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Lexi Kiecker: In March of 2020, restaurants across the nation that were once bustling with life, were quickly vacated due to the Covid-19 pandemic, left idle due to people staying at home. My name is Lexi Kiecker, and I sat down with three local restaurant and cafe owners in the Twin Cities who were able to stay open despite the challenges the last year and a half brought on them.

John Peterson: “My name is John Peterson, and my wife and I own Yellowbird.”

Jared Poling: “Yeah! So my name is Jared Poling. I am the co-owner of Honour.”

Michelle Kwan: “So, my full name is Michelle Kwan, I go by Kwan.”

Kiecker: Not everyone was as lucky. According to the Star Tribune, over 100 restaurants in the Twin Cities area have permanently closed their doors since March 2020. However, these 3 locally owned spots were able to get through the worst of the pandemic to see another day.

Kiecker: John Peterson and his wife opened Yellowbird about two years ago. 

Peterson: “Back in 2003 when we bought our house, my wife and I were sitting on the front porch, like many of our neighbors do. And I said to her, ‘What this neighborhood needs is a coffee shop.’ So we’d bounce an idea off of that and just riff on that and life would get in the way so we’d sit the conversation down. So we did that for almost 20 years, and one day when I came home from work, I was a principal in North Minneapolis, and I just said ‘I can’t do this anymore, I don’t want to do this anymore. You can’t make me go back to school!’ I felt like I was an 8th grade kid just ‘I don’t want to go to school tomorrow.’ Anyway, my wife put together a list of to-dos, and slowly but surely I was checking them off, and eventually I did all the things on the to-do list. And, here we have Yellowbird.”

Kiecker: Co-owner John Peterson recounted when news of the coronavirus was first starting to be talked about seriously in the U.S. 

Peterson: “So the lockdown hit I believe on a Wednesday. I might have the days wrong but um, that’s what sticks out in my mind. And um, before that it was – we’d get our coffee delivered on Tuesday. And I remember asking um, Bruce Olson who owns TruStone, ‘what do we do if we shut down? If we’re like California, if we’re like New York, if–?’ And he said, he just shrugged his shoulders and said ‘I don’t know what we do.’ And next thing you know we were shut down. And it was like a punch to the gut. It was just like- it knocked the wind out of me. I was like ‘Oof – ok.’”

Kiecker: The determined business owner had to strip back many aspects of Yellowbird in the last year, such as serving hot food and changing their hours. However, Peterson’s decisions helped the coffee bar stay afloat.

Peterson:“We couldn’t have been open if we had two shops, if we had three shops, if we had five shops. But we had one shop. And we could shrink our hours, we could control who was coming in, who was going to be here, and that was basically me. And then once it was ‘oh, ok this is good’ so then we put in our protocols about what we’re doing and our cleaning and all of that. And we made sure our staff followed it. And business was – business was solid. The neighbors really supported us.”

Kiecker: Peterson recognizes the need and place of large chains and online retailers, but wanted to highlight the importance and magic in supporting small local businesses not just during the pandemic, but always.

Peterson: “So I had this feeling before the pandemic hit, like I just want to support local, right? I just, I don’t really care about sending Jeff Bezos to space anymore. I just don’t want to do that. But when I have the choice, when I can, I will always go and support local, um, and I’ll try to get to know the owner. And it’s true, that there’s a little meme online going around that said someone’s doing a happy dance when you shop local. And it is true, it’s like when I’m serving coffee and people come in, I do a little happy dance inside. You can’t really see me, but it’s like I love to see people come and support me, and so why wouldn’t I then go out and support other locals?”

Kiecker: Like Peterson, Jared Poling, who owns Honour Coffee and Raw Juice with his brother, was thankful for the community that chose to show up for them throughout the pandemic. 

Poling: “We started it about five years ago and yeah, we’ve grown the business over the last few years. And it used to be called Empyre Coffee so we bought the Empyre Coffee business and then had already started the Honour brand and really wanted a place to kind of apply our branding and our concept to an existing coffee shop so we bought Empyre and yeah, it’s been a few years of a lot of changes so, it’s been really fun though.

Kiecker: Poling had to put in many hours in order to find a way to keep his business running.

