burns out prematurely or burns too hot. �Our hamlet was in the middle of farmers fields and this was similar to the view out of our bottom floor window each morning. �There was a dam close by with a beach and it was hot enough to swim. �The last day just before we climbed into our cars and drove to Rome. More on that tomorrow. So, put on your mask when you leave the house. Wash your hands and stay safe. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-25_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-45 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 2020-04-25 Title A name given to the resource Day 45 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/ed45026bf1d50b2cb9f324518f413f01.pdf e8ec2f26be8fa1f0d9f2f78dd14f9c5f PDF Text Text Day 46 by windoworks Another morning where I’ve started this post 3 times. Thinking.....oh yes. Apparently the Republican State Senate majority have decided that a Recall Whitmer would be the perfect thing to do at this moment. Never mind that she won the vote by 53.3% and she’s doing an awesome job and meeting each new problem head on. But these signs are starting to pop up and I’m trying to think if I have stuff to make one myself. Yesterday was a busy day. Craig cleaned the front porch and then brought out all the porch furniture. In the back yard he put out the grill and the chairs at the table on the back deck. I had read reports that meat processing plants are being closed down due to covid-19 infections. Disturbingly some workers were being forced to come to work even when ill. This may lead to some shortages so I thought perhaps we should buy a little more meat to freeze. Theoretically I would like to be a vegetarian and I quite like an occasional meat free meal, but truthfully I am a carnivore - and I really do believe bacon makes everything better (I can’t believe I said that out loud). �So we went to Fresh Thyme. And I know, I know, I said Craig would be the designated shopper after a previous shopping experience but after our foray to Trader Joe’s where I felt so much safer and less anxious, I thought we could try Fresh Thyme. I had forgotten that Meijer owns Fresh Thyme through a subsidiary, and I swore I would never set foot in a Meijer store until this was well and truly over (or contained or vaccinated or whatever). Well we got everything on the list and I got to have an almost meltdown in the store at the sheer numbers of people and people without masks and the poor social distancing, and so this time, I am going to resist actual shopping in stores and send Craig with a list instead. Craig is beginning work on several projects around the house and he had ordered online from Home Depot. He also visited Rileys Ace Hardware. In both stores you lined up outside (hopefully wearing a mask) and waited to be let into the store. At both stores the line was long and the wait also long, but no one complained and the overall feeling was confidence in the company’s ability to follow the rules and do their best to keep people safe. Yesterday morning Craig and Murphy saw these signs outside Blodgett Hospital in East Grand Rapids (Blodgett is our local hospital). �We are so grateful for our medical workers as well as everyone else working at a job that keeps us safely in our homes. And just to make you laugh, here is our grandson Oliver, practicing social distancing. ��From my friend Merrilyn in Perth Australia, here is the view from her garden, looking into a regional park behind them. Those amazing looking grass trees are called Zanthorrea - just in case you wondered. And here is a photo taken a 30 second walk from their driveway - and yes that is a kookaburra sitting on the sign, �And this last photo from Merrilyn. Saturday was ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand. The initials stand for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps and this day commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. It also commemorates the first landing of the Anzacs at Gallipoli. It begins with a dawn service at 6am and then a march midday and remembrance services. This year there were no dawn services, no marches, no remembrances and no ending the day at the pub with comrades. It is a huge event annually in both countries and it was extremely hard for old soldiers to have to miss. Many of them must be wondering if they’ll still be here to celebrate next year. Anyway, this is an old Digger bear (private soldier), exhausted by the day’s revelries. �One more photo just to cheer us all up. This is Oliver’s Dad, Christian and his 2 dogs visiting with Oliver. I love the way the dogs and Oliver are ignoring each other. �So to Rome and the day’s flashback. We had been in Italy for over 2 weeks. We were all tired, a little sunburned and sort of ready to go home, but we still had enough energy to visit some famous Roman landmarks. �This is the Colosseum where the Games took place. Thats the floor of the Colosseum in the foreground. The floor is actually gone and what you can see are the tunnels and room underneath where the felons, gladiators and wild animals were kept. The floor was able to be flooded with water so they could stage water battles - I have no idea how they did that. What really amazes me is that after the Roman Empire crumbled away, most of their amazing and almost modern technology was lost and a large part of buildings such as these were vandalized by locals for building materials. �Here are some of us in the Forum. This was a rectangular plaza surrounded by several important government buildings, which were at the center of Ancient Rome. This was where all the good stuff happened: speeches, trials, marches - in other words, the center of day- to-day life. I remember it was hot, there were lots of steps and you had to watch where you were walking as there were bits of stone poking up unexpectedly. �This frieze appealed to me. Gladiators? �Guess where we are and what we are doing. Yes! You’re right. We are throwing a coin over our left shoulders into the Trevi Fountain so that we will return to Rome. It was so crowded that we had to wait our turn to sit on the fountains edge. If you look at photos of Rome now, there is barely a soul abroad and the Trevi Fountain is turned off. �Flying home we passed over Mt Blanc. Chamonix would be about where the pointy end of the engine is. As ever, stay safe, well and at home. Wear your mask outside and be mindful of the distance between yourself and others. It’s not over yet, sadly. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-26_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-46 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 2020-04-26 Title A name given to the resource Day 46 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/13938f5eb8578425b5dc072f85a0f43e.pdf 92b743fd7e508c5c01b14aaf84296941 PDF Text Text Day 47 by windoworks Here are some interesting stats for today in Kent County: Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young gave an update on the Sheriff's Department last Wednesday • Overtime hours are less than usual except in the Emergency Management department. • They are getting around 43 calls a day, mostly regarding violations of Executive Orders. Their policy is "educate and warn", rather than arrest. No citations have been issued so far. • Domestic abuse calls are up 35%. • Due to collaborative efforts with the courts to release vulnerable populations that present a low public safety risk, the jail is at less than 50% capacity. This provides needed space for physical separation and potential quarantining. And here in Kent County, as of yesterday (and the stats are not collated during the weekends) we have 1,031 cases and 32 deaths. In Southern California people flocked to the beaches, while in Georgia and some other states, dine in restaurants can open again, along with nail salons, hairdressers, tattoo parlors and bowling alleys. The problem is, once your governor opens up the state like this, if you’ve applied for unemployment benefits, you will no longer receive it. So you have no choice but to open up your business. I guess we’re all waiting to see what the consequences will be. Does this remind anyone of Russian Roulette? Hhere is something spotted by Craig when walking Murphy. ��Over the weekend trump said at a press conference (which pop up on my news feed but I cannot bring myself to watch them) that you could use UV light internally to combat the virus or even ingest or inject disinfectant to clear the virus up quickly. Now I know, and you know, that every bottle of disinfectant or cleaner comes with visible warnings plastered all over it, and the CDC and companies such as Lysol and Dettol immediately put out statements basically saying DON’T DO IT! But even then, state governments and city managements have received many calls asking if it works and should they do it. What appals me is that not only did no one present at the press conference say NOOOOO! But an aid said (just out of earshot but Anderson Cooper increased the sound and then wrote it on the screen and I’ve forgotten the exact words) We’ll get someone on that right