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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
This has been a tough week. Covid fatigue is one thing. Anxiety about the elections another...those feelings I’ve been dealing with fine, I thought. After flipping back and forth between the town halls and such different visions of what represents America and who we are, and who we want to be, left me reeling. I don’t watch the news so am pretty insular to such a stark difference. It left me numb And unmotivated to do much... my screen time is up as I surf YouTube for something, anything to lift my spirits ... Well not just anything as cute puppy and adorable kittens feel too immature and wasted. I need knowledge, I need to learn something, I need to feel that somehow in the midst of all the divisiveness in the country knowledge is power and I can take back mine some how. So tiptoeing past TikTok, no politics, and no conspiracy theories is not necessarily an easy journey. A crystal in my window gave me this prism on the wall. The colors danced and shimmered and got lighter and brighter from moment to moment. It gave me hope that the dark cloud i felt settling over me might be held at bay somehow. If the smallest bit of light can change a dull flat empty white space to a reminder of joy, and color however brief the encounter, then maybe there can be some sort of symbiotic energy transfer to my soul. Then i realized I have a choice each day to decide if I want to carry forth the lasting shimmer of possibility, or the blank emptiness of the white void. That choice is mine to make, and is the start of taking back my power.
October 27, 2020
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My children are grown. But I am a teacher and I can tell you first hand that this pandemic is affecting the education of children. This is not normal and education will not be normal. There is no way to make it normal. Distance learning is not a substitute for in class learning. This should put to rest all the aspersions on teachers and the implication that teachers can be replaced by technology. Simply untrue. That said, the children will be fine. Most will catch up quickly. They are sponges. In addition, our curriculum is overloaded. Not everything needs to be taught in every year. Those who struggle will require extra help. Maybe a lot of kids will graduate a year or two later. THAT'S OK! In the long run, they will be fine. This will not do any permanent damage. For now, we need to focus on basic needs of survival. Kids can't learn without those needs being met anyhow. So, sending them to school stressed or scared, making them sit far away from friends, not having the usual closeness that a classroom provides, will not help them learn anyway. Let's get through this first. Teachers will help them catch up. We've got this!
July 8, 2020