Poling: “And I’ve been doing this full time for a few years, so I had time to figure out how to make it work. But my brother is full time at Target down in Minneapolis. So we just kind of sat there and said ‘well what do we do?’ Also a lot of our employees left, they moved back home with their parents, they didn’t feel comfortable working. And so in order to stay open we had two employees stay with us, and then my brother and I literally worked 6 a.m to 6 p.m five days a week um, and weekends on the morning shift, our one barista who stayed with us worked in the afternoons thankfully, and our baker thankfully stayed so we were really able to stay open. We didn’t close.”

Kiecker: Throughout the last year, the Poling brothers were able to grow their business instead of having to take things away like so many other cafes around the Twin Cities have had to do.

Poling: “We just kinda followed what the CDC and the city of Minneapolis asked us to do. That really was enough for us. We felt really confident in following those guidelines, and then we opened up when we could open up, and we shut down when we shut down.”

Kiecker: Honour has recently added acai bowls to their menu, and are in the middle of expanding their outdoor seating area. Poling credits their ambition for being the driving force behind being able to grow during this unforgiving time.

Poling: “We saw it as an opportunity to really be kind of a beacon for people, like every other place was shut down and we were really small and very nimble, really, a growing brand. I think we were a little more hungry than other shops because we are a newer brand. And so looking at Spyhouse or Fivewatt or Dogwood, they’re all within a few miles of us. And so they all really closed for a few months, where we stayed open. So we gained a lot of new business.”

Kiecker: Keefer Court Bakery and Cafe is located in Cedar-Riverside, near the West Bank campus of the University of Minnesota. The business has a rich history, as it was created in the early 80s by Kwan’s parents.

Kwan: “I am the daughter of the original owners of Keefer Court, and I’m in the process of taking over the business. My parents moved to Minnesota in 1983 and started Keefer court in this location, on the corner of Cedar and Riverside. It originally started as a bakery, a chinese bakery. And they eventually expanded it to a Chinese bakery and restaurant. And then, they added a fortune cookie division to that.”

Kiecker: Kwan’s father grew his fortune cookie division, building a factory off of 27th and Minnehaha in 1997. He supplied the majority of the midwest area with fortune cookies through suppliers. In 2017, he sold the fortune cookie division, deciding to focus solely on Keefer Court’s bakery and restaurant.

Kiecker: A lot of Michelle Kwan’s staff and customers were students, and as many went back home during the lockdown, she and her family wrestled with the idea of closing their doors. 

Kwan: “And so, um, so yeah. Things just slowly kinda came back, and I told a lot of customers you know, a lot of customers came and was appreciative that we were still open. And what I told them was like ‘Well if you come through the door, I’ll keep it open. It’s when you stop coming through the door, I don’t have a purpose to keep my doors open anymore.’ And so, our customer base and our clientele just really supported us in that, and really, you know, I thank the customers for continually supporting us during all of that, because if it wasn’t for them, Keefer Court would have perished during that pandemic like a lot of good, a lot of major restaurants did, especially locally owned ones, um, last year.”

Kiecker: Kwan felt lucky that they had just set up a credit card machine when they were a cash only business prior to the pandemic, and set up third party delivery systems like DoorDash and Uber Eats in the January before the lockdown.

Kwan: “So once the lockdown happened, we were already set up and prepared to continue to serve people.”

Kiecker: While Keefer Court was able to make a profit and continues to be open for business now, they are still closed for dine-in and have continued a mask policy for inside their store. 

Kwan: “Pre-COVID it would be jam packed in there, we would be lifting trays of buns over people’s heads. However, you know right now, we’re – we’re not feeling safe about packing so many people in such a small space without being able to socially distance, it is also really important to keep my staff safe and comfortable, and they were not really interested in doing dine-in. So, our plan is to kinda just wait and see how the fall and winter kind of play out, you know as students kind of come back to campus for classes and faculty is back. You know, we’ll see what the demand is and what the request is for dine-in seating for them because that’s kind of our major clientele during the school year, especially on the weekdays.”

Kiecker: Kwan encouraged those that wish her store was open for in-store dining to find and support one of the many other locally owned restaurants that populate Cedar-Riverside.

