How the pandemic reshaped
my way of thinking
BY SETH BERRY
Staff Writer
Before life returned closer
to what we know as “normal”
in the state of Michigan and
in the country at large, many
of us experienced enormous
changes in our lives caused
by COVID-19 and how the
government implemented
rules that we had to adjust to,
whether we liked it or not.
For me, that meant finish-
ing out my academic career
at Western Michigan
University in the fall of 2020
in a virtual format and watch-
ing my graduation
Commencement on a com-
puter screen (the school is
inviting us back this upcom-
ing fall for a standard
Commencement).
Of course, I was far from
alone in having to make
adjustments from a school
standpoint, but I struggled
with the virtual format—not
in an academic sense as my
grades held up perfectly
fine—but more so in a social
sense.
When I was a student at
WMU, I got involved with
the student newspaper and
eventually became the sports
editor for the Western Herald,
so I was used to spending
several hours a week at
games, practices and press
conferences between my
schoolwork. On top of that, I
coached (and still coach) two
youth soccer teams, so when
sports were put on hold, that
took a toll on me as they
were a huge part of what I
did on and away from cam-
pus. I felt lost with my rou-
tine being thrown off, but
eventually found ways to
adjust until things slowly got
back to ‘normal.’
Overall, I believe shutting
down schools had damaging
impacts, especially on
younger, non-college aged
students. At the same time, I
think a lot of us may have
learned a thing or two about
ourselves and how to adjust
to life when the ultimate cur-
veball is thrown your way,
which included trying to find
creative ways to keep stu-
dents (and ourselves)
engaged in settings that were
less than ideal at times.
After I graduated, I was
fortunate enough to be hired
by the ad-visor&chronicle
after a couple months of job
hunting. I started off part-
time and wrote a story here
or there, which meant doing
a majority of my work from
home and outside the office.
But shortly after, when I was
hired full-time, I felt fortu-
nate to be able to come into
an office five days a week to
get work done, because I
know not all companies had
not gotten to the point of
allowing their workers to
return in person.
My outlook on work is
similar to that of school. I
find the benefits of working
in-person to outweigh the
at-home format because I
find less distractions in the
workplace compared to at
home and am overall more
efficient in an office environ-
ment. I also think it’s easier
to work together as a teamwhen a face-to-face environ-
ment is possible at least part
of the time.
In the same breath, I could
definitely see this working
the other way as far as work
is concerned. For those who
have a long commute to get
to work, cutting out that drive
could save one to two hours a
day and allow more time to
complete work from home.
And for those who find them-
selves maybe a little too chat-
ty in the office with their
coworkers, maybe working
from home allows them to
focus on a higher level—so it
is quite easy to see both the
pros and cons of working
away from the office and
how it depends on the type of
person as to whether it works
for them.
A couple of weeks ago, a
friend sent me a link to an
interesting article about a
study about work. The article
from BBC.com cites trials of
a four-day work week in
Iceland from 2015 to 2019 in
which workers were paid the
same amount for shorter
hours. The trials were an
“overwhelming success” and
have reportedly led to many
workers moving to shorter
hours.
The trials conducted by
Reykjavik City Council andthe national government
included 2,500 people and
found that productivity
remained the same or
improved in most workplac-
es. The trials led unions to
renegotiate their working
patterns and now 86% of
Iceland’s workforce have
either moved to shorter hours
for the same pay or will gain
the right to, according to the
article.
In addition, workers in the
trial reported feeling less
stressed and said their health
and work-life balance had
improved.
The findings make me
wonder what our country can
do better and if there is a way
to find solutions for people
who may struggle to find a
good life balance and how
workplaces can make life
easier on people struggling
with that balance to make for
an overall happier and health-
ier society.
I believe there were too
many things we had to adjust
to over these last 16 months
and am relieved to see most
everything back to normal.
But at the same time, maybe
the changes we were forced
to make opened our eyes to
some new approaches as well
such as the study out of
Iceland did.By DONALD
WEBERLING
Post Service Officer
American Legion Post #
Marshall
I am trying to help a
Vietnam Navy Veteran with
an Agent Orange related VA
claim. We worked on this
several years ago for about
two years and came up with
nothing, because of several
things.
The Veterans pay records
proving he was in Vietnam
twice, we tried to get them,
but the Navy lost them or put
them where they are not sup-
posed to be. We asked VA
Claims for a copy of his file
in the Detroit office over a
year ago and they said they
would send it. He has never
received it! So, we will have
to make a second request for
it.
When we first asked filed
his claim about four years
ago, the VA told us they had
requested his records several
times and were waiting for
them. We are very suspicious
about that and wondering if
they ever did get them. That
is why we would like to see
his file and see if that is why
they said they had no proof of
his Vietnam service. Years
ago, I got to a lady that tried
to help me get his records. It
was so complicated I could
not get to the right place and
had to give up because I got
sick. I got all of his informa-
tion from him again, and I
checked with a friend of mine
again at B.C. VA Medical
Center for a little direction. Iput in a call for some help
from a VSO in Detroit for
help trying to get his military
pay records!
That person was not in,
and I have a promise for a
phone call back It is just a
fact of life when working
with the military - hurry up
and wait!
I have reconnected with a
Marine Veteran that I got to
100% with the VA about
three years ago. I left a note
in his mailbox, and he called
me, and we talked for a while.
Since then, his daughter
called me and said he was
having surgery. I need to call
and check his status!
