Changes in the neighborhood, yes big time. We notice obviously all of the signage that has to do with the protests and black lives matter and George Floyd and everybody else affected by the recent upheaval. Huge support in Ann Arbor for this, which is not surprising given the education level, given the liberal leanings of the city. We noticed this popping up on our neighbors houses and we can tell where they were not yesterday that they are now. And pretty much every day my wife and I will walk along our roads here and point out, “Hey, this is, you know, this wasn't here yesterday.” These flowers have bloomed. There’s a bear, a huge Costco stuffed bear that one household in our neighborhood puts out, dresses up and various costumes and masks and puts out in a chair in different poses. And we've so far seen at least half a dozen positions for the doll. So yeah, I think we've actually become a lot more mindful and a lot more observant just because it's now turned into a routine, and I think it's just something really cool. If there are ever silver lining to these things this is certainly one of them, that we’re becoming more familiar with the neighborhood and that we are noticing these little changes.

So this week things that I'm really grateful for. I have a cousin that recently finished her final chemo and radiation treatments and got to ring the bell. And because of the COVID issues, we were not allowed as her family to be there to support her in that. So we all gathered at a nearby Church in a parking lot and there was about twenty five of us in different vehicles that we decorated our vehicles and did a parade beeping and honking past her house, and she was outside and got to see all that and show our support and our love that way. So I'm really really grateful that we all did that and I'm really grateful that she's gotten this far in her cancer treatment and hopefully they when they do another her neck surgery, they're going to find that she is still cancer-free. So that was what I am particularly thankful and grateful for this week.

One thing that I'm particularly grateful for is all of the friends and loved ones that I have in my life. Now that gatherings of under ten are allowed, it's nice to be able to see my friends and family in person again, but because everybody's been this so… supportive feels like the wrong word, but just everybody has  been supportive of each other through this time that it doesn't really feel like it's been that long since I've spent time with my friends and family home. It's been a long time since seeing them in person, but I've kept in contact with them talking to them over text message or phone call. So I'm very grateful to just  Have such great people in my life and also to have a little bit of normalcy come back and being able to see them without that worry.

Something that's been particularly difficult this week has been all of the protests and activism. Like it's fantastic to see but it's just so hard that it has to happen. I went to one of the protests in Lansing last I think it was last Thursday, and it was the one where a car ended up getting flipped and set on fire and the police and National Guard ended up coming down town to push protesters out with tear gas and batons. And just that state of unrest has been very difficult lately. I'm glad to have taken part in it. I'm sad that it's something that has to happen.

“If someone gave you $100 to donate, where would you donate it to?” I'd probably just try to tip someone or maybe a couple of people spread it out five bucks, ten twenty bucks to service workers. I should say service industry workers. I guess in semi-related news.  I did donate two grand to my cousin's charity. He runs a food pantry essentially in the Cleveland area. He owns a restaurant. Well, it's a bar really. And I don't actually know him very well, my cousin. He's a few years older than me, but actually he started this charity before the pandemic. It was like last fall and it was to provide aid to Food Service employees that were out of work, food and financial aid. So, you know, I think that's just cuz he's an extraordinarily generous person. But h—- s—-, could you have picked a more fortunate time to be getting a charity off the ground? I mean, I guess it'd be, I guess it'd be better to have one that's even more mature. But you know starting it in, you know, October versus trying to start it in March, you know, that's h—- of a head start, so yeah he had a couple connections already. There are a couple of organizations, they're doing these Food Market things in the Cleveland area — market, not really a market. It's free for the people they’re helping. But you know, maintain social distancing. So yeah, I mean two grand's not going to solve anything but you know, maybe that sponsors a day of food for the organization or you know at the very least, it’ll make — make a couple of people's day. *Note: we’ve excluded some mild language here in the transcript that is not bleeped out in the audio file

Looking back, I think the moment I realized that this — the COVID situation was going to be a big deal was going to spring break people were talking about it and it was finally starting to hit the US and it was kind of: okay, this might be a big deal, but you know, we don't really know yet. And then while I was still on spring break all of our classes got canceled, so I actually I came home for break so I didn't really bring a lot of my stuff I guess because I was I was fully planning on moving back up north to Houghton. Then while I was still on break, the whole world went crazy and all classes got canceled. And everyone was kind of wondering like, “okay, what do we do now?”  So you have for me that was probably the moment where I realized it was going to be a big deal. I knew it was a big deal like in other parts of the world beforehand. Because I've been following what was going on in China, but like that way when  classes got canceled that was kind of like, okay, this is — this is pretty significant. And as far as how things are going right now, I actually got I got a job. I got an internship earlier this month, which I'm very happy for, because I know a lot of people are unemployed. It's it's actually an internship with the construction company. So I'm now technically classified as like an essential worker. Because I work at a construction site now, which it's a pretty rough job, pretty new experience, but I'm very grateful but to be employed cuz I know a lot of people are not.

This week has been particularly difficult because of what's happened in the news. It's like multiple stories in the news of  horrific horrific violence and brutality against Black people in our country and this headline of George Floyd and I couldn't bring myself to watch more than like a little bit of the video with the  police officer with his knee on his neck suffocating him and murdering him. This is all with other examples in just the last weeks with Breonna Taylor as well, and Ahmaud Arbery and as somebody who is white, you know, there's a lot of weight and responsibility. So, you know knowing that there's a lot to be done and where to begin and I have resources so I know how to take actions. I'm somebody who's  dedicated to this. At my current school I serve on a committee that's trying to do anti-racist work. Anyways, I'm just thinking about everybody in my life who is Black American, a person of color. So it feels like obviously we've been here before with so many other cases before but this feels different because of the fact that this is happening in this pandemic. I think is. One, It's like ‘Here we go again.’ This is so awful, it was so egregious, the ten minutes of a knee on a neck. But I think there's something else that's going on here, which is the Black community has also been so hard hit by COVID-19. Obviously in Detroit we've seen how that has played out. And  so it's already a time of extreme mourning and loss in that community and a time when you don't really get to mourn the loss collectively in the way that we traditionally do because it's a risk to  other people's Health to gather for funerals and Memorial services on top of that the number of people who have filed for unemployment and are waiting on checks to arrive from the government and so much economic despair. It's like everything is happening at once and it's explosive.

I work in a residential foster home. We house about forty children who have behaviors that are too extreme for a typical foster home to manage. I worked there for about  a year-and-half now, so it seems like a long time. On Thursday I put in my notice when I was leaving, so June 30th is going to be my last day with the kids so that by July 14th, I'm ready to move. So the kids all know about it, that makes me less stressed because then it's not some secret I'm keeping from them. I've told them I was leaving for grad school since February when I was interviewing just so that if I did get in that they would be prepared for me to go. And I thought would be a really easy transition out.  But I'm gonna miss my kids. They definitely get on my nerves. A few of them have definitely punched me in the face before, but they are also my little babies, and it's weird seeing people go from just a complete total mess because of their trauma obviously, and then grow into someone who's just coping, functional, able to have good relationships, knows what a healthy relationship looks like, can have a conversation with you, can ask difficult questions without screaming or punching you in the face. So even though I've only been on that unit for about six months, I'm still going to miss them. So I'm still nostalgic about that.