Bidley is a Temple student who's been reliably typing and transcribing stories for us for the past four months. Today, we're celebrating his hard work with a collection of some of the stories he worked on:
Frances Bryce
08.17.2021
Decisions That Affect Others
Sunday’s Inquirer included a timely opinion article of the antivaxxers. She called them bullies and who are immune to reason, and the needless appeal to science, common sense and decency is missing so stop begging and pleading. She included a school meeting about vaccine and mask when a deranged dad said to the professional staff “We will find you.” He screamed, and a group berated them as they tried to drive away to the medical facility where many beds were occupied by patients who refused to get vaccinated. One man said his wife was released early, so the staff could take care of Covid 19 patients who had been vaccinated.
This was a timely article, since I had learned that my niece and her ex are soon to be wedded again in 2022, I was taken aback that they had not been vaccinated. The ex and my niece live in Maryland. Philadelphia was the venue, and he was in charge of the sound system and other necessary equipment for the band that would perform in Philadelphia. He learned that he was required to be vaccinated or have a Covid 19 test 72 hours before the event. He just made the date for the test in order to be able to satisfy the condition for the task at hand the last day before leaving town for Philadelphia.
Somehow my niece my niece was not able to get the test hence she and I would not be able to get the test hence she and I would not be able to attend the session. I was disappointed because although I was legal, I could not go and leave her alone. We had a later discussion about the decision not to have gotten the vaccine. The FDA had not officially approved it, which was a process rather than a problem with the vaccine, then the news that it changed one’s DNA, only initially, then the DNA returned to the former. I tried to correct these issues and suggested that the people who are qualified to answer these questions, should be the ones to listen and follow the science.
This realization for him would have affected many others, when the venue was held, the band, customers who came to the venue, and if he was not vaccinated, testing every two weeks. Plus, his soon to be his wife again, she would benefit and realize that she was not the only one affected by her decision not to be vaccinated. I was disappointed that I could not attend without leaving her behind. We are not an island and often affect others without thinking of the, “not only I am affected by decisions made.”
Eleanor Kazdan
07.02.2020
The Past Is Three Months Ago
So I’ve been thinking about memories and memoirs lately in a different way since life just seems different. Most of the memoirs that I’ve written in the class for the past two years have been based on memories and events of my childhood or at least of many years ago. So where did the past start? Now I have a different perception of the past.
As for most of us the past starts more than three months ago. Simple things I took for granted are now a part of the past. Hugging and kissing friends, sharing food, traveling to Mexico and other foreign countries, the list goes on and on. A crazy thing is watching movies and programs where people are in bars and thinking, “Oh my God, they are not social distancing, they are not wearing masks.” And then you say be careful. I think all of us have this visceral reaction in seeing those events now. It's just crazy the way things just seem in the past.
Seeing my family in Canada was a thing of the past, but I’m happy to say that at this present time I am in Toronto bonding with my 5 year old grandson Aaron. It has turned out to be a special time. By strict order of the Canadian government, I have to quarantine for 14 days. They can check on you by emailing and calling you. One time, my husband answered one of their calls but there was nobody there. They put fear in you, you know so that you feel you have to quarantine and I believe we should anyway. But yeah, there's a huge penalty for not doing it so that fear is enough to make you obey the quarantine. Usually we stay a brief 3 days visiting, but now it will be about 21 days. Despite my resistance and almost dread it has turned out to be a blessing.
If you want to transcribe for Best Day, then email us at info@bestdayofmylifesofar.org. You can also share our older buds' adventures by donating to Best Day, subscribing to our newsletter, sending a note to our older buds, or following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And if you or the older buds have stories for the month of February, then you or they can submit stories through our portal right here. We're especially interested to stories from Black older buds, but we're always looking for stories from older buds of color, older buds with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ older buds, older buds of any gender or sex, older buds of any religion, and older buds who just plain break the mold.
And don't forget to maintain contact with the older buds in your life. If you can't be there in person, please call them, email them, or message them on social media. And if they're using teleconferencing or remote events for the first time, give them a call and help them set things up. Check in on them to see how well they're getting used to these programs. Buy them a computer or an internet package if they don't have one of their own. It's a human right, after all.
Curated by Caitlin Cieri