What is next in Marshall, I
have not heard of any booze
festivals being planned
between now and Veteran’s
Day! I heard the fair is back
on - the volunteers came
back!
Don’t forget Larry at
Veterans Helping Veterans in
Springfield for free house-
hold items! Donations
accepted and volunteer help
needed!
That is all for now! Keep
Old Glory flying high and
often! If you need help or
need to talk, call 269-275-
9440 anytime!VETERANS’
CORNER
By JOHN HENDLER
Editor-in-Chief
Watching Jeff Bezos and
his group blast off in the
Blue Origin New Shepard
rocket July 20 was quite a
sight to see. The same could
be said of Richard Branson’s
Virgin Galactic Unity 22 a
couple weeks ago, but it was
New Shepard which brought
me back to the Apollo mis-
sions I watched on TV as a
kid. (Plus, the date, July 20
was the same date when Neil
Armstrong took those first
steps on the Moon followed
by Buzz Aldrin.)
I have a pretty hazy mem-
ory of that night as a 5-year-
old, being awakened by my
dad to see the images on our
19” TV set. I remember him
telling me that astronauts
were going to walk on the
Moon, and I was fighting to
stay awake when Armstrong
took those first steps. But
that’s all I remember.
Still, as future missions
would blast off, I was watch-
ing – always on CBS with
Walter Cronkite.
The idea of space travel
seemed so exciting, and my
friends and I used to pretend
we were astronauts, cram-
ming ourselves into my
friend’s mom’s lime green
AMC Gremlin which served
as our space capsule.
So, as I watched Bezos
and company lift off and
enter space and come back
down, those images brought
back some happy childhood
memories.
Another set of childhood
memories that jump to the
forefront of my mind are
those of watching the
Olympics on TV.
My first Olympics were
the 1972 winter games in
Sapporo, Japan. I don’t
remember much about it, but
I do remember watching
quite a bit when I was stuck
in bed with the flu and watch-
ing on this tiny 7” Philco TV
set.
By the summer games that
year in Munich, I knew the
names of many of the ath-
letes and remember watching
Jim McKay (the absolute
best) as he described the
unfolding thrills, drama and
tragedy- from Dave Wottle’s
amazing 800-meter win to
Frank Shorter’s marathon
win (despite an imposter run-
ning ahead of him) to Russian
gymnast Olga Korbut to the
controversial defeat by the
U.S. men’s basketball team
to the Russians to massacre
of the 11 Israeli athletes and
coaches by the Palestinian
terrorist group Black
September, I officially
became a sports and news
junkie.
By 1976 I was an Olympics
aficionado, watching as
much as I could of the winter
games in Innsbruck and the
summer games in Montreal. I
was such a nerd that I wrote
on the calendar each day how
many hours of the Olympics
I watched and kept a diary
describing what I had
watched. Plus, I won a Big
Mac in the McDonald’s
scratch off game after Leon
Spinks won the boxing light
heavyweight gold medal.
Sadly, the good old’
Olympics days ended for me
after the 1984 summer
games, which was also the
last summer games ABC and
Jim McKay would host.
Starting in 1988 the summer
Olympics went to NBC and
after that my excitement for
the games lessened.Childhood memories
of rockets and
the Olympics
I don’t remember watching
more than a couple hours of
the Seoul games in 1988,
mainly due to the fact I was
working two jobs that sum-
mer and also because Jim
McKay/ABC wasn’t hosting.
For the Barcelona games in
1992, I was one of the three
people in the U.S. who paid
for the Triple Cast, the
three-channel pay-per-view
enterprise set up by NBC. I
watched very little of that,
mainly due to the time differ-
ence and also because I had to
go to bed early each night to
wake up for work at 4 a.m.
As a new parent in 1996, I
missed most of the Atlanta
games out of exhaustion and
then sadness after my mother
died a few days before the
closing ceremonies.
In 2000, I had just moved
to Italy as the summer games
in Sydney got underway and
missed the entire two weeks
of competition because our
little American TV could not
pick up a strong enough sig-
nal of the Italian network
showing the games.
I won’t whine about not
watching much in 2004, 2008
and 2012 except to say, I
hated NBC’s way of holding
key competitions until prime
time and then broadcasting
them on tape delay hours
later.
I did watch more of the
Olympics in 2016 from Rio,
mainly because there was
only a one-hour time differ-
ence, but I found the non-stop
cheerleading for the U.S. ath-
letes a bit too much to take
24/7.
I know people want to see
the U.S. athletes, but it would
appear at times NBC treated
the Olympics as if there were
no other nations there.
As the Tokyo Olympics get
underway, I resolve to be less
cynical and will make the
effort to watch as much of
these Olympics as I can,
despite the 13-hour time dif-
ference and despite NBC’s
style of covering the games.
There are more channels than
ever to watch the coverage
and a lot of it will be live, so
hopefully there will be less of
the “live” on tape delay cov-
erage.
I want to get excited about
the Olympics again, and who
knows, maybe I’ll even write
down how many hours I
watched and bring back the
Olympic diary.By 1976 I was an
Olympics aficiona-
do, watching as
much as I could of
the winter games in
Innsbruck and the
summer games in
Montreal. I was
such a nerd that I
wrote on the calen-
dar each day how
many hours of the
Olympics I watched
and kept a diary
describing what I
had watched. Plus,
I won a Big Mac in
the McDonald’s
scratch off game
after Leon Spinks
won the boxing light
heavyweight gold
medal.SELL YOUR
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