away. Wait! What? Get someone to inject a COVID-19 sufferer with bleach to see if that clears their lungs up?? What alternative universe am I living in and could I please go home now? So after that I need some light relief and probably you do too. Here’s my adorable grandson Oliver to offer that. �Wearing his big boy jeans. �And making himself stand up to try and reach Archie the cat. �Yesterday Craig spent most of the day outside in our garden because it was a gorgeous warm day and he completed the second raised vegetable bed and planted some (hopefully) hardy seeds. We’re aiming for self sufficiency here. Now, perhaps some chickens? Murphy spent all afternoon outside with him and slept like a log last night due to all the fresh air. As of this morning, there are 18 more days until Governor Whitmer either eases the restrictions a little more or takes us back to stricker ones depending on the continued increase of the virus spread. I can’t believe we’ve been doing this for 48 days (my first Pandemic Diary didn’t have a day number). I suppose you get used to anything in the long run. Flashback. In 2011 we went to China for a World History Conference in Beijing. We got there 3 days before the conference began and we had the added bonus of our daughter Zoe joining us. On the first day after we arrived and before Zoe flew in, Craig and I visited the Beijing Zoo. It was an odd experience partly because having blonde hair, all the Chinese tourists wanted their photo taken with me. I guess when they went home they could proudly show the photo of themselves with the foreigner with the blonde hair. �This was the sign at the entrance to the zoo. My favorite item was: no trumpet playing. �China used pandas as diplomatic gifts for many centuries, but now China has panda loans around the world. The zoos can have the pandas for an agreed period of time (and I think they pay China for the privilege). They are allowed to breed them, but all pandas must return to China after several years, even the ones bred at each zoo. During the coronavirus lockdown 2 pandas in Ocean Park Zoo in Hong Kong finally mated after 10 years. Perhaps they just needed privacy. The panda exhibit at the Beijing Zoo was the focal point of the zoo. �This was a giant stone cat in the middle of the zoo. We were the only Westerners in the zoo that day and everyone pointed and giggled behind their hands at us. It was a little disconcerting! More Beijing tomorrow. Wear your mask, wash your hands and 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_2020-04-27_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-47 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 2020-04-27 Title A name given to the resource Day 47 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/4b4eb412f62310f8eecdb1f3ca804f5d.pdf 1cfa2b04ed0af736a29e8d114f590b8d PDF Text Text Day 48 by windoworks In the stats today Kent County has 1,100 confirmed cases and 34 deaths. I’ve been asked for some other statistics for Kent County for comparison, so here goes: in Google Maps you can see that Kent County is a upright rectangle and covers 872 square miles. I tried to find the length and width of the rectangle but that proved too difficult, but if you’re interested, look up a map. The population of Grand Rapids, the second largest city in Michigan, is 200,217 (2018). By far the largest number of confirmed cases are in the city itself and until this week it was virtually impossible to be tested unless the CDC considered you a person at risk. So at a rough guesstimate the true number of positive cases in any degree of illness is probably 10 times that number. In the US the cases have topped 1.01 million and the deaths stand at 56,634 but they are beginning to realize that there was about 15,000 more deaths than usual in March that weren’t counted as COVID-19, but they were unexplained and the number was way above normal for the month. The earliest death here has been adjusted back to early February. Also this week the CDC has put out a note of 6 new symptoms , and doctors in the ER and ICU are noticing a new problem: the virus is crossing the blood/brain barrier. This has huge implications and although I read the articles and understood them (thank you to all my professors in Psychology) I am not going to discuss it here. It is very easy to look up online if you’re interested. In this blogpost, I try to tell you all the things that I’m reading and processing and some of how I feel. I wonder what I will think in years to come when I reread these posts. On that note: I was invited to submit my Pandemic Diary blogposts to the Grand Valley State University Archives where they will reside in a special Pandemic Section and be available to any researchers in the future. What will those researchers conclude about the Pandemic in general? History will not be kind to those at the very top, especially at the Federal level in the US. I have decided to follow a post of FaceBook: I’m not coming out of the house until the hospitals allow visitors. Right? Think about that. I see this morning that JetBlue is going to insist that all passengers wear face masks. I would like to see airlines reconfigure their airplanes to allow wider seats. When I was much younger, flying (and especially internationally) always seemed like such an exciting treat. Now it has become an endurance test unless you have the funds to travel business class. It always amazes me that I am paying a lot of money to be jammed into a seat for up to 17 hours at a time (to New Zealand) with no way to sleep comfortably unless medically induced and no way to stop the person in front of you reclining their seat - or the child behind you kicking the back of your seat. I don’t believe any airline upper management people have ever traveled economy class on a long haul and I absolutely think they should regularly and incognito. And thats not even mentioning that I am an anxious flyer. �Here’s a photo to cheer you all up: This is in Boston in the Public Gardens near the corner of Beacon Street and Charles Street. This is based on a children’s book called: Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. It’s about a mother duck and her 8 ducklings who make their home in Boston’s Public Gardens. At one point in the story, a policeman stops the traffic so the mother and her babies can safely cross the road. It was such a popular book that an artist called Nancy Schon created these famous bronze ducks and it is a great tourist attraction. I visited them some years ago and as a teacher of small children, I loved reading the book to my class. There is even an annual Duckling Day Parade in Boston in May - although not this year I am sure. How appropriate that they have masks on! �Today’s flashback: more of Beijing. Craig and I in a rickshaw off to visit the Old Beijing Hutong District. �And look, Zoe is here, sharing a rickshaw with our dear friend Cynthia. There was a long line of rickshaws. We did visit some traditional houses dating from the Yuan Dynasty in the 14th and 15th centuries (it is so handy to be married to an Ancient Historian with a speciality in Eastern Central Asia history!), but I can’t find any photos. The house we visited was an artists home and he taught us some basic calligraphy. I think I just watched some others trying it out. �After this we went out in a boat on an artificial lake in the same district. The lake dated from the Ming Dynasty, which followed the Yuan Dynasty. Not your usual lake boat! �This is 2 young women praying at a Buddhist temple at a one of the oldest Buddhist Temples in Beijing. ��In Tiananmen Square we were overrun by enthusiastic Chinese high school students on an excursion. Tiananmen Square is enormous (109 acres) and there is absolutely no shelter and it was swelteringly hot. But once again, I’m glad I saw it. As ever - stay safe, wash your hands, wear your mask and draw yourself up to your full height and carry on. