Saturday Serendipity (March 21, 2020)

The following are recommended reads for this week:

1.   Jacqi Stevens of A Family Tapestry blog had a thoughtful post this week about keeping a diary regarding the real-time experience of living in the time of this Covid19 pandemic. This reverberation of the fear and devastation caused by the 1918 influenza pandemic could be preserved for descendants as an important narrative in a family history.  As one who possesses a single postcard from a grandfather to his mother after coming down with 1918 flu during the less lethal first wave, I often wish I had more written documents from him about what he and his fellow soldiers experienced.  You can read Jacqi's post here.

2.   And speaking of documenting the real-time experiences of this pandemic crisis, The Weekly Genealogist of NEHGS linked to a story of how this pandemic disrupted a long planned genealogy research trip to Germany.  You can read the story here.

3.   Taking to heart the suggestion of Jacqi metioned above, Marian Wood of Climbing My Family Tree blog, posted on Thursday a message to "Dear future generations . . . " titled "Future Family History: Living through a Pandemic."  You can read Marian's message here. 

4.   This week Heather Rojo of Nutfield Genealogy blog, posted about the pandemic experience she and her husband had with a long-planned cruise around South America beginning in Santiago, Chile.  Her post will also serve as a message to the future about one of her personal expereinces with the pandemic.  "The Cruise Vacation That Wasn't" is full of nice photos of Santiago after what became an aborted cruise.  Read the post and view the photos here. 

5.   As the 2020 Census invitations are rolling out, we are seeing an increase in blog posts about the Census (for example, see the post by Janine Adams of Organize Your Family History blog "The 2020 Census is here!").  TIME has joined the voices focusing on the Census with an article by Jennifer Mendelsohn titled "The U.S. Census is More Than Just a Form. It's a Window Into the History of American Families."  You can read the article online here.

6.   During this time of massive social disruption here in the U.S. and around the world, John M. Barry–author of perhaps the seminal history of the 1918 Influenza pandemic–offered an opinion essay in the New York Times this week about "The Single Most Important Lesson From the 1918 Influenza." I highy recommend you read it here.    

7.   And finally (with credit to meine Schwester for calling it to my attention), here is a master class in crisis leadership during this Covid19 pandemic.  It is a video shown on YouTube of Angela Merkel addressing the German nation about the pandemic.  Compare and contrast .  .  .

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Copyyright 2020, John D. Tew

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