thoughts about ish
We assigned an article to the students to read and then respond to this week (and last week, but is that important?) and we get most of the articles we assign them from Kelly Gallagher's Article of The Week website. It's great. And I cannot wait to be doing this next year with my own classes every week. Or like every other week. I don't know. It didn't work that great last year when we did it, but then again we also were not very consistent with it. Anyway, it's an articles that was posted a couple weeks ago so when I wrote my response I had to considering how things have actually been during this time. I definitely think I ramble and don't actually ever get to my point but it is sort of there... Maybe. I don't know. It depends how much stock you put into the COVID-19 pandemic. And if you ever understand what I'm trying to say. So enjoy. *I went to post this for JDKC and then realized this is not going to make any sense because I am referring to an article that no one would have ever read. So here it is: "How Long Will Schools Need to Be Closed. An Expert Weights In" Thursday, April 9, 2020: Last night I re-read the article we assigned for you all to read this week - I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t read the things I told you to read - and so many things stood out to me. So much stood out to me that I didn’t know where I would start in writing my response to it and I looked to the “Possible Response Questions” for answers. Last night there was a line that struck me as so profound that it was what I wanted to write about it (one of the questions is “pick a word/line/passages and respond to it”), then I forgot what it was when I re-read it again tonight. And then it was the entirety of the final question and answer that I realized was important: How do you see that playing out? I think that most Americans are psychologically not prepared for the calamity that is sweeping through their country right now. This lack of imagination, the failure to recognize what happened in China, Iran and Italy, can also happen here, will cost America dearly. Imagine what would happen to the U.S. economy if New York City becomes Wuhan or Milan. And it seems to me that this is going to happen very soon. We need to keep in mind of when this article was written (March 26, 2020), so things have happened and changed and we’ve seen how this has started to affect us. Dr. Fung was completely right though - we were not prepared for this to happen. We were not prepared for a shutdown that would last six weeks or more. I know that I wasn’t ready. I am a social person - mostly, sometimes - and I thrive in situations where I am around my friends. I have more bad days than good when I spend extended periods of time not seeing them. Thank you to Google Meets and Zoom and Netflix Party, I’m able to have some kind of social activity, but as for the rest of it - the part where we are staying in our homes and not supposed to visit family members - I thought we could get passed quickly. I was hopeful. In no way did I think that shutting down schools was a bad decision and I am happy to have the opportunities I do have to connect with students. But I didn’t think being home with my dad all the time would ever become boring. We’ve managed to keep things fun by staying in our respective offices all day and then really only connecting at the end of the day for dinner and to watch some TV. I don’t think any of us could have expected to take nearly a month to adjust and get used to the new way of learning. I only just managed to figure out how I would spend every day and it took three weeks to find something that worked for me as an adult. The way we could have been mentally prepared for this is if the country had been preparing as a whole for something that might happen. Some adults in charge could have been like “hey we could end up like China and Italy and need to go into isolation for the sake of keeping everyone healthy, so maybe plan the changes that will happen to make this transition seamless.” But no one did. Also with states that have beaches opening their beaches after only a couple weeks closed, accomplishing a “complete block to all transmission chains and to drive the virus to extinction” appears to be a little ways off still. Stay safe and get outside if the weather clears up this weekend, When I ended this originally I wrote about how much I actually miss running... I haven't been able to run all week because every time I go to go running it is raining. The rain does me no good at all because I won't go out in it. I don't care. Until someone creates waterproof running shoes (and I need new running shoes anyway) I will not be running in the rain. Which means I am going to have to re-do some of my runs from the previous weeks because I won't remember how to run a 90-second - 3-minute interval without dying.
I also started running at the cemetery because it's pretty freaking cool. Also it was incredibly cold in some of the spots I ran so hopefully the spirits don't get mad at me for visiting my mother every other day and then running. It's a very flat surface and no one bothers me and there's no risk of catching the corona at the cemetery. Anyway, happy thursday. Stay Safe and Healthy xo, Jax
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AuthorJust a 20something trying to get by in life. Archives
April 2020
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