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-28_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-48 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 2020-04-28 Title A name given to the resource Day 48 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/de090319ab84f0861f30d0626462ceb3.pdf c7136f017c06455797a3838906827db4 PDF Text Text Day 49 by windoworks It is 8am on a wet Wednesday morning and the rain is predicted to last all day with the chance of thunderstorms. Yesterday was warm and sunny and we actually sat on the front porch for a while in the fresh air. So today’s roundup: Kent County’s case total rose to 1,317 yesterday. Thats a 24 hour jump of 200+ new cases. I have a correction to the death total, its 33 not 34. It’s confusing because it depends on the time of day that you look up the stats. Michigan state posts mid afternoon but Kent County is late afternoon or early evening. This morning Craig was reading parts of a Science Report aloud to me. The scientists have found that the virus can attack every part of the human body. There is such a lot of talk that its only the 65 and older population who are at risk or the younger group that suffer from a precondition such as diabetes, hypertension, heart problems etc. They are now discovering that this is not so. The virus is able to get into the heart tissue of young, fit, healthy people and cause huge problems. And 30-40 year olds are having strokes because its attacking the lining of the veins and arteries and it is the cells in the lining of these veins and arteries that prevent clotting. I have heard this likened to wack-a-mole - as soon as you hit one mole, another pops up. On Monday Dr London said many people have been asking him when will my life be normal again? His answer: we just don’t know. The last 2 days were dreadful for me (and probably Craig, although he is more pragmatic). On Monday morning he came back from walking Murphy and said: I don’t feel very well. Upon questioning he said he felt dizzy, hot, tired with a little cough. He climbed back into bed (which is really unlike Craig), took his temperature which was a little raised, and we discussed next steps. This involved calling our doctor and the nurse organized a televisit (which is the new big thing which keeps everyone safe). Jamie our Nurse Practitioner, said she thought we both should be tested as he met some of the symptom criteria. At 1:15pm after a struggle to eat lunch, we drove to our surgery where the nurse handed Craig the forms out the back door. Our doctor had gotten test permission from the Kent County Health Dept and and then the practice had faxed the forms to Mercy Health, but they though we should take a hard copy just in case. So then we drove to the back of St Marys Hospital and then lined up beside the parking ramp. ��Each carload had to wait for the previous car to exit the building. At this point I was very scared. So the car in front of us entered the ramp and drove to the testing tent. ��You can see that there was a nurse or doctor in the blue scrubs and gown walking next to the car. This car had a mother driving and a child in a car seat in the back. They were both tested. Then the car drove around and out and it was our turn. I did not take any photos so you’ll have to imagine it for yourself. There were 2 nurses/doctors and the man tested Craig and the woman tested me. You roll down your window , turn off the engine, pull down your mask and tilt your head back against the seat headrest. They hand you tissues and say: this will make your eyes water. Then they open a packet and take out a Q-tip 3 times longer than any Q-tip I’ve ever seen. Telling you to breathe through your nose they insert the Q-tip up the first nostril, right up into your sinuses and turn it around to a count of 4. Then they take it out and repeat it in the other nostril. I can’t tell you how much that hurt. I cried all the way home. They had said we would hear the results in 24-48 hours. So we spent the rest of the day and the next morning distancing from each other. I had texted the children when we got home and they were worried but feeling helpless as they are locked down and so far away. We made contingency plans for one of us being positive or both of us being positive. It was a long 24 hours+. Then yesterday afternoon Craig called our doctors office and our nurse had just received the results. She opened them while he was on the phone and luckily, fortuitously, bloody marvelously, we are both negative. She did add “so far”, but with even more careful isolating, we hope to stay negative. I can’t tell you how graphically and sharply this brought the whole virus and self isolation thing into focus. I do not understand people who do not see the seriousness of this. But when you talk to your son who has stayed up till 11:15pm to talk to you both and he says that you realize that if one of you goes to hospital for treatment , there is no way the other can be there and if the worst happens you might never see each other again. Now you may scoff and say wasn’t he being overly dramatic? But think about a family member not knowing the test results and being very worried that the worst might happen and they could do nothing to help. I may stay inside my house for the rest of my life. People seem to think this will just vanish suddenly overnight. And if that happens, no one will be more thrilled and relieved than me, but honestly I don’t believe in fairies or Santa Claus either. The family has been writing emails on a thread and yesterday my nephews significant other chimed in. She is attending university online. I think she’s studying to be a school teacher and for some reason a new group project was to act out the life cycle of a frog. She is playing the role of a grandmother frog who is reflecting on her life through photos. Here is her photo. ��I’m really impressed. I hope her group gets good marks. Before I begin todays Beijing flashback, Craig remembered we bought a ink drawing at the calligraphers house. This is it. It’s been up in our upstairs hallway. I see it every day but I had forgotten where it came from. ��And my friend Merrilyn wrote and said that she and Keith might have visited the same calligrapher on their trip. One of the photos she sent me was of a house in the Hutong area. You can see how old the area is. One of our next excursions was to the Great Wall. It has a total length of 13,170.70 miles which is half the length of the equator. The average height of the wall is 20-30 feet and its highest point is 46 feet. It is about 2,700 years old. It was built as a fortification system across the then northern borders of China to protect the chinese states and empires against the nomadic groups of the steppe. I believe it is visible from space. �We drove out of Beijing in a comfortable coach. In those days I had blonde hair as my then hairdresser kept trying to turn me into a little Dutch woman. �It’s a steep climb from the parking lot, past lots of vendors selling fans, clothing etc. , and then you get into a gondola to reach the wall itself. �Parts of the wall are unbelievably steep. Zoe said at one point she crawled up on her hands and knees. �Here they are about to climb further. I stayed behind and sat on the stairs in a shaded spot, contemplating life. �You can see the series of gatehouses stretching off into the distance. Of course the Great Wall is closed to visitors now and who knows how many people will visit China in the near future. Again, I am truly glad I saw it and stood on it. Next Beijing tour day tomorrow. ��The continuing saga of Oliver trying to win Archie the cat over. Good luck! So take this virus seriously. That’s all. � 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_2020-04-29_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-49 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 2020-04-29 Title A name given to the resource Day 49 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/2a06e61d54585b66c3173f61e5499d09.pdf 5550dc1f8b67d1cdb4ba41f1ea96c9a4 PDF Text Text Day 50 (good grief) by windoworks This morning on FaceBook a friend asked if it was Wednesday yesterday. I only know how long we’ve been at home by the numbered days of this post. Then I looked at my calendar - 7 weeks! And today we enter our 8th week at home. It is odd how every day becomes just like the day before and just the same as the following day. Outside spring has returned which is comforting to know that the seasons are not affected by any pandemic. We can buy seedlings from our local nursery. Given our newly defined negative status we won’t be wandering around inside the greenhouses but ordering curbside pickup. And just to backtrack for a moment. I was overwhelmed by the care and loving responses that yesterday’s post received. Firstly because you’re reading my blog!Secondly, because so many of you let me know how relieved you were that we were well and that we survived the test. I thought about that post for a while before I wrote that section. As the weeks roll by there is a tendency to relax the rules a a little and think: well I wasn’t sick yesterday so I won’t be sick today. That comfort was stripped away from Craig and I in our 7th week of isolation and I wanted to share that warning with you. One of the responses I received was from my dear friend Merrilyn in Perth Australia. �This is a Bear Hug from Merrilyn to Craig and I. I cannot tell you how touched I am by this. What an unexpected silver lining to this dreadful situation. To realize just how very important family and friends are, and to have the unlimited time to reconnect and deepen those relationships further. Yesterday my 87 year old mother-in-law (soon to be 88) sent me a video clip of a British comedy show to cheer me up. I am so impressed. Ten years ago or so when my father-in-law died, she said: I just need to know how to turn on the computer so I can play card games. Now we can FaceTime her and she always joins into the family email threads with funny, on point responses. I am so grateful for the technology that allows us all to keep in close contact. �Also yesterday, my very dear friend Wendy came to my neighbors house to pick up some masks for herself and her husband. She had called me to let me know she was on the way. So, in my jammies and a