Day 30, April 15, 2020

Fire and Water

Today was a tired eye day. I think maybe this is what happens when you sit in front of screens non-stop all day long for thirty days. When I used to teach English, occasionally I would get behind in grading (occasionally, I say!) and I would have to pull an all nighter to get caught up with student essays, and all the rest of the waking hours my eyes would feel like this. Or sometimes, after a late night Thursday gig at the Sierra Grille, the next day feels a little like this. 

It has continued to be cold out, and aside from a few hours when I let the wood stove die, a fire has been burning all day. I did see a daffodil this morning... though I forgot to take a picture. The sun was out, but for all its optimistic presence, the temperature seemed to stay below fifty. It will be nice once it starts to get warmer. 

A slowly growing fire pit.

In anticipation of warmer days, one of my COVID-19 dalliances has been creating a fire pit down by the river. Each day at noon, I try to walk Franklin down to the Sawmill River, give him a chance to prance around while I get some fresh air, try to focus on objects further than 3 feet from my face, and stretch my legs. And while we are down by the river, while Franklin tears up knotweed or barks at the rough water, I pick a few stones to add to the fire pit. I picked a knotweed clump to serve as my fire pit base (part of my knotweed eradication attempt), and just today saw the beginnings of the new shoots starting to poke up out of the earth. 

It is a strange time on this planet when the emergence of knotweed shoots makes one feel thankful, or sentimental, or nostalgic for another time. I have waged a battle with the promiscuous knotweed for many years now. I've tried chemicals, brute strength (I broke two shovels), smothering under tarps, under drywall, under leftover asphalt shingles, and I've fed it to chickens (they love it). The emergence of knotweed shoots used to send me into stomping dances, like someone trying to smother out a burning cigarette. But today, I didn't feel like smothering anything out. I wanted to see the leaves unfurl.

From what I understand, the early shoots are edible and are akin to something like rhubarb. I like rhubarb, in fact my best burger last year was the Black Cow Burger Bar's rhubarb burger... and rhubarb apple pie... mmm. So maybe the knotweed will be a delectable pandemic forager's meal.

Or maybe, like every spring before this one, I will miss the shoots, and when I lift my head up one day, there will be a bamboo forest of knotweed. But down by the river, there will be a fire pit and I will sacrifice those shoots, or knock down the stalks, set up my little folding chair, and in the twilight of a summer evening, start a fire to knock off the chill and let the twilight stretch longer until Franklin yawns wide and we have to pick our way back through the woods in the dark.

Take care and be well,

Leo

The Sawmill River

From Our Friends:

From Paul Lindale:

The GCC Art Department has a fantastic blog: Within, Without where faculty and students are documenting their experience of the pandemic through Art. Paul just sent me a wonderful student project from his Creative Coding class called, The Simile Machine by Michael Osgood. Do take a look, it is quite wonderful!

From the UMass Fine Arts Center:

The FAC has a growing collection of online performances and exhibitions that you and your students can access. Here' a sampling:

South Indian classical dancer, Ashwini Ramaswamy's Let the Crows Come was going to be performed at UMass, but instead she invites the viewer into her home and explains some of the concepts and movements from the piece.

A virtual gallery tour of A Horse Walks Into a Bar curated by D. Dominick Lombardi.

A digital exhibition of Ponnapa Prakkamakul's Beyond Planet Earth: Rethinking the Boundaries.

From Rural Assembly: Building an Inclusive Nation:

There is an initiative called Check on Your Neighbor, where they are encouraging ways to connect with neighbors, ask questions, and share that conversation with others. I love these kinds of community economy efforts that help us relearn what it means to be part of a co-dependent community.

From the New York Times:

I have a shared photo file with my kids called, Koreans Are Taking Over The World. Whenever I am at the grocery store, or at a non-Korean restaurant, and I see a Korean thing, I snap a picture and put it in the file. So things like, gochijang sauce in Stop and Shop, kimchee flavored chips at the coop, or Korean bbq ribs at Taylor's Restaurant. So it always fascinates me when Korean food appears in mainstream venues and publications like the NYT! I never would have imagined that as a kid. Anyway, here is what they call Kimchi Soup, one of my childhood staples... and still a frequent meal when I go home. Enjoy!

From the UMass Arts Extension Service

A list of grants and funding opportunities for artists in the time of COVID-19.

Today's Online Teaching Tips:

From Pearson:

Tips for building your course in an LMS (Learning Management System like Moodle). Pretty basic things, but if you've never taught online, this can be helpful.