Day 100, June 24, 2020

The Three Minute Song

Today's soundtrack: Parliament-Funkadelic, 11/6/78 Capitol Theater (no 3 min. songs here)

The distance between idea and reality. All this week a team of faculty and staff have been doing some of the foundation work for developing the Mountain Scholars Program, a program designed to support students of color at the college with specialized advising, free general education courses, and a team of faculty and staff working to support the students in their entrance to the college.

The chickens have allowed this one flower
to grow in their octagon pen.

We conceived the project pre-pandemic (over 100 days ago), as an evolution of work the Racial Equity and Justice team had been engaged in for the last several years, and a lot of work people at the college have been engaged in before then. And while there is a lot of work that goes into developing something like this conceptually, turning concept into an applied actual physical (or virtual in the pandemic online world) thing, is a whole other endeavor. It is exciting, but also surprising as we discover the details what we need to create. I think of it like a quilt. When one sees a quilt laid out on the bed, it is hard to conceive of all the work that went into cutting fabric, sewing the patterns, and every stitch that needed to take place before the quilt could take form.

Everything is complex. It is hard work to make something that can leave the confines of one's imagination, rise off the pages of a proposal, and manifest itself in the world.

Next week is my first vacation since the pandemic. It might be my first consecutive days off, aside from weekends, in the last 100 days. I have an idea to see if I can record an album in 7 days. I figure if I treat each day like work, go down to the basement and spend 8 hours surrounded by microphones and instruments, I should be able to emerge with at least a 3 minute song. Well, that is the vision. I know the reality is often much more daunting. I may want to sleep in. I may get discouraged. I may run into problems with the software or hardware, a cable can inexplicably stop working, or the accumulated pressure of having to take advantage of the time I have, can cause me to freeze up and suddenly lose the ability to form my thoughts into words, my ideas into notes.

But, this is also about play. As the art faculty at my college often remind me, play is an important part of creation. Without play, there is no discovery, there is no accident, there is no transcendence. Play is important. So whatever emerges next week, doesn't have to be a miracle, it doesn't have to be profound. But I do hope that it captures my experience in this moment, in this time. 

Play is important with the Mountain Scholars Program too. We are doing serious work, we are trying to dismantle or reimagine some of the institutionalized structures that exacerbate the discrepancies in outcomes for our students of color. But, to think outside the box, we need to practice what it is like to step outside of that box. We need to learn how to work together, to ask questions, to create a quilt together, become an ensemble. We have to play together.

For vacation week, I also imagine not shaving for a week, that might be fun. Or maybe shaving my head like one of my colleagues did. Or maybe slipping into the river every day at noon when it is hottest. Or making all the New York Times recipes I've been collecting (chocolate mousse, galbijjm, kimchijeon, etc). Or revising my collection of poems into something like a manuscript. Or maybe just sitting outside with a cup of coffee in the morning and reading a book. I suppose this is a side effect of working all this time, a pent up yearning that is so great that even staying at home feels as exciting as traveling to some distant location.

I love creating things. That is part of what makes work exciting and new, and it is what I yearn to do when I am away from work. It is all work, it is all play. 

So let's go out there and play, like your life depends on it.

And if we end up sleeping until noon, maybe that will be good too.

Take care,

Leo

This is what you see when you lie back on an
inner tube on the Sawmill River

From Our Friends:

From ACE Engage:

[Webinar Tomorrow] The Economic Impact of COVID-19 and Growing Need for Higher Ed Affordability. 

New York Times best-selling author Jeff Selingo is joined by Charlene Spearen of Allen University and George Miller of Cengage and former chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee to discuss strategies for scalable initiatives using affordable course materials to meet student demand and support institutional goals. Supported by Cengage.

Understanding Low-Income Undergraduates by Race and Ethnicity. This brief examines student income alongside race and ethnicity to provide an overview of low-income undergraduate students: who they are, where they enroll, and how they pay for college.

From Academic Impressions:

A Collaborative Approach to Advancing Your Diversity and Inclusion Training Initiatives
July 13 - 14, 2020 | Virtual Conference
Learn how to strategically respond to growing diversity and inclusion training demands on your campus.

The Financial Impact of COVID-19 on Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts
Article | MASS Live

In a report to the state's board of education, EY-Parthenon studied the 24 community colleges and state universities in Massachusetts - excluding the University of Massachusetts system, which presented its own finances. Their findings:

• For community colleges across the state, net cash flow could range from negative $27 million to as low as negative $118 million in fiscal year 2021, according to the report.