cardigan hastily pulled on, I waited patiently in the window of the tv room. And there she was, raincoat hood over her head, mask obscuring her face and she stood near my window, in the rain and blew me a kiss. I get teary thinking about it. In the I Have To Share This category; my neighbor has been making masks. In the beginning they were a uniform cream color and just one layer. Now his masks are multicolored, 2 layers and with a pocket for a filter. Two days ago he posted a selection on FaceBook with the heading New Spring Shades. The masks were soft pinks and blues. But what really made me laugh was this: stay tuned for evening wear masks for that glam event! Oh I want one of those! I believe he has made hundreds and he has shipped them to various places in the States. And every day his porch swing is full of masks in paper bags with names attached and there is a line of people walking or driving up to collect their masks. Outside the tv window is the double bird feeder. We have seen cardinals, purple finches, sparrows (of course), nuthatches and these two yesterday. I apologize for the quality of the photo, I was trying to capture them before they flew away. ��I think this is a pair of woodpeckers because only one had the red patch. Let me know if its not. Today’s Oliver photo. His great uncle Drew took him to the front entrance to help clean out the shed next to the carport. I can’t say he’s helping much. ��For those who follow the stats: Kent County: 1,402 cases, almost 100 more since yesterday but no more deaths. If you look at the daily graph for Kent County it just continues to rise steadily. Michigan - 40,399 cases, 3,670 deaths. That’s 1.137 new cases and 103 deaths since yesterday. In the US we had 1.06 million cases and 61, 504 deaths in total. They are telling us that the number of deaths is greater than all the American lives lost in the Vietnam War. That’s confronting. I could tell you many other things happening at a national governmental level as each day brings a new, mostly depressing, inept or malicious development, but its my choice to read them and you can look them up for yourself. So back to much happier times! Before visiting the Great Wall, we had visited the Forbidden City. This is a palace complex in the middle of Beijing and it was the former Chinese imperial palace and state residence of the Emperor of China from the Ming Dynasty (1420) to the end of the Qing Dynasty (1924). The Ming drove the Mongols out of China and built the Forbidden City on the top of the destroyed Mongol Palace. There’s 980 buildings and it covers over 180 acres. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987. It is enormous and while I don’t think we covered the 180 acres, we certainly walked for a very long time in the heat around various parts of it. Part of the reason for it being so big was ceremonial. My resident Historical Advisor (HA) tells me that the emperors (all 24 of them) lived in virtual seclusion, shut away from the real world and surrounded by eunuchs who became the principal advisors to each emperor. They were so isolated that the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty didn’t realize that revolt had broken out all over China until he looked out his window and saw rebels climbing over the palace walls. �This is one of the first main entry courtyards - and there are more and more courtyards ahead until you reach the heart of the city where the emperor lived. ��From one building through another courtyard to the next, and so on. �Again, I’m glad I saw it and if I visited again, I’d rather it was a cooler day and I’d bring a folding stool with me - there was absolutely nowhere to sit! Put on a happy face. See you back here 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_2020-04-30_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-50 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 2020-04-30 Title A name given to the resource Day 50 (good grief) 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/6fa4680ef5b20a7824271a6dc316cb42.pdf 8f8cae8d6f00358bdc8de8947e812142 PDF Text Text Day 51 by windoworks Well its a big day today. Yes, this is the day that the last vestige of my preCOVID-19 life disappears. I’m going to have to cut my own toenails and take the nail polish off. I can’t delay it any longer. Then I’ll be the complete COVID-19 me: long, shaggy hair with slowly increasing grey (hopefully silver) roots, extraordinarily short fingernails, days when I can’t be bothered to put on any makeup - although I have managed to shower and dress in street clothes every day for 52 days. Staying in bed writing my blogpost until oh, somewhere around 10:30ish. Walking somewhere that lets me be far away from most people with my mask ALWAYS on. And spending a part of each day planning comforting and delicious meals because there’s got to be something nice to think about each day. So how’s it going for you? The sleeping part’s not so good for me. I dreamt all night about people catching me by the arm or coming into the house! It’s funny what turns into a nightmare now. To other news. Governor Whitmer has extended the Stay Home, Stay Safe executive order to May 28. Well, we weren’t going anywhere, anyway. And yesterday a group of male protestors, in camo gear armed with assault rifles forced their way to the gallery in the Michigan legislature. My two friends, David Le Grand, a State Representative and Winnie Brinks, a State Senator posted FaceBook accounts of the day. The protestors were threatening the House and David said that he thought he might be shot. Ahhh Michigan, home to Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma bombing), the Ku Klux Klan, anti-vaxxers, religious fundamentalists, Michigan Proud Boys - I could go on. We are home to them all, although I have to say there were a lot less of them yesterday. Could it be that half of them are sick? Moving on. Stats: as of yesterday afternoon Michigan had 41,379 confirmed cases (new word being used) and 3,789 deaths. That total includes Kent County which has 1,479 confirmed cases and still 33 deaths. This is because our hospitals were primed and ready for the onslaught and they have not been overwhelmed like the Detroit area hospitals have. But more scarily, Dr London said 2 days ago that he has directed his teams to actively seek out the virus and they have tested many people who did not know they were asymptomatic and had been disregarding the distancing rule. Yesterday Craig and I read 2 excellent articles. The first was an interview by Peter Bergen (CNN National Security Analyst) of Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert, on “We’re Only In the Second Innings of the Pandemic”. It’s long but well worth the read as it is applicable everywhere in the world. The second article was in The Atlantic. I can’t remember the author but the title is: The Pandemic will change American Retail Forever. The writer talks about big box stores, fine dining restaurants and malls. It’s worth a read. Amazingly enough, later yesterday evening I read that Grove, a local fine dining restaurant within walking distance of our house has closed. The management, understanding that fine dining days are over, are refurbishing and transforming it into a chicken shack with an emphasis on mainly take out. �In New Zealand, three days after being lowered to Level 3 lockdown from Level 4, apparently air pollution levels have risen back to pre-virus days. In British Columbia virus counts have stayed lower than anywhere else in Canada and no one really understands why. Airlines continue to bombard me with ‘come back and fly’ emails while at the same time there is disturbing evidence that their much touted air filtration system, while filtering out various chemicals, does a crap job of filtering out viruses. Little is said about the hundreds of crew including captains who have caught the virus and the at least 7 crew members have died. That’s probably enough for today. Some light relief: ��My sister-in-law Bernie trying valiantly to work from home when Archie the cat (Oliver’s favorite) decided to sit on her laptop. I think its hard enough for me living with a large dog who can’t understand any of the new rules for her life and has become very needy in response. And one of Oliver, just because. �If I could just reach through the iPad and blow raspberries on his tummy...... �The next day in Beijing. This is the Summer Palace. This palace and the lakes (Lake Kunming is the main one) were built over a long period of time by several dynasties. The whole are is a collection of lakes, gardens, temples and covered walkways built for the pleasure of the Imperial Family. The boat behind Zoe and I is a famous feature known as the Marble Boat. It is actually wood painted to look like marble. Dowager Ci Xi, the real power behind the throne in the last years of the Qin Dynasty, diverted funds meant to modernize the Chinese navy, to build this boat and improve other features of the park. She had her nephew Emperor Guan Xi poisoned (arsenic in yoghurt) to try to stop the modernization process he was attempting. How’s that for a loving Aunt? Amazingly, she died the very next day after her nephew. Karma’s a bitch. �We took a boat trip on Kunming Lake to an island in the lake, and Zoe and Craig went off to listen to a band and choir performing revolutionary Communist songs. This is Zoe with the Band Director and some of the musicians. She didn’t get to keep the fan, sadly. �Here is a view of the lake looking back at some of the temples and hills surrounding the lakes. The lakes were man made with the intention of providing clean water for Beijing but then the ruling families had other ideas. Another hot day! It isn’t over yet, so please stay safe. Stay 6 feet apart, wash your hands and wear your mask. