Writing for yesterday . . .
I was under pressure to get stuff done, so I did. Less news, more action.
I wrote up a journal assignment with help from some sources that Beth had sent me. I prepped for the two Zoom calls, trying to make everything as organized as I could.
I took a short walk to talk on the phone with my 98-year-old friend Al because I urgently wanted to share with him that Giant was opening its stores to only the elderly and the vulnerable 6am-7am every morning starting on Friday. I want him to go at that time so that he will have less exposure to the virus. If I can't convince him to stay home, maybe I can at least convince him to reduce his risk. He laughed at me and proceeded to tell me a story about how he went to Giant today because he had lost his remote for his hearing aid there. I tried to be insistent, and he acted as though I had told him that he needed to adopt a pet monkey; to him, my suggestion was that ridiculous. He explained to that he goes to the store at 9 and walks the whole store to get his exercise, he said.
I ordered a leash and a harness so that I can walk the dog next door without
Later I had two Zoom calls--one with my African American literature class and another with my College Composition I class. I was surprised at how well the technology worked. I had a few glitches with it, but in general, we were able to communicate and share ideas. The breakout rooms worked particularly well. I'm definitely still learning, but the calls were both productive in terms of establishing some sense of normalcy and moving forward with our work for the class.
I asked each student about his/her work and family. It was so good to interact with them, to see their familiar faces, even if it was on my computer. We laughed. I didn't sense a lot of urgency in general. They don't seem to have a sense of the big picture impact of the situation. A huge number of them work in restaurants. They think they are just on a two week break; they don't seem to grasp the likelihood that the restaurant business is going to tank completely. A couple of my students work in grocery stores and were exhausted. One of them who works at Trader Joe's is due to have a baby any day. One student talked about how he got hurt at work and the emergency room referred him to another place because they were busy preparing for COVID-19. I didn't fully understand his story, but it seems as though people with minor injuries are being displaced already. A couple of students work in daycare centers. One student works in an assisted living facility and described how residents have to eat alone in their rooms and can't have visitors.
And one student was sick. See the other post about her.
The College Composition class was interested in writing about social distancing instead of about mandatory voting. More on that in a different post.
At the end, I was exhausted and excited and riled up. It was great to interact with people, great to be teaching. And terrifying to look into the future and see how much struggle is ahead. I really couldn't wrap my head around it. So I just went and took a bath and fell asleep in the tub.
I was under pressure to get stuff done, so I did. Less news, more action.
I wrote up a journal assignment with help from some sources that Beth had sent me. I prepped for the two Zoom calls, trying to make everything as organized as I could.
I took a short walk to talk on the phone with my 98-year-old friend Al because I urgently wanted to share with him that Giant was opening its stores to only the elderly and the vulnerable 6am-7am every morning starting on Friday. I want him to go at that time so that he will have less exposure to the virus. If I can't convince him to stay home, maybe I can at least convince him to reduce his risk. He laughed at me and proceeded to tell me a story about how he went to Giant today because he had lost his remote for his hearing aid there. I tried to be insistent, and he acted as though I had told him that he needed to adopt a pet monkey; to him, my suggestion was that ridiculous. He explained to that he goes to the store at 9 and walks the whole store to get his exercise, he said.
I ordered a leash and a harness so that I can walk the dog next door without
Later I had two Zoom calls--one with my African American literature class and another with my College Composition I class. I was surprised at how well the technology worked. I had a few glitches with it, but in general, we were able to communicate and share ideas. The breakout rooms worked particularly well. I'm definitely still learning, but the calls were both productive in terms of establishing some sense of normalcy and moving forward with our work for the class.
I asked each student about his/her work and family. It was so good to interact with them, to see their familiar faces, even if it was on my computer. We laughed. I didn't sense a lot of urgency in general. They don't seem to have a sense of the big picture impact of the situation. A huge number of them work in restaurants. They think they are just on a two week break; they don't seem to grasp the likelihood that the restaurant business is going to tank completely. A couple of my students work in grocery stores and were exhausted. One of them who works at Trader Joe's is due to have a baby any day. One student talked about how he got hurt at work and the emergency room referred him to another place because they were busy preparing for COVID-19. I didn't fully understand his story, but it seems as though people with minor injuries are being displaced already. A couple of students work in daycare centers. One student works in an assisted living facility and described how residents have to eat alone in their rooms and can't have visitors.
And one student was sick. See the other post about her.
The College Composition class was interested in writing about social distancing instead of about mandatory voting. More on that in a different post.
At the end, I was exhausted and excited and riled up. It was great to interact with people, great to be teaching. And terrifying to look into the future and see how much struggle is ahead. I really couldn't wrap my head around it. So I just went and took a bath and fell asleep in the tub.
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