• For state universities, net cash flow could range from negative $74 million to negative $248 million, the worst-case scenario presented.

• In the presented worst-case scenario, four community colleges and four state universities could face at least a one-month budget shortfall this upcoming fiscal year.

Read more.

From Teaching Tolerance:

June 28 marks the anniversary of the start of the Stonewall uprisings. Largely led by Black and Brown trans women and gender nonconforming people of color, protesters demonstrated against routine police violence, discrimination and dehumanization. This year, we’re celebrating Pride by celebrating the intersectional history of the LGBTQ movement—and the intersectionality of current movements in support of Black lives and LGBTQ rights.

From Good Docs:

THE FIRST RAINBOW COALITION united poor blacks, whites, and Latinos to openly challenge police brutality and substandard housing in one of the most segregated cities in America. A thought-provoking film that sparks new dialogue about the 1960s and its parallels today. 

From The Key podcast:

[NEW] An Entrepreneurial and Global Take on the Fall
A possibly steep decline in enrollments of international students is among the wide range of disruptions U.S. colleges face this fall. To get an entrepreneurial take on what to watch in coming months, we spoke with two experts with global perspectives on higher education and ed tech.

John Fillmore is chief strategy officer for Chegg, a learning platform company formerly focused on textbook rentals, which now offers credentials, online tutoring and more. Our conversation with Fillmore also drew from his background as a former planning and research official for California.

We also spoke with Doug Becker, the founder and former CEO of Laureate Education, a large higher-education provider with a global footprint. Becker now leads Cintana, a partnership with Arizona State University to create an international network of universities.

From MA Sustainable Communities:

Check out Join Campaign Zero for policy solutions to prevent police violence locally.  My Brothers Keeper Communities at the Obama Foundation also strives to affect systems change in local communities.

From the Northampton Jazz Workshop:

June 26-28 Freihofer’s Jazz Fest Stay Home Sessions – Night 1- Pedrito Martinez | Chuck Lamb & Jorge Gomez
https://spac.org/event/freihofers-jazz-fest-stay-home-sessions-night1/?fbclid=IwAR08nqZvayhyN2_yPEbLNN7FUpsO8NWmhc0DqEj1W3PSHzjQ9yn4iLJzt4E

From Mass Poetry:

Mass Poetry is currently seeking applicants for two paid internship opportunities:

A Program Assistant Intern for the Fall 2020 semester (September – December) to support the Education Director in their work. This role has an August start date and has the possibility to extend beyond the Fall 2020 semester.

A Development Assistant Intern for the Fall 2020 semester (September – December) to support the Executive Director with Mass Poetry’s fundraising efforts. This role has an August start date and has the possibility to extend beyond the Fall 2020 semester.

Full job listings & how to apply

From Sage:

When research is stalled, project collaborators may not all agree on the correct path forward. Read the chapter “Social Relationship Issues Connected to Research Being Stalled” from the book Restarting Stalled Research by Paul C. Rosenblatt, featured onSAGE Research Methods.

Read the chapter

Today's Online Teaching Tips:

From OpenStax:

Student interns on their experiences, perspectives, and OER knowledge

Ever wonder what students really think about open educational resources?

Join the OpenStax National Student Interns on Thursday, June 25 at 2:00 p.m. (CDT) as they share what they’ve learned during their year-long deep dive into OER and campus advocacy work. When you register, please submit any questions or discussion topics you’d be interested in hearing about, even if you can’t attend. We’ll send out the webinar recording afterwards!
 
​​​​Register now!

From Inside Higher Ed:

Reflections on the Invisible Labor of Online Teaching » Given the rightful fear and anxiety that our students are feeling, online instruction has opened a portal for them to seek therapy-like consultations from professors, writes Irina Popescu.

A Day in the Life of a Remote Instructor: Fall 2020 » Jenae Cohn envisions how the term may unfold for a faculty member who remains off campus in September.�

A Day in the Life of a Remote Undergraduate Student: Fall 2020 » Beth Seltzer envisions how the term may unfold for a student who remains off campus in September.

From Echo:

Download our free white paper to learn how innovative professors have implemented online/hybrid teaching and engagement methods that continue to surpass student expectations.