Kwan: “And so part of me is kind of like ‘Well I want to share the wealth, I want to share the love.’ And so if you can’t eat at Keefer Court for dine in but you really want to go dine-in, I would love for you to go find another local restaurant, um, that you can support, and help them get back up on their feet, and you know, help them make up for the lost from last year. You know I, for me it’s like, I think of it as: It’s nice to be at the top, right? But it gets lonely at the top when you’re by yourself. And so I don’t want to be greedy, I want everyone to come to the top with us and be successful and be profitable. Because it’s better to have a party at the top then be alone by yourself.”

Kiecker: Keefer Court, Yellowbird, and Honour are all currently open for business and are located in the Twin Cities. Special thanks to Michelle Kwan, John Peterson, and Jared Poling for sharing their stories. 

Georgia Southern is working towards making the newly-FDA-approved Pfizer vaccine available on campus.

We are taking steps now to allow us to obtain and administer the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on campus,” wrote Jennifer Wise, Director of Communications. “When we are ready to begin providing the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, we will communicate that to the campus community.”

Until then, the Pfizer vaccine can be found through local providers using the Vaccine Finder.

GS is still offering both Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. Moderna is still in the process of FDA approval, having started a little late to the game, but just because we’ll wait a little longer for Moderna’s approval doesn’t make it any less safe, Dr. Fauci told PBS.

Vaccine appointments are still available through GS. To schedule an appointment find “COVID-19 Information & Resources” on your MyGS page.

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For Fort Collins Deadheads, or fans of the psychedelic rock band the Grateful Dead, Friday night was a cathartic experience. The Grateful Dead are an American phenomenon known for their improvisational jams that can stretch for 10-15 minutes, their devoted group of hippie fans and their ability to meld musical genres together. The group officially […]

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Understanding the Evolving Bitcoin Market

Bitcoin has shown its value in recent years and captures the attention of retail and institutional investors. Today, the world has over 14 million tokens in circulation. The drivers of the current Bitcoin market capitalization are investors that speculate on this technology’s future possibilities. And this might continue until the world reaches a certain price stability measure and market acceptance for Bitcoin.

In addition to the Bitcoin price that people declare, investors depend on its perceived inherent value. And this includes the network and technology behind Bitcoin. Most people have faith in a decentralized network and cryptographic code.

Bitcoin’s underlying technology, blockchain, creates a public ledger that can potentially disrupt traditional transactions and the payment system. And this could include financial assets like bonds and stocks, whose records people store digitally, and trades that require verification by a trusted third party.

The Bitcoin market is likely to evolve at a pace that key participants will set, with legitimacy growth spurts characterizing it in what many call credentialing moments. The following key market players must play their roles for the Bitcoin market to move to its next phase in development toward stable expansion and mainstream acceptance.

Merchants and Consumers

Many consumers use Bitcoin for transactions because it provides faster and cheaper peer-to-peer payment options than traditional money offers. What’s more, Bitcoin transactions do not require them to disclose personal details. While Bitcoin’s acceptance as a payment method increases, speculative investments and price volatility encourage consumers to avoid using it to pay for services and goods and instead trade it.

Consequently, platforms like crypto trading system are becoming increasingly popular. Also called crypto or Bitcoin exchanges, these platforms connect buyers and sellers. People purchase Bitcoin on crypto exchanges using fiat money. And they play a crucial role in familiarizing consumers with Bitcoin and allowing them access to innovative services and offerings that traditional systems don’t offer.

Bitcoin provides low volatility risk and transaction fees due to instantaneous settlement from a merchant’s or business perspective. It also eliminates chargeback’s possibility.

Tech Developers

Some tech developers are more focused on Bitcoin’s entrepreneurial pursuits, like developing exchanges and digital wallets. Others are focusing on Bitcoin mining. Essentially, the Bitcoin market has started attracting talent with breadth, depth, and focus that will take the crypto industry to another level. However, corporations and consumers must see Bitcoin as a user-friendly solution to daily transactions to acquire mainstream acceptance. Additionally, the sector needs cybersecurity protocols and technology.

