Day 49, May 4, 2020

Indulgences

Sometimes we do things that are not good for ourselves. We partake in risky behavior. We eat things with more calories than we can expend. We lick frozen flag poles. I think that is a feature of humanity. I used to be a smoker, and I was well aware of the dangers and toxins I was introducing to my body, but for years it was a thing that brought me pleasure and I treated cigarettes as crucial as life itself. 

Pines in the sand plains.

Granted, I was a closeted smoker and tried not to partake in public where my colleagues might shun me, or where my kids might see. This led to many solitary walks after dark, or "I forgot something in my car..." quick jaunts. One time the kids found the empty water bottle filled with cigarette butts that I used to hide under my car seat and my ex-wife covered for me explaining that sometimes people throw cigarettes out in the parking lot at GCC and I picked them up. Haha. I feel embarrassed about those things now.

But to a certain degree, that is how I felt this weekend, the first glorious weekend of the spring. It was so sunny and warm that when I tried to do a live stream of a little guitar playing in the backyard, my phone overheated and shutdown after a song and a half. It was that wonderfully warm and glorious. After taking the dog for a hike in the sand plains, we decided to head to the Country Creemee (I think that's how they spell it?) in Turners Falls. 

In the era of the pandemic, the Country Creemee only takes orders and serves through a window at the front door. People line up in an undulating cue that wanders out into the middle of Second Street, across the crosswalk and into the lawn of the former Cumberland Farm. I don't know why it doesn't move the other direction down the sidewalk, but the collective wisdom of the clientele seems to dictate the direction of the line, and it allows people to wave at friends who drive by in their pickup trucks, and then circle back around and ease between the people almost blocking the crosswalk, to stop and say hello. That said, almost everyone was wearing masks while waiting in line, and there was a respectful nearly six feet of distance between every cluster of customers, so when cars did need to make their way down Second Street, it just involved a little bit of shuffling to allow that to happen.

Even with the protocols in place, there were a few younger folks without masks who seemed to flaunt the social distancing protocols a little too cavalierly and made me a little wary. And to be honest, I have no business getting a coffee ice cream milkshake. I've become lactose intolerant and have my share of intestinal issues, so a much better choice would have been a saltine. Or maybe a rice cracker. But I love a milk shake, and when the kids were little, I relished my self-appointed nickname, the Milk Shake Mastah! And so, while I am embarrassed to admit it, there I was, standing in the middle of Second Street, wearing a face mask, and risking health, injury by automobile accident, and in danger of getting a funny face tan, all to suck the hell out of a coffee ice cream shake, and then regret it for the next 24 hours.

Water over the dam in Turners Falls

The other thing that was interesting to discover, is that it is hard to interpret facial expressions through a mask. Multiple times I found myself sharing my "kind smile" to people who had no idea that is what I was trying to convey. I gave it to little kids holding their parents' hands, I gave it to the teenagers out without masks standing in line in front of us. I wonder if it came across more as a middle aged man leering... or feeding my own paranoia, as a strange Asian man looking warily at all the white people wondering if any of them blame him for this madness. I found, that, aware of my masked identity, I started to recede within it. Even when I took it off to suck on my shake, I still felt enveloped in a self-protective haze. Off in the distance, I think I saw a student wave, but I couldn't make out who it was... I think maybe it was Pia, so if it was, I'm sorry I didn't wave back. I was too scared of embarrassing myself, I guess, and scared of bursting my self-protective bubble. So, hello, Pia, if that was you. I hope you are doing well!

Now that I am on this side of smoking, having quit (mostly) seven years ago. I am so glad to be done with that habit. At times I get a little wistful when I smell a cigarette in the air, but when a student stops in my office after just having a cigarette I wonder, did I really smell that bad? How could that have been a source of solace to me? So, if you ask, is a milk shake worth it? I don't know, it is an extraordinarily pleasing thing, and so much of what we are doing right now seems driven by exigency, conservation, or what is available on the store shelves, so any extravagant act, like sucking down an entire coffee milk shake feels like something obscenely delightful. I imagine the same for a slice of cake, or apple pie, or tiramisu, or sheew... I'm getting myself worked up with all this decadence. 

We all need some pleasure in our lives right now, whether that is a chance to sleep in late on the weekend, a nap in the hammock, or a buttery egg and bacon biscuit. So, chalk me down (up?) for a little decadence. I've always enjoyed a little indulgence, some might say a little too much indulgence, but these are the things we remember, that make us feel electric. 

That said, stay safe, and hug the people you love,

Leo

Getting ready for some fried plantains in the next few days!

From Our Friends:

From the UMass Fine Arts Center:

Virtual dance party featuring a DJ set by ?uestlove closes out 2019-2020 UMass Fine Arts Center Season 

The UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center in partnership with the UMass Office of the Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs presents a virtual dance party featuring a DJ set by four-time Grammy Award winning artist Questlove on Thursday, May 7 at 8 p.m. The event is the Fine Arts Center’s way to congratulate the UMass Amherst class of 2020 and celebrate the whole campus community for stepping up in the face of the coronavirus crisis. The event will stream for free on livestream.com and on the Fine Arts Center’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/UMassfineArtsCenter.

From the Boston Public Library (BPL):

May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. While no one book (or even hundreds of books!) could fully reflect the diversity of the Asian American experience, we hope that this selection of recent releases will highlight current Asian American representation in print. #BPLAPAHM

From the AAC&U:

The vision of educational excellence AAC&U works to advance is grounded in equity and inclusion. This vision is presented in full in What Liberal Education Looks Like: What It Is, Who It’s For, and Where It Happens. In distilling the principles, practices, and contemporary challenges of liberal education, this signature AAC&U publication clearly describes the learning all students need for success in an uncertain future and for addressing the compelling issues we face as a democracy and as a global community—regardless of where they study, what they major in, or what their career goals are.

June Bug enjoying the sunlight.

Today's Online Teaching Tips:

From OpenStax:

At OpenStax, we’re committed to working towards a future where anyone can learn anything without restriction. In keeping with this philosophy, we are excited to announce the launch of two textbooks created specifically for high school students and teachers. These two titles, Physics and Statistics, are both available on our website now and you can learn more about how they were developed on our blog. 

From Academic Impressions:

We've never had a term quite like this, and how we close our classes this semester matters. For some students, their classes may have been their most consistent and stable community during this time of rapid change and abrupt isolation. This article offers tips and techniques for approaching the last day of class in ways that provide both closure and connection.