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Many of us have experienced restrictions on movement and social contact during the pandemic. Talk about any restrictions that have especially affected you.
By "restrictions," I refer to the necessary precautions we must take to ensure that the virus does not spread to us or through us. My husband has Stage 4 prostate cancer. My cousin is in hospice with cancer. Our two families are the best of friends and the two of them (my cousin and my husband) used to have gigs playing guitar together a few times a year. We used to go to listen to live music, in town and out of town, and they hosted house concerts as well. None of this is safe during the pandemic, regardless of outdoor venues and social distancing guidelines. The photo is of a country road in Southwest Illinois, taken yesterday evening on a drive. On a normal Saturday evening, we would have been accompanied by my cousin and his wife, and our destination would have been somewhere to listen to music. While we are fortunate to have classic VWs to take out for a ride, and being able to afford the gasoline, it is still a lonely road. The sun is setting on their lives, and we can't spend these last days together doing what we all love.
September 28, 2020
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
School's out for summer! (I am a 1st grade teacher.) In our last staff meeting our principal asked us to list things we never want to hear or do again after this crazy year. Here's a partial list: I never want to hear these words/phrases again: *Asynchronous/ synchronous *Roomies and Zoomies (our way of addressing the two groups we were teaching - Roomies are in class with me and Zoomies are on the video conference screen) *You're muted! *Push your mute button *type it in the chat *pull up your mask... yes, over your nose too *don't touch me/him/that *social distance I never want to do these things again: *have two sets of students-some in my classroom and others at home *teach on Google Meet *refuse a hug from a 6 year old because of social distancing *tell kids they can't play near each other or help each other or share materials *sit kids at desks 6 ft apart and tell them they can't leave their desk area ALL DAY *teach everything in whole group lessons because we can't have socially-distanced reading groups or learning centers *go an entire year without meeting a student or their parent face to face *go an entire year with inviting family members of my students to the classroom/school *teach with a mask on (this one still might be around next school year though...) Covid-19 has really helped me see the beauty and importance in so much of what we did in the past, and made me long for just an average school day! I can't wait to get back to normal!
June 25, 2021