Investors

Many investors are confident about Bitcoin and cryptography opportunities. Bitcoin’s underlying technology has an inherent value that makes investors optimistic about it. Consequently, Bitcoin-based companies are attracting institutional investors. Needless to say that Bitcoin has hooked many retail investors worldwide.

Financial Institutions

Traditionally, people have used banks as a link for individuals with money and those requiring it. However, Bitcoin is diluting the banks’ middleman position. The banking sector’s disintermediation is evolving rapidly. Consequently, internet banking is rising with more consumers using alternative payment models like Google Wallet and Apple Pay. Advances like Bitcoin have also drawn a significant percentage of the population to mobile payments.

Regulators

Globally, governments have inconsistent attitudes towards Bitcoin. Ideally, governments have varying stances towards Bitcoin in terms of its legality and treatment. Also, regulators are changing their stands in different places.

The Future

Bitcoin represents the start of a technology-driven market that can potentially disrupt the conventional financial market strategies, regulatory perspectives, and business practices. At the same time, this virtual currency can benefit macroeconomic efficiency and consumers. Ideally, Bitcoin has a groundbreaking potential to enhance consumers’ access to a worldwide payment system that only technology restricts its access.

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In early August 2021, the College of Humanities received a $500,000 donation from the ESRR Humanities/Arts Endowment Fund at The Chicago Community Foundation. The donation will continue annually with no expiration date. 

“Seeing this incredible gift come to fruition has been the highlight of my advancement career so far,” said Lexie Kite, director of advancement at the College of Humanities. “These generous donors have committed to the College of Humanities in the most profound of ways. The impact of this gift — given each year in perpetuity — is hard to fathom. I look forward to seeing the ways our students, faculty and broader campus are supported by these new opportunities made possible by the ESRR Humanities/Arts Endowment Fund.”

According to Dean of the College of Humanities Stuart Culver, this donation will be put towards the college’s effort in hiring a professor for the ESRR Chair in English.

The English department is currently searching for a medieval or early modern professor to fill this position.

“Needless to say, this is a big and very welcome post-pandemic surprise,” said Scott Black, chair of the Department of English, in a press release. “Our department is honored to establish this prestigious presidential chair in literary history.”

Culver said the donation will help create an endowment large enough to cover a professor’s salary and their research needs. Additionally, it will help increase graduate student stipends.

“[Working in] humanities, when it comes to dollars and cents, we do not have the big-ticket items that, say, engineering, the sciences or the medical school might have,” Culver said. “We do not have to buy all that heavy equipment or need the large staff to maintain it. So the money for us goes directly into [our] people.”

The donation will also help fund a new creative writing residency program.

“The creative writing residency in the department of English will allow us to establish a six-week residency for prestigious writers from underrepresented backgrounds,” Kite said. “The writer in residency will mentor our students, work with our faculty [and] provide a public talk or reading.”

Many people within the College of Humanities are appreciative of this donation’s focus on the Department of English.

“This [donation] gives us a kind of shot in the arm,” Culver said. “In a way, [it gives] a calling [of] attention to what is going on in one of our stronger departments.”

The donation was submitted through the Chicago Community Foundation as the donors wish to be kept anonymous.

“Just in terms of recognizing that the donors prefer to remain anonymous, I think is [noteworthy] in and of itself,” Culver said. “In a way, it is just as interesting and intriguing as if it were Fred and Ethel Mertz. It is significant how they think about doing their charitable work, and then delivering it to people [while] remaining anonymous behind foundations and things of that sort.” 

The College of Humanities has received several donations in the past, but this donation is the first of its caliber for the college.

“We have [previously] received one-time gifts of this size, but never a gift of this size that will be given each year,” said Kite. “At $500,000 per year for countless years to come, this gift is the most impactful we have ever received.”

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With COVID-19 cases surging this past month many hospitals’ Intensive care units are nearing full capacity.

As of August 25 the (NEDOCS) National Emergency Department Overcrowding Scale puts East Georgia Regional Medical Center’s (EGRMC) emergency department as ‘severely overcrowded’. 

