1 16 4 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/51500/archive/files/4bb120919c09294d178b7c5e53241f1e.jpg?Expires=1782345600&Signature=DNm7y75hBzpwmBklQ5N4pLefVA8N0fKRaiw1k41k2229tHzyaPAbzpTJVAVPtbJ0XSxlxRNRzQ9R65vmHMKMk0%7E-RL8RkLxsFjUzi2TfyNQFbDv-d-p3NsRRZsi8-41aU6NB--H1QO3Yco19CbKEiuX0gzMCLOvXmS3fs3OJ8sCKm1UkIi26kvHD9rS4QHguchlsorjz4PplXNj%7EnIdJouYhI1w7R5aGxzVIyqOsobAxN52IgtV7UK8yMrThOtox7CBVD-wHzi6mQ1BSeCJxjCdNkxe2dRJe7GSWDMkRsSprDsUf-mAj1gTVuZUmzwwy%7EmATF9aaw7OuoGySQH0YXg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM bb5f77df7b1fa0da997e470beb14824a 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 Emergency Archive Description An account of the resource Writing, images, recordings, and other materials documenting life in Central Maine during the COVID-19 pandemic and other historic events that have impacted our communities. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 2021 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Penobscot County (Me.) Piscataquis County (Me.) Somerset County (Me.) Subject The topic of the resource Communities COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hartland Public Library (Hartland, Me.) Newport Cultural Center (Newport, Me.) Pittsfield Public Library (Pittsfield, Me.) Skowhegan Free Public Library (Skowhegan, Me.) Thompson Free Library (Dover-Foxcroft, Me.) Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Digital photo 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/. Description An account of the resource Half-way through Episode 3 of my new podcast. One of the good things for me about this “shelter in place” lockdown is that it drove me back to writing after a 3-year-long writer’s block. Boomer Monologues: <a href="anchor.fm/tom-lyford7">anchor.fm/tom-lyford7</a> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lyford, Tom Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-06-07 Subject The topic of the resource Writing Podcasting Storytelling COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- Social distance Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Creator retains copyright. Item may be used for noncommercial purposes under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Dover-Foxcroft, Me. Piscataquis County (Me.) Title A name given to the resource Writing During Lockdown 2020 Stay-at-Home Storytelling Writing https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/51500/archive/files/38f91a11f36ed930597cefc87b530652.pdf?Expires=1782345600&Signature=fqb5KlCH6VtxxJniU07iSF8cRKEpzx0ifvM9uY-fiLd5pa626mwmKOSpZUCdGQeACw-nECNUk0qtLjr2Rp4BGVZOaWHLCUjVOD0rDG52HGmk6-0MkSD39eczNxmlDHsp0L7nC55cjz3RaOIUpShqvhg8FAvqo7vHxR17DxWHOIoLvRupzYw-XVgX8oD0aCumaybnxJx2Ei%7EKq3flHoCXAc8Lp7hTaZrn9TaL7XFtTf2BYkDe2H%7EuNvXkeT3mufFmzEefzDko0P2QrleaRp6EbAq40e1kOjUS2YR-p9S3q0yLOwQgEvFqPCFIyFV%7EOtzdrg2q6Z9dPBuSe299sMYAIw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM d8ee60e9c31adf718fb7956117a6520a 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 Emergency Archive Description An account of the resource Writing, images, recordings, and other materials documenting life in Central Maine during the COVID-19 pandemic and other historic events that have impacted our communities. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 2021 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Penobscot County (Me.) Piscataquis County (Me.) Somerset County (Me.) Subject The topic of the resource Communities COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hartland Public Library (Hartland, Me.) Newport Cultural Center (Newport, Me.) Pittsfield Public Library (Pittsfield, Me.) Skowhegan Free Public Library (Skowhegan, Me.) Thompson Free Library (Dover-Foxcroft, Me.) 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. Text Text of your story A gifted artist, young mother and friend lost all hope... took her own life. Her death, a blow to both family and few remaining friends. Her suicide was a personal tragedy, but I also believe, an emergency that our community failed to see coming. Whether death was preventable may never be clearly determined. True, she distanced herself from her family. Alienated her few remaining friends. But, indications of her physical ailments, legal difficulties, mental and emotional distress had been noted by case-workers, counselors, medical personnel. She could not hold a steady job. Had no income, savings or insurance. Lost custody of her two children. Suffered repeated migraine headaches so debilitating she repeatedly went to the emergency room for temporary relief. When at an earlier point there was insurance, she was seeing a neurologist, though treatments brought no lasting relief. She developed a series of medical ailments; untreated, or when medications were prescribed, did not respond. As neither case-worker, counselor, doctors, or drugs were able to help her reclaim control of her well-being... she may have lost hope. And felt her life was simply too much to bear. For me her death raises questions having no answers. Are we collectively able to recognize how and when personal emergencies are also community tragedies? Could, or can we, learn to see connections between needs of the former, and the latter's ability, means or will to respond - and eventually impact the kind of community we live in? People injured in car accidents... Folks or animals trapped in burning buildings or barns... Damaged homes and downed power-lines... Rescues required