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-01_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-51 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 2020-05-01 Title A name given to the resource Day 51 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/b5b610bc2d9080c28dca0a9fcd473e67.pdf 176153e1ba3b6c601793c5dc98610d69 PDF Text Text Day 52. by windoworks I slept in a little this morning, by which I mean 6:30am. We are always in bed before 10pm because we’re always tired. Perhaps it is the mental stress of being confined for most of the day. I don’t know really. The weather has changed and we slept last night with one of the storm windows in the bedroom open and a little fresh air coming in from outside. Soon Craig will open all the storm windows and we may eat lunch on the front porch from time to time. Our routine and the routine of our immediate neighbors is oddly comforting. Every morning (that it isn’t raining), Craig moves our car out of the garage and parks it in front of our house, so TJ can extend his ladder on to our driveway while he continues to sand, caulk, replace wood and then paint the side of his house. Every day a new batch of masks in paper bags with instructions attached appear on John’s porch swing and every day new people arrive to pick up their masks. Time slips by with small achievements marking the passing days. I did successfully remove the nail polish and then trim my toenails. This remains an ongoing event as there is always something to file down a little more to stop the toe or finger from catching. I am gradually cleaning out and rearranging the house while Craig gradually restores and reshapes the gardens. Yesterday the Magic Ladies lunch group (I’m still not sure why Wendy chose the name) had the first of the new Zoom lunch meetings. There was laughter and much talk and it felt almost normal. Speaking of normal (usual, typical, expected) - what is that? Restaurants were allowed to reopen this past week in Georgia but the majority refused. You just don’t think about what the new socializing guidelines mean. Kitchens are confined spaces, seating has to be vastly reduced, the amount of time a diner can spend inside eating is very limited and everything, including menus and condiments have to be constantly sanitized. Perhaps we are entering the new age of take out and on that note, here is the line of cars to pick up food at the refurbished Grove restaurant, now a chicken shack. �It’s the flat topped building past the light pole. We are always looking for trails and parks to walk where we won’t come across too many other people. Yesterday Craig hit on the idea of Grand Valley State University’s main campus at Allendale. It was busier than usual as it was a move out day for some students. I think many students went home when they closed the university but left their furniture etc in their rooms. From May 1-10, students may contact the university and the security staff will open their building at a designated time for the student and a family helper to collect their belongings and clear out their room. We walked behind some of the newer buildings in the sunshine. �It was still cool weather though. In other news, Oliver is now 9 months old and this morning my sister-in-law Bernie sent me 3 videos of him on Marco Polo, standing up. ��For some reason that I don’t understand, I can’t attach a video. I can see that I have 58 videos, but when I try to open the file its says No Media Files. So instead here is Oliver trying to get a bottle of beer out of a 6 pack. Not yet, sweetie, not yet. Today’s stats: apparently Michigan now has the highest death rate in the US. More than 9% of the confirmed cases have died, almost a full percentage point more than the next state, Connecticut, where more than 8% of confirmed cases have died. Kent County has 1,607 confirmed cases and 36 deaths (3 deaths more than the day before). If you look at the graph of confirmed cases for Kent County, the line just keeps steadily climbing. Oh well. Flashback photo: so the next day we visited the Old Summer Palace. It was known as Yuanming Yuan (Gardens of Perfect Brightness). It was constructed throughout the 18th and 19th centuries as the main imperial residence of the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Here they handled state affairs - the Forbidden City was used for formal ceremonies. The Old Summer Palace was known for its huge collection of gardens, art and historical treasure. But in 1860, during the Second Opium War. Wait, a backtrack here: the British merchants decided they didn’t want to pay for Chinese goods with silver anymore (the Chinese had monopolized the world’s silver reserves) and instead insisted they take opium as payment from the British controlled crops in India. The Chinese refused and the merchants were backed up by the British Navy and their gunboats with high powered gunpowder weapons. A negotiation between the Chinese Emperor and a two British envoys and a journalist ended in disaster with all in the British group imprisoned, tortured and killed. British troops then destroyed the palace. It was so large (more than 800 acres) that it took 4,000 men 3 days of burning to destroy it. Of course before they burned it, many priceless artworks were looted and can now be found in 47 museums around the world. It remains a tourist attraction, pretty much as the British left it. ���The only part of the entire grounds left complete (or perhaps rebuilt) is this maze. I did not go in but Zoe and Craig went in and found the middle and then came successfully out again! This is 2 Chinese girls inside the maze. As I was researching this, I noted that the person in charge of the burning and looting was Lord Elgin. He was a Scottish nobleman and his enduring claim to fame is that he appropriated a complete set of marbles from the Parthenon in Athens in about 1801. These marbles are on display in the British Museum (I’ve seen them) and to this day their removal and the legality of it remains an ongoing dispute between the British Museum and the Greek Government. The museum maintains the marbles are safer housed there from possible looting, environmental degradation etc. What the museum pretends not to remember is that the museum was nearly destroyed in the bombing during WWII. The Greek Government included a clause in the Brexit agreement demanding the return of all stolen antiquities. There are many other items from all over the world that are housed in the British Museum that were illegally obtained. And this is not just the British, many other countries including the US have appropriated items for museums and private collections. Tomorrow we visit the Temple of Heaven and Craig gives the keynote address to open the World History Conference. �My placard reads; Stay Far Away From Me and Wear Your Mask! � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-02_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-52 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 2020-05-02 Title A name given to the resource Day 52. 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/d7cde42eeb041487a05b373d3ec056b6.pdf deab64fadbbc971cd64681c9b279f098 PDF Text Text Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on Stuff Day 53 by windoworks Remind me - what day is it? Oh, Sunday. And it truly is a sunny day. Yesterday was warm and sunny, so Craig fired up the grill to cook marinated chicken thighs for dinner and, but wait, a lot happened first. Saturday was the designated Chalk Up day for the 300 block of Auburn. ���There are many videos of neighbors dancing on this spot and perhaps Craig and I will dance there later today. ��This one really appealed to me. One neighbor’s teenage children spent a week or so working at their father’s word work shop making bird feeders. I think nearly every neighbor bought one for $20 and the proceeds will go to Kids Food Basket which delivers sack lunches to schoolchildren in the greater Grand Rapids area and has had to step up production during the pandemic. Once the bird feeder is up I’ll post photos. Then before dinner (and the delicious grilled chicken thighs) we had the monthly iMessage video meeting of the Benjamin/Lilley book club. The children like iMessage because it has video effects and once the book discussion part was over and the chat part began, so did the effects. ���After much discussion we chose the next months book, made sure Elle could get it in Truro, Cornwall and then reluctantly said goodbye. I don’t know how we would all survive at this time without internet applications. Stats and such. In Russia they recorded an increase of 10,000 confirmed cases in one day. The Prime Minister Mikhail Mishutin has the coronavirus and one of the Russian Cabinet Ministers has been admitted to hospital. 