While speaking to EGRMC marketing director, Erin Spillman the George-Anne learned that they are currently caring for 60 both critical and non-critical COVID-19 patients. “Anytime our ICU reaches capacity, we have plans in place to provide quality care for any additional critical care patients that are present in our facility,” said Spillman. 

When dealing with COVID-19 patients EGRMC has a separate area where they provide care based on the severity of the patient, Spillman said.

Very few of our current patients are vaccinated,” said Spillman, but that they continue to vaccinate their employees weekly. Along with normal residents of Bulloch county, GS students can also receive care at EGRMC if needed . 

Along with COVID-19 surges, it has also been difficult to receive a COVID test in the Statesboro area.

Students and residents can look for a white drive thru tent in Downtown Statesboro to receive a free COVID test in the parking lot located on the East side of Railroad street, between Hill street and Courtland street.

Testing is also available at other sites such as Statesboro Urgent care located at 1176 Brampton Avenue. As well as the South Georgia Immediate Care Center located at 1096 Bermuda Run Road. 

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Ashley Grice became the new Pride Resource Center director at Colorado State University in June after completing her doctorate in social and comparative analysis in education at Carnegie Mellon University. Grice is returning to CSU after working as a residence director from 2012-15.  According to Grice, the community and connection at CSU, specifically the Pride […]

Aaron Diamant, the Vice Chancellor of Communications at University System of Georgia (USG), spoke about USG guidelines on masks and vaccinations.

Georgia Southern Medical Director, Dr. Brian Deloach, answered questions about university policy on masking, social distancing and vaccination as well as where the university is getting their guidelines from and what other measures students can take to protect themselves against illness.

Georgia Southern does not mandate students, faculty or staff to get the COVID-19 vaccine to participate in co-curricular activities, attend classes, or live on campus. However, partnering organizations may require students to show proof of vaccination in order to complete their internship, externship, and study abroad programs.

“While we urge vaccination for everyone, we recognize it is an individual decision to receive one and not required to be on our campuses,” Aaron Diamant, the Vice Chancellor of Communications at the University System of Georgia, said.

The university does not require face coverings or masks except inside the Health Center, the intercampus shuttle and the football game day shuttle.

The university strongly encourages students to wear a mask even if they are vaccinated.

“Messaging from the Georgia Department of Public Health and CDC have specifically and repeatedly emphasized the importance of vaccination and mask use, and has made it clear that vaccination is the primary means to end this pandemic. While the other strategies I listed are important in our everyday lives, we have tried to align our messaging with GDPH and CDC in order to reinforce and support the importance of vaccination and mask use, with a special emphasis on vaccination,” Deloach said.

The Delta variant may spread faster and cause more infections than previous variants of the virus, according to recent research.

“Therefore, even if you are fully vaccinated, it is important to maximize your protection from the Delta variant and prevent the potential spread of the disease to others. Because no single intervention is perfect at preventing the spread of COVID-19, it is important that we use multiple interventions to bring an end to this pandemic,” Deloach said.

These interventions include wearing masks, social distancing, and getting vaccinated.

“We also strongly encourage everyone to wear a mask or face covering while inside campus facilities and practice the good hygiene and health habits,” Diamant said.

In addition, students can take the following steps to boost their immune system and protect themselves against illness:

1. Washing their hands after touching shared surfaces,
2. Avoiding touching their face
3. Wearing a face covering when indoors and/or in large crowds
4. Covering their coughs and sneezes with an elbow or tissue
5. Avoiding close contact with others when they are sick
6. Getting a good night’s sleep
7. Exercising regularly
8. Eating a well-balanced diet

To learn more about Fall 2021 USG guidelines, visit their website and read their Fall 2021 guidance from May 2021.

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccines, visit Georgia Southern’s COVID-19 Vaccination Distribution, read COVID-19 Vaccine Virtual Town Hall, or watch COVID Vaccines Unmasked: Questions and Answers from an Immunologist.

To learn more about how to protect yourself against COVID-19, contact the CARES center at covidsupport@georgiasouthern.edu or 912-478-CARE with your COVID-19 questions, read the Georgia Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 guidance, or visit Georgia Southern’s COVID-19 information page.

The George-Anne Inkwell will keep students updated on university COVID-19 guidance as it becomes available.

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