from rising flood water... These emergencies are visible and direct: The need for action apparent, and later friends and neighbors offer support, hold benefit suppers , communal barn raisings. But how do 'we' respond to less visible emergencies? The personal ones, particularly those where there may be a perception... some of an individual's struggles are (were) self-inflicted? How well are we willing and able to care for the most vulnerable among us? Asked what happens when a patient can no longer pay... Her neurologist replied: "She will simply ball-up on the floor writhing in pain." Such a response seems hardly adequate or compassionate. At the time of her death there was no coherent, continuous communication between multiple caregivers. Given various patient confidentiality policies, no comprehensive holistic plan could be developed addressing her diverse needs in an integrated manner. Had she received the care and support necessary to reclaim, even a modicum of control over her life, What kind of contribution might this talented, but deeply troubled person, in time, afford our community? 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 Personal Tragedy-Community Emergency Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Towl, Bruce Subject The topic of the resource Communities Mental health Poetry Public health Suicide Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Piscataquis County (Me.) Dover-Foxcroft (Me.) Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Creator retains copyright. Item may be used for noncommercial purposes under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. Description An account of the resource A poem by Bruce Towl. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Language A language of the resource Eng 2020 Artists Caring Community Health Mental Health Poetry Writing https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/51500/archive/files/8bf6c732d28c96d86f412fb1cff65dc1.pdf?Expires=1782345600&Signature=FOIR1rxi-0Eicx-KXyUIP3OOVXKaIV44aPOpXafIf1pZ0e0Ozu3bxgEPCTMP8UI16oWj94IqQmCjPsYC6SrCB5AN-Cpqjv7kVKSnOfBzvldiJ5V1u78hCS86vvgNlxojEhBV7DnKtsIu0O9qpiI7SuhxMCvZ5FKV5Vhs1JnRuxQ1vPfe0kGHoBoU7l0uSkznSE96ex1XvDkbfxUynQKbg90k33yW2OxWa7oPsC0cqXIkL%7EAtZq8LTNBZHuohhOGL1XYeQKV1WE1StY0h6ohdW8bS%7E9GF8kwVjiJwy6BdqjBY%7EvopVjVAh7Ln93UFZwrRXE9Vrgq3lvKPmYG59xxg3g__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM d9bb05aca7281664953406a3fad6ea66 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 Emergency Archive Description An account of the resource Writing, images, recordings, and other materials documenting life in Central Maine during the COVID-19 pandemic and other historic events that have impacted our communities. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 2021 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Penobscot County (Me.) Piscataquis County (Me.) Somerset County (Me.) Subject The topic of the resource Communities COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hartland Public Library (Hartland, Me.) Newport Cultural Center (Newport, Me.) Pittsfield Public Library (Pittsfield, Me.) Skowhegan Free Public Library (Skowhegan, Me.) Thompson Free Library (Dover-Foxcroft, Me.) 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. Text Text of your story Public talk channels click off into silence. Easing into the storm, I settle down and feel this renewing calm well up inside me. I utter humble greetings to all who may read these words. The forest out my back window stands still and quiet, wafted by a slight breeze. A needled pine branch waves its slow hello, like some sign of human recognition and gentle acknowledgment. I can nearly feel the wind sighing for all of us in these pines. “How dare you speak of trees humanly,” the anthropomorphic critic in my head speaks as I step aside, letting that old crackler go. Beyond a thousand years and a lifetime of hold-it-in-fearfulness, I too let the fear go and begin to reconnect with the clam winds and warming wet sky, here in the eye of the hurricane. Around me, my wife, our families and communities, locally and globally, the C19 storm swirls through all people in the atmosphere with no regard for country, race, social class, wealth or poverty, age, political or religious affiliation, gender and sexuality, etc., etc., etc. We stand together in a time and place where all these distinct certainties are being shredded day-by-day, and are receding if not already gone. Welcome to the new world, where there is no going back to the whims and blind norms and life sucking greed that delivered all of us to the end of 2019, the end of that long era of status quo, privilege and power. The invisible hand of novel change launched at the cusp of 2019-2020, is now upon us across our global commons, Hurricane C19. Beyond all denials, indeed we must find this terrifying on one hand, yet absolutely liberating on the other, especially when you look deeper and consider that none of us are immune, that all of us are at risk, and indeed, all of us are bound together in facing and accepting this hurricane with our utmost best in mind, with hands held high together while staying at least six feet apart. Fly’s are being cast, flicking all waters of the globe, looking to hook a cure that remains unclear, uncertain at this time. In the face of such absolute uncertainty, unhinged from safety, what can one do for hope among endless voices that simply talk about it? At a loss for words I don’t know. I pause... I remain respectful of hope by keeping my distance and patiently following a few new rules, a new stand for me. I don’t know why, but I remain strangely unafraid, like some elder warrior standing his mountain ground, with you, and you, and with you, all in the calm eye of this hurricane. That I know I am loved and that I too love, is no longer up for question. I take heart in this fact of my human existence, from this moment on and outwards in all directions. The fir boughs wave their gentle thanks towards me, and indeed I feel much gratitude for being with you and a part of the natural and human threads that weave the fabric of our lives together here at home on Earth... From the eye of the hurricane. 