58 people died in Russia yesterday from the virus. Across the world scientists are rushing to find a vaccine and in the UK over 9,000 people have volunteered to be vaccinated and then given the virus to test its efficacy. So much braver than me. Locally, the city commission of Grand Haven (our nearest beach area on Lake Michigan) had to close the beaches yesterday as people rushed out there in large numbers and failed to act on social distancing rules. That means their poor behavior affects my ability to drive out there, park and look at the lake. Governor Whitmer said a week or so ago “We must be nimble” and she meant: if you can’t follow the rules then you won’t be allowed back out. In the states that have allowed restaurants, tattoo parlors, hair salons to reopen, the new safety rules are proving overwhelming. And here’s the thing that no one considered or asked any shop owner about: how scared are you about opening your business up again? In other places such as South Korea, they have access to technology which takes customers temperature before allowing them to enter the store. People can return to church but no hymn singing, as well as masks. Many business owners here in the US don’t have access to a reasonable supply of gloves, hand sanitizer, masks or face shields and yet they are expected to have all this on hand before they open up. In New South Wales, Australia, where Zoe lives, she is now allowed to have a maximum of 2 visitors inside her apartment. Zoe returned home yesterday with Oliver after an almost 5 week stay with her aunt and uncle. In that time, Oliver tried making friends with Archie their cat, ate 3 square meals a day, developed his crawling skills further, learned to stand up and yesterday learned to crawl up the stairs. This week he returns to Daycare 3 days a week which allows Zoe to work uninterrupted from home. If they continue to ease the restrictions in New Zealand, both Zar and Alva will be able to return to their workplaces. But in both Australia and New Zealand, caution is paramount. Everyone, including here in the US, is concerned about the possibility of a second wave of virus and influenza together. Here we are going into summer which may not be conducive to the virus but then the approaching fall and winter �might be a new breeding ground. Australia and New Zealand have come out of summer and are heading into winter which may be why their virus counts have been relatively low so far. In the UK, they recorded 182, 260 confirmed cases (up 4,806 from the previous day) and total deaths of 28, 131 (up 621 from the previous day). I will have updated figures for Kent County in tomorrow’s blog but the numbers of confirmed cases are still climbing. �For light relief, here is Oliver ‘helping’ Bernie type. �Today’s flashback: Here we are at the Temple of Heaven. This is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, which is the largest building in the Temple of Heaven. The temple complex was built from 1406 to 1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor who also had the Forbidden City built. The temple grounds cover 1.05 square miles, and there are 3 main groups of buildings all built to strict philosophical requirements. �The 9 dragon wall. �Here is Craig at the Whispering Wall at the complex. In order to hear someone else speak to you from a distance (a) the courtyard cannot be too noisy and (b) both people must face north. I can’t remember if we heard each other although Craig thinks we did. ��We came across these musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments when we were walking around Beijing. �And last, but not least, here is Craig giving the opening keynote address at the World History Conference. Tomorrow we leave Beijing and visit Zhengzhou where we visit the tombs of the Shang Dynasty kings and then on to the Longmen Grottos to see the Buddhist carvings in the cliffs. You know the drill. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-03_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-53 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 2020-05-03 Title A name given to the resource Day 53 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/54076bd72c373633c56003f19c0343cd.pdf 554786148032afddc1710c8c720db41e PDF Text Text Day 54 by windoworks So much information. Here goes. Grand Rapids Airport (Gerald R Ford Airport) is still open as the US government requires all commercial service airports to remain open and completely operational. They have closed all bars and restaurants except for a snack bar on each concourse. They are seeing about 5% of normal passenger traffic (Wow!). Air New Zealand has suspended all flights to and from the US until June 30 when they will reassess. Qantas has canceled almost all international flights and offers a once a week flight from Los Angeles to Brisbane on Fridays. So where are all those grounded airplanes? They are in many places all around the world as well as here: �Parked in the desert at Alice Springs, Australia, are more than 100 airplanes, properly closed down but needing weekly maintenance to stay airworthy. The dry desert air is perfect for this storage and the maintenance work gives an unexpected boost to the city, which usually relies on tourists. My question is: how do the international flight crews get home again after landing the planes? It seems as though June 30 is the magic number for many organizations to think again what opening up or resuming will look like. The President of Grand Valley State University will advise the faculty on that day whether fall classes will resume face-to-face, online or a hybrid of both. For North American universities and colleges, the greater majority of students live on campus in shared accommodation, eating in cafeteria- �style restaurants and attending lectures in crowded lecture halls and rooms. I am glad this is not my responsibility. J Crew has filed for bankruptcy and two days ago I received a catalog from JJill offering me 50% off. 50%!! JJill has never offered that much off before. Is this the last gasp before they file for bankruptcy too? I simply cannot imagine going into a store and trying clothes on at this time. What if someone asymptomatic had tried this item on before me? As time goes by, I am more and more comfortable ordering online for mail delivery or local curbside pickup. Amazon has begun texting you when they have delivered something to your door, and the Instacart deliverer lets you know when your groceries are at your front door. With the warmer weather we can sit out on our front porch and chat a little to neighbors as they walk by. It’s not the same but its not too bad. I am waiting for the hummingbirds to appear so I can watch them at the feeder outside the tv room window. In gardening news, 24 of our 25 strawberry plants are thriving although it will be another year before we get a reasonable crop. And much to our surprise, the most vulnerable seeds that Craig planted, micro greens, are the first robust seedlings to appear. In stats: in Michigan there are a total of 43, 754 confirmed cases and a running total of 4,049 deaths. In Kent County we now have 1,786 confirmed cases and 39 deaths. As cases fall a little in Detroit, the virus seems to be moving across the state. Because our local stats are increasing slowly upward many people keep asking Dr London why we have to stay home. He keeps replying: thats why the stats are increasing slowly - because you’re staying home. One more time for the people in the back. I am disturbed by the amount of vitriol online. A friend might post something positive about Governor Whitmer and it seems to unleash a torrent of nastiness from perpetually angry people. I was telling Craig this morning about a book I read a few years ago called Year of Wonders: a novel of the plague. It has a couple of themes but its also about how a village coped with the Plague. Probably not the cheeriest read at this time. �This made me laugh and its a beautiful photograph. ��And here is Oliver valiantly pursuing Archie the cat, one last time before he and his mum returned to their own home. Today’s flashback: the next day we drove to visit the tombs of the Shang Dynasty Kings. You went down underground where it was dark and warm. They keep the light dim to protect the artifacts. This is an archeological site at Yinxu, the ruins of the ancient Shang Dynasty capital Yin. It is the final resting place of the queen, military general, ambassador and political advisor, Fu Hao (Lady Hao) who was probably one of king Wu Ding’s many wives. She died and was buried about 1200BCE. The chariot has completely disappeared and what you are seeing here is its permanent outline. As well as many jade, bone, bronze, ivory and pottery objects buried with her, below Fu Hao’s corpse was a pit holding the the remains of 6 sacrificial dogs and the skeletons of 16 human slaves. �This is a chariot with the skeletons of the horses still in harness. Our next stop was at the Longmen Caves. These caves house tens of thousands of statues of the Shakyamuni Buddha and his disciples. These images were either carved as outside rock reliefs or inside artificial caves excavated from the limestone cliffs. These statues of every size and shape were carved mostly from the 3rd to the 8th century. ����Here is Zoe at the end of the grottoes . Behind her is the Yi river valley. We went through through the grottoes in groups with our guide strictly controlling our movements. There was some vandalism at the caves during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and now the caretakers and guides are careful to treat the caves with the care these artifacts deserve. For today, may the fourth be with you. See you tomorrow as usual. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-04_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-54 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 2020-05-04 Title A name given to the resource Day 54 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/72577b5ac1f077fdecdcf93b9e619655.pdf 5857bbf868b0f6e37e89517cfd290dad PDF Text Text Day 55 by windoworks Here we go! So much information overnight that I hardly know where to begin. First of all, I can’t give accurate virus counts because there was a technical glitch over the weekend and I’ll have to wait until late this afternoon for the latest stats. In predictions for the future, a group of epidemiologists describe 3 different scenarios: 1. After this monster wave which may subside by August 1, there will be alternating mini waves of smaller outbreaks with only a few cases in between, but still some. 2. This monster wave is followed by a bigger and fiercer wave after a summer in which everyone lets down their guard about social distancing and fails to heed the warning signs. 3. This current wave creates a new normal with outbreaks of almost equal size and some persist through to the end of 2022 when hopefully an effective vaccine has been developed. The depressing thing is that I am pretty sure its going to be one of these predictions. Qantas emailed me this morning to tell me that there will be no trans Tasman flights between Australia and New Zealand before the end of June and they’ll reassess then. They also informed me that there will be no international flights before they reassess at the end of July. I’m not really surprised. I find I am that person who thinks about the worst case scenario and then is thrilled when it doesn’t happen or things turn out to be better. Apparently Costco has begun asking all customers to wear a face mask and there were 600 angry posts on FaceBook complaining about it and threatening never to shop there again. How petty have we become. I own one of John’s glam face masks with gold stars and sometimes when I need cheering up it is my face mask choice of the day. In Flint on Friday last week (and I can hardly make my fingers type this) a security guard at a Family Dollar store was shot in the head and later died, all over an argument about wearing a face mask. Even worse, he wasn’t shot at that moment, he was shot 20 minutes later after the family of 3 went home and got the gun and came back to shoot him. And in the category When did this virus actually start? Investigators in France have published a paper which shows that the first patient hospitalized there on December 27 was a 42 year old man who had never been to China. In further investigation they posited (I learned that word in Psychology class) that there were multiple ‘seeding’ events all around the world. That is, there was no single starting point, many people around the world had it early on and seeded it in their community. In research in conjunction with a laboratory in Wuhan, scientists have discovered 400 (400!) similar viruses to COVID-19 in bats and most may be transmissible to humans. �Although some states are ignoring the best medical advice and research available and opening up all businesses again, because, you know, the economy, a whopping almost 70% of Americans are saying: knock yourself out. I’m not leaving my house any time soon. In Las Vegas, the mayor, Carolyn Goodman, boldly claimed “we’ve had viruses for years!” She is insisting that all casinos open up again but when asked if she would be visiting the casinos to show support, she said no because she had to get home to her family. Yeah, right. The Grand Haven State Park is now closed to the public indefinitely after the poor behavior over last weekend. To be honest the water temperature is so low you wouldn’t want to swim or paddle anyway. After several warmish sunny days the temperature has fallen back and its warmer clothing for me again. ��The new normal in our house. Hanging conveniently at the front door are our face mask collections, Craigs on the left and mine on the right. Ready to pop on as we go out the door. �Oliver practicing cute, I think he’s got it down. �Today’s flashback. After we left Beijing for our bus tour, our first stop was Xi’an where we stayed for 3 days. This is a large city and capital of Shaanxi Provence in central China. It was formerly known as Chang’an (Eternal Peace) and it marked the end of the Silk Road’s eastern end. It was home to many ruling dynasties over the centuries. There was a lot to see. First, the famous city walls. ��Zhu Yuanzhang (first emperor of the Ming Dynasty) built this highly fortified wall in 1370 and it took about 8 years to complete. He used this city and wall to establish his empire by unifying all the other surrounding states. It is an astonishingly wide wall and quite high. Obviously it has been repaired and strengthened many times over the centuries. In the top photo you can see down to the enclosed city below. There was a group of residents practicing Tai Chi that we watched for a while. Next we visited the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. �Looking up. �The view of Xi’an from the top of the pagoda. No I didn’t climb up there. �My view from the bottom. This Buddhist pagoda was built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty. One of its many functions was to hold sutras and figurines of Gautama Buddha brought to China from India by the 7th century Buddhist monk, Xuanzang. This was the first actual pagoda I had seen and it was very impressive. Xi’an was hot and somewhat polluted but still a beautiful city. We have 2 more days to explore it, so more tomorrow. Masks on, smile with your eyes, and stay safe. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-05_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-55 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 2020-05-05 Title A name given to the resource Day 55 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/1f8737a4f5c2c0a16e46d184b7827d4f.pdf e7ef1b5da00a392970282fe1517f9319 PDF Text Text Day 56 by windoworks To begin today, this: Pretty wild how we used to eat cake after someone had blown on it. Good times. (I can hear you all going EEEEWWWW!) So it is a lovely sunny day (so far) and a top of 63F, which will be nice. Craig and I have 3 things to do today:Craig is going out to his office to pick up some things (after several emails to set this up); Murphy has a vet appointment for some regular shots, ear plucking and nail trimming and I have a 10:30am zoom business meeting . We’re both overwhelmed. 3 things, 3 things in one day! How funny. There were days with a myriad of meetings, classes, shopping etc before the virus and we raced crazily from one thing to the next. Now (except for today) we try to spread events out to one thing a day. Can we comfortably go back to rushing around every day? I wonder. Today’s stats. 43,950 confirmed cases in Michigan and 4,135 deaths. 