March 29, 2020
Hello ,
I hope you remain well, and that you're finding some peace in this crazy coronavirus time.
Karen emailed me some questions to ask myself and I thought they really hit the mark, so I'm sharing them here.
Daily Quarantine (or Sheltering-At-Home) Questions:
- What am I GRATEFUL for today?
- Who am I CHECKING IN ON or CONNECTING WITH today?
- What expectations of “normal” am I LETTING GO OF today?
- How am I GETTING OUTSIDE today?
- How am I MOVING MY BODY today?
- What BEAUTY am I either creating, cultivating, or inviting in today?
Thank you, Karen!
This will be a quick newsletter today, and my last for a month or so. I'm getting no vacation during the virus. I've been making terrific progress on my young adult novel, which I'm giving the working title All That's Buried. Let me know if the title entices you.
Eye on Vietnam is also moving right along. Tomorrow, I start on my second draft of the manuscript with a May 1st deadline. I received notes back from my editor today, serendipitously, on the day set aside to remember Veterans of the Vietnam War.
National Vietnam Veterans
Day
Vietnam Veterans Day commemorates the sacrifices of Vietnam veterans and their families. It's part of a national effort to recognize the men and women who were denied a proper welcome upon returning home more than 40 years ago.
Check out these Facebook pages to join activities planned by the National Vietnam War Veterans of America.
- On March 29, Vietnam Veterans can share their service photos on the VVA Facebook page as the nation remembers heroes for their service and sacrifice.
- Vietnam Veterans can share their favorite C-Ration recipe or meal on the VVA Facebook page Monday, March 30. The winner with the most “Likes” will win a prize from the national office.
I told you last week about the 1918 flu epidemic at the Puget Sound Naval Yard in Washington State. Thanks to U.S. Navy Veteran and scientist Bob Johnston, I have more on the story today.
Local historians believe the flu virus arrived with a trainload of sailors from Philadelphia who arrived on September 18, 1918. When the train pulled into Bremerton, WA, a column of passengers disembarked straight to the naval hospital.
Chief Yeoman Margaret Mary Fitzgerald worked through the Spanish flu pandemic at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard's hospital. (US Navy photo)
Nineteen-year-old Margaret Mary Fitzpatrick, one of the first women in the U.S. Navy, was stationed at the hospital. Yes, women were in the navy during WWI. More on that below.
"The influenza is raging pretty bad here," Margaret wrote to her parents telling them of 46 deaths at the hospital in October 1918. "The movies, barber ships, churches, etc., are closed in Bremerton."
At first folks on the Kitsap Peninsula and in the environs of Seattle were asked to voluntarily quarantine themselves. An anti-spitting law was passed. The government ordered cloth masks to be worn in public, giving rise to the expression “In Gauze we Trust.”
When that strategy proved insufficient people were mandated to stay at home.Seattle police had an influenza squad to enforce the law at Seattle pool halls, bars and other places people gathered.
The virus spread quickly to Camp Lewis. (Now Joint Base Lewis McChord) At the hospital population jumped from 1,450 to 3,024 patients within a week. Barracks were converted to hospital wards to handle the overload.
U.S. Army 39th Regiment marching in flu masks on 2nd Avenue, Seattle, 1918
At the height of the 1918 flu epidemic during WWI, more than two-hundred women were stationed in Bremerton. They had joined the navy to do clerical work, but some helped care for sick patients.
Mary Fitzpatrick worked as an aide to the Puget Sound Naval Hospital commander, and became the Navy's first female chief petty officer
When America entered WWI, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels knew he'd be short of manpower. He found a loophole in the Naval Act of 1916, which did not specify that only men could enlist. In March 1917, he made a bold and controversial decision,
enlisting women in the Navy as yeomen.
"Petticoats in the Navy! Damn'd outrage! Helluva mess! Back to sea f'r me !" That the reaction from one naval officer.
Gertrude McGowan Madden (pictured below, second from the right) enlisted when she turned 18. You can see Madden's uniform on display at the Puget Sound Navy Museum. Here she is pictured with Jo Oass, Genevieve Wolfe, Mabel Evans, and Alta Seebree.
The navy women had the official rank of Yeoman (F), which was equal to male Yeomen. They received equal pay, a uniform allowance, medical care and war risk insurance. Unlike American women in the U.S. Army during WWI, known as Hello Girls, whom I wrote about here...
Some liked to called the women Yeomanettes, but the Secretary of the Navy said, “I never did like the ‘ette’ business. If a woman does a job, she ought to have the name of the job.”
One Yeoman (F) stationed at the Puget Sound Navy Yard said it like this. "There's one thing certain and that's the spirit of the American women - if you men can't lick the Kaiser we women will."
sources:
https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news/2020/03/15/how-the-kitsap-peninsula-weathered-the-last-pandemic/5036612002/
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/psnm/explore/exhibits/online/women-of-the-puget-sound-naval-shipyard/petticoats-in-the-navy--yeomanettes.html
Why Are We Hoarding Toilet Paper?
It makes no sense! It's not rational. Without people hoarding toilet paper in advance of the coronavirus, we'd have no shortage.
There is a reason for this unreasonable behavior.
Photo Courtesy Polina Tankilevitch, Pexels.
So says Steven Taylor, a professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia.
“It’s sensible to have a two-week supply of medication and sanitary items and food. That’s fine," Taylor says. "[But] I know there are people who hoard toilet paper and then they’ll be a shopping and happen to see a roll and go, ‘Oh, I’ll take another one of these,’ because it makes them feel safe.”
But why does toilet paper make people feel safe?
Taylor believes it is hardwired into our genetic make-up. The fear of disease is closely linked to the human emotion of disgust.
Disgust kept the earliest Homo Sapiens alive.
"Disgust is very useful, evolutionarily speaking. It keeps us from, say, eating rotten meat or playing with poop," Taylor says. “[And] toilet paper is like the antidote to disgust. Toilet paper is a tool to help you avoid disgusting things."
Thanks to LeeAnn, for sending in this cool video made by a teacher to help kids understand why social distancing helps stay healthy. LeeAnn says it hits home for any age. And I agree!
Sorry, to get this out so late. Take care for the next month, and I'll be back touch.
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