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 The Eye of the C19 Hurricane Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-01 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merchant, Roger Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Creator retains copyright. Item may be used for noncommercial purposes under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. Description An account of the resource An essay by Roger Merchant. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- Language A language of the resource Eng Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Glenburn (Me.) Penobscot County (Me.) 2020 Change Hope Storytelling Writing https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/51500/archive/files/faab77b7df73e701a9bd5bc552b12268.pdf?Expires=1782345600&Signature=KQJ6-7tTqbi4KH1YdiYS5ullDx%7ETb9Jo5lQM2VKQYWR9pFq4PsARMJvR7eQtYJnOULi6ocOBQbpT5BgNEFh1sKB%7EwPmvCmt6iGUw5L%7EahxDv6DshFTVGe5bBi4sWx1XOQ7fM2i4tCVjnOiNHyjCF4fJLxe56LOpC--RGTcUGM16Lj1MGBHgXPPydYbT7cl1qBSt3DnVZVVfAJQ0rtq9VLQc%7EACRREAqzWv3U1ch04RlYK%7EiJLv5Nov6h2m5TlUKix9hdjirWBOWjBfO773eQ99LMMTnbQugj73NMjUZBiPx-dGa6yYUtap3hKUbX99HBH1GvBK9-supLDTuC3r5Bew__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 59cd5239f7400a6c46d1c3d8ec3558de 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 Emergency Archive Description An account of the resource Writing, images, recordings, and other materials documenting life in Central Maine during the COVID-19 pandemic and other historic events that have impacted our communities. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 2021 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Penobscot County (Me.) Piscataquis County (Me.) Somerset County (Me.) Subject The topic of the resource Communities COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hartland Public Library (Hartland, Me.) Newport Cultural Center (Newport, Me.) Pittsfield Public Library (Pittsfield, Me.) Skowhegan Free Public Library (Skowhegan, Me.) Thompson Free Library (Dover-Foxcroft, Me.) 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. Text Text of your story Blob or Duck? The talk these days is all about restarting the economy as the “curve” of infections from Corona Virus plateaus. The acts of social isolation we have all practiced in the last weeks have clearly had an impact, and those in positions to make decisions about the next chapter in this epic saga are ready to begin taking some action. I don’t know if I will be following orders yet or not. I have always had a rebellious streak, and don’t think I’m going to begin cooperating just now. My life here in Maine has not changed dramatically since everything closed. But how I feel about participating in the new “afterlife” has many interesting facets, some emotional some logical. One question no one seems able to answer for me yet is whether I am a “blob” or a “duck”. This is very frightening. Fear. That is the thing that is driving my decision making. Fear. I can’t imagine what the people making larger decisions; whether we should continue to stay home or venture back out into society, the decisions that decide the fate of so many others, are feeling. FEAR. And decisions based on fear are often not logical. For example my inner rebel has decided that evenings alone in my lovely Victorian living room are quite comfortable. Afternoons spent alone in my yard or on my small deck, enjoyable. Mornings eating breakfast alone with Wallace the Airedale are quite cozy. I don’t need to be reunited with the world as it was before the current shut down. I am happy, or at least content in my own little world, rich in the mental stimulation that an overactive imagination gives me. My brain entertains me in these isolated times. But I only make decisions for myself, and that is probably a good thing, because sometimes I get a little carried away. Staying home feels good, but I’m not fooling myself, staying home is what I am doing because I am afraid. Something that I learned about myself a long time ago, perhaps something that I’ve always known about ME is that I think in images. I don’t think in words. That isn’t to say that I don’t love words and use words in ways that sometimes turn out to be beautiful, but words are just tools for me to use to illustrate the images I see in my mind. So as we start thinking about rebooting our society, the images that I am trying to translate into words about how I feel about shifting back to being part of the pulsing crowd of our culture, are of two things. The first vivid image is of that awful Corona Virus blob that is on every screen flashed across my vision. You know the one. It is the floating gray orb with red fuzzy arms all over it seen on