1,914 confirmed cases in Kent County and 40 deaths. Easing a little in the Detroit area but still slowly climbing here. Dr London thinks we are about 2 weeks from the peak. Governor Whitmer continues to ease restrictions in 2 week intervals. That way she and her team can see if case numbers begin to rise again and adjust accordingly. TJ our neighbor is frantically trying to get as much finished on the side of his house today, because as an independent builder, he can return to work tomorrow. I think his work will be on outside projects for the foreseeable future. I really want him to replace our kitchen sink with a farmhouse sink and a new faucet but I just can’t think how we can do that safely yet. On our block, people are cleaning closets, working on gardens and repairing broken items. The biggest concerns for our senior graduates on our block is what college will they be attending in the fall and how will they attend it. We watched John Krasinski’s Some Good News online this week and he hosted a graduation ceremony. The week before he hosted a Prom Night. It is all done from his house and it fills a gap for all of us. Watching the graduation piece, Craig and I both got emotional. Each week his show features some topical event and he always does something spectacularly nice. My all time favorite (and I can’t remember if it was episode 2 or 3) was when he was talking to a little girl who missed out on going to see Hamilton due to the theaters closing. He promised to send her and her mother to Broadway New York when the theaters opened up again. Then Lin-Manuel Miranda broke into the feed to announce: we can do better than that. The whole cast of Hamilton sang the song Alexander Hamilton to her from their houses. I cried. I’ll never forget the look on her face. �Yesterday I watched a clip of brass band musicians and singers from 6 or 7 different armed forces units from around the world perform “I’ll be seeing you”. Guess what? I cried. Oliver moments ��Yes that is definitely you Oliver and you are pretty cute. ��On the other hand, this is what we look like the next day after our first long day back at daycare. We are so tired and cross. I think I might have seen that expression on a much older family member. ��Later that same day. Two big naps and a cheese sandwich makes everything all better. I’m not sure how he got the cheese on his nose. Today’s flashback: still in Xi’an. In the early evening we visited the Hui (Muslim) Quarter of the city. This is The Great Mosque of Xi’an. The grounds surrounding it were gorgeous and tranquil. The formation of the Muslim Quarter can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) when Muslim merchants came to Chang’an (Xi’an) via the Silk Road, and the Muslim population rose as families began to settle there. ��Still in the Muslim Quarter, this is the night market which has become a popular tourist attraction. Stalls are filled with pastry wrapped beef and mutton, sour soup dumplings, soup with pepper etc. No I didn’t try anything, mainly as we were going to dinner later in the evening and every meal I ate in China was delicious and always featured more courses than I could manage. So thats it for today. Stay safe, and wear your mask please! I’ll see you tomorrow. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-06_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-56 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 2020-05-06 Title A name given to the resource Day 56 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/b48eb819e7c07185e69feacc9cbcf3b9.pdf 7d05dfbd443917fc381d68743952fde9 PDF Text Text Day 57 by windoworks You know that moment when your mind goes completely blank? Okay so give me a minute. I had a long conversation with a dear friend yesterday and we agreed. Neither of us could imagine ourselves feeling comfortable in a movie theater or a concert or a restaurant. And I think thats what some state governors are missing. They can order businesses to open up again and cut off unemployment benefits but they can’t make people get their haircut or eat in a cafe or diner. All around me I see people perfectly comfortable and happy to be able to buy ice cream or hotdogs or donuts or even whole meals at a myriad of places offering take out, but no one near me seems in a rush to go inside stores. There are many small businesses around me, mostly boutique clothing or other speciality stores and a lot of them have made the successful switch to online buying. The list of what I can buy online is massive and it is delivered to my door and I am then notified that it is there. Craig walks Murphy every day but everything we need or would like is either delivered or is a curbside pickup. Here’s another new talent for me. Apparently I wield a mean hair clipper. After Craig’s first attempt to cut his own hair, I said 2 weeks later: let me try. It’s so much easier to cut someone else’s hair than do it yourself. He was so pleased he said I can cut his hair from now on. I can do that. And speaking of haircuts, a hair stylist in Brooklyn has led more than 100 haircuts via Zoom in the past few weeks, here and all over the world. He has some tips online. Look him up - JaBarie Anderson. Murphy went to the vet yesterday. The routine is: stand in the parking lot, call us to let us know you’re here, and we’ll come out (suitably gloved and masked) and get her. I know they gave her a lot of frozen peanut butter while they examined her, took a blood test, gave her a shot, trimmed her nails (yay!) and plucked all the hair out of her ears. This is important for Murphy, without regular hair plucking she is prone to bacterial ear infections. Then the reverse operation. We’ll call you, stand in the parking lot and we’ll bring her back out to you . One result is that she spent the rest of the day shaking her head and flapping her ears. However this morning she seems fine. Craig spent quite a bit of time yesterday afternoon putting together a beautiful wooden arch to go over the entrance to our front path. Finally he said, come out the front and tell me where it should go. And then we both stood and gazed at this beautiful arch, at least 6 -12 inches too narrow each side to fit over the concrete path. At the time it was not funny. We had forgotten to measure the width of the concrete path. After a little consideration we found what turned out to be the perfect spot for it where it looks even better than out the front. ��Here it is in the back garden ready for a climbing plant to be grown up each side. It also helps us think about the meadow and path that will replace the peed on lawn in the front of the arch. This photo was actually taken last night to show you the beautiful moon rising over the rooftops. Stats: testing is slowly (slowly, slowly) increasing locally and in the last few days they tested all those homeless people sleeping overnight at the Mel Trotter shelter downtown. 65% of the people there tested asymptomatic. Not one person was coughing or sneezing or had a temperature but 65% were positive for the virus. If that isn’t the clearest explanation of how invisible and contagious this virus is, I don’t know how else to explain to non believers. This is probably hard to read but this is a graph of how Michigan is testing as opposed to how it should be testing . We are doing an average of 8, 697 tests per day and we should be doing 58, 081 per day. Does that seem like pie in the sky to anyone else? Kent County has 2,016 cases but still just 40 deaths, although each death is devastating to some local family and friends. Yesterday for the first time, I heard of a friend of a friend who was fit and healthy with no underlying ailments, who died from COVID-19 because it attacked her healthy heart. Whoa! �Costco management has begun responding online to those highly offended shoppers who refuse to wear a mask. Whoever is replying to these petty, angry emails has the best sense of humor and always leaves the shopper speechless. For a little humor in your day, look up tucker budzyn online. He is a golden retriever and his comments on every day life are screamingly funny. At the moment there’s fewer posts as his owner is ill, but what is archived is hilarious. Craig did go out to Grand Valley at Allendale and he posted this photo of himself, in his office, wearing a GVSU mask that our neighbor John made. One of the items he collected was an electric keyboard that a colleague has let him borrow for the summer. So now he has 2 tenor saxophones (his own and his fathers), and alto saxophone, a flute and a keyboard all crammed into his home study and he has a wonderful time late every afternoon, playing various instruments. And of course, an Oliver photo because. ��I’m not sure - is it the new shoes? I can just see him as a teenager. Today’s flashback. During one of the days in Xi’an we attended a puppet show. It was not like any puppet show I had seen before and the story was told in Chinese with traditional musical accompaniment. This show tells the famous story of the Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang who made an epic journey to India and back. I was lucky to be sitting right next to an Ancient Historian one of who’s areas of expertise is the Silk Roads. He explained the whole story to me. �To show you just how hot the weather was, this woman is spraying the caged birds with water. �One night we went to a culture show which featured dancers and musicians dressed in the fashion of the High Tang Court in the mid-eighth century. Very colorful but a lot of cymbal clashing and music that sounded sharp and uncomfortable to me. I did have another set of photos to show you from a different day excursion but as I can find nothing online (Wikipedia you’ve let me down!) and the HA is out with the dog, it will have to be another day. Stay tuned for the next episode of the days of our lives brought to you from the iPad of a quarantined/selfisolated, frustrated author. To protect others from your possibly asymptomatic self - wear a mask outside. I think we need them in coordinating colors with our daily outfits. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-05-07_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-57 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 2020-05-07 Title A name given to the resource Day 57 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