newscasts of late, everywhere. I see it behind my eyelids when I am drifting off to sleep and I see it every time I open my laptop or flick on my television. The second image that haunts me, I see in my minds eye only. It is a line of “sitting ducks”. The image is of the type of mechanical ducks one finds at a shooting gallery on a carnival midway being moved across one’s vision on a clunking conveyor belt. This game of hit or miss at carnivals and fairs is played with an air rifle. Bright yellow ducks with small bulls eyes on there sides clink across my inner vision with one occasionally being knocked backward to fall over with a loud ringing bell signalling its demise. In my imagination the duck is a victim of a viral bullet being shot from one of the red, evil arms on a virus blob floating around the midway of my active and awake 3 a.m. brain. Strange images these two. And when I am continuously seeing them together in my mind, in many different scenarios, they become part of my current reality. For example, in my limited repertoire of present day social experiences, AKA grocery shopping, the blob comes towards me, going in the WRONG direction through the market. It is just one big virus germ, gray with red fuzzy bulb ended arms sticking out all over it, ready to attack me. I am the sitting duck, mindlessly walking in the RIGHT direction up my less than 6 foot wide grocery store aisle. I have nothing to protect me as I am thrust through the world on this conveyor belt of activities pulling me through life. I am literally a target for all viral infections to shed themselves on. There is no protection for my innocent, and insecure feathered body. I am the sitting duck. In reality that virus blob I imagine walking toward me is just a nice middle aged woman, a bit on the plumb side in yoga pants and a gray hoodie, with no noticeable red appendages reaching their viral infection toward my masked face. But I am a visual thinker, my mind won’t leave me alone, those virus blobs turn up everywhere in the grocery store. Just look at them on the face of Uncle Ben as I pick out a box of rice, on the Quaker Oats guy, I’m sure I see some virus molecules on his benevolent smile. The Daisy Sour Cream cow, she’s shedding virus all over the dairy case, and don’t get me started on what those pesky Rice Krispies guys are up to in the cereal aisle. The virus is everywhere, and us ducks, we just keep going along on our mechanical treadmill, looking for toilet paper and baking yeast. In reality I’m not even sure that I am one of the ducks. With no sure test of my Corona Virus status and my active imagination hyper aware of every sniffle, cough, snort, ache, pain or toot coming out of my body, could I be one of the virus firing blobs? My mind takes a nasty turn, and suddenly I am the malevolent viral threat. My body, unbeknownst to me begins attacking the people I have contact with. They become the sitting ducks and I am the viral shooter on the carnival midway. As the shut down begins to be lifted, those sitting ducks become the people I love. My sons, whom I haven’t seen since winter could be shot from one of my red spikes with the horrible germ that doesn’t win any of us a stuffed animal from the carnival. My mom in her assisted living apartment is on a mechanical conveyor belt set at high with virus bullets aimed at the stream of elderly ducks she is caught in, trying to get across the carnival booth with their walkers. Virus orbs are lobbed at them with lightning speed and laser precision. How do we keep the virus blobs away from these lovely gray haired sitting ducks? How do we keep those floating orbs of poison away from our daily life as it conveys us from task to task on a path that each of us is so firmly attached to following? The old normal is no longer a safe ride for any of us to take a spin on. When these two images of ducks and blobs are no longer crossing my mind at odds with one another, when sitting ducks are no longer being aimed at and targeted by that surge of virus lobbing asassins, I will be ready to go back out into the world. If I must enter that world as either a duck or an attacking blob, the least I expect is that someone can help me distinguish which one of them I am. I assume that eventually that will happen through wide spread testing, contact tracing or an antibody test that says when my immune system will shield me from attacking blobs if I am one of the unfortunate targeted ducks. Until I am sure which image defines me, I am staying isolated from that midway we call life and remaining here at home. My visual brain will be working in my unclassified body, in my safe comfortable house, actively fighting imagined battles between blobs and ducks, and I will not be going out to the carnival. 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 Re-entering the Corona Carnival Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Maves, Janice Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-17 Subject The topic of the resource Viruses Social isolation Fear Creative writing COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Creator retains copyright. Item may be used for noncommercial purposes under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. Description An account of the resource An essay by Janice Maves. Language A language of the resource Eng Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Maine 2020 Fear Isolation Stay-at-Home Storytelling Writing