Day 169, September 1, 2020
Paper Airplanes
Today's soundtrack: https://leohwang.bandcamp.com/releases
(Written for a coming future event that I'll share soon.)
The days are unfolding as one disassembles a paper plane, returning a thing to what it was before, but changed, with creases, smudges, and small tears. So it is with waking and stepping into the shower, brushing my teeth, shaving, running a brush through my hair.
I dress in a rectangle of morning sun on the oak floor as the cat watches through closed eyes. Outside, the chickens fuss about the start of the day, impatient for things to begin. Every morning it is the same, they squabble over who gets to look out the fencing first, who gets the first gasp of crisp August air, and they are impatient for me to emerge from the house with their scratch and feed.
I try to pay attention to the rhythms around me, the rubbing of the tree sheathed in vines and swaying in incipient disaster, the way the wind pushes and pulls on the panels of the metal shed, the cars on Route 63 sounding like waves crashing on a shore.
We are all lonely in this time. The degrees of our aloneness resonate and echo in the spaces we inhabit, from the car that creaks with rust as you ease out of the driveway to go grocery shopping, to the little bend in the river where we go for a swim at the end of the day. Our masks are always at the ready, and my initial reticence about hand sanitizer has fallen away and it has become like a touchstone whenever I enter a store, a tick-like rubbing together of the hands as I seek out the pump bottle.
Every morning when I wake up, I read the New York Times. I know what is happening in our world, in our nation. There is a constant shift of body and mind from isolation and insulation, to a desire for action and community. How do we resolve these things? What can we build into our lives that can serve as a balm for the restlessness?
Every weekday morning I begin by writing. Almost every weekday evening, I end the day by writing. There is no gauge of expectation other than I try to do something. I am like the chickens in their earnest eagerness to begin the day. If I did not have these things to bookend my days, each day would blend into the next even more than they already do. At least now, I can look back at the pages I fill in the morning, or the blog posts I make in the evening and measure the passage of time and recognize my experience in that passage of time.
At least with the blog, I try to stay positive, or at least contemplative. It is what I share with others, and I hope to inspire possibility and agency, so it is not a place to let loose waves of despair or anxiety, though there are moments when those things appear, but it is also good to train my mind to try to think positively and with hope at the end of each day, even when I am tired. I don't see that as deceptive... it is a part of my practice, like meditating, or eating a smoothie for breakfast, or doing as many pushups as I am years old each morning.
Each workday, I try to go outside for lunch and eat on the patio while reading a book or a magazine. I try to not look at a screen for the short time I have to myself. I am grateful for the community and connection that technology offers, but I also yearn for the analog space of physical connection, of playing music with bandmates, dancing in a crowded bar, feeling the electricity of a room full of people engaged in passionate discussion. So it is important to step away from the computer when one can, listen to an album on the record player, read a physical printed book, or write in a notebook with a fountain pen.
I am lucky that my job, I work at a community college, is intrinsically tied to giving people hope and increasing their sense of possibility and agency. It is about helping people make a better life for themselves through education. We are teaching people how to fish. We are engaged in the work that opens doors to new ways of thinking and new ways of dreaming. So, even when days are at their most exhausting, I am also lifted by the work I am doing. It is good work. Even if the world all around us is slipping into various stages of chaos, I know that I am working to create the world that I wish to inhabit. I think about that with the music I make, the poetry I write. We are all creating what we aspire to. Of course, being human, we almost always fall short of what we imagine, but that is also beautiful. Like that paper airplane, those creases are what make us human, the threadbare corners, the slightly bent nose, the fold that is not quite straight. It is wonderful that we can contort ourselves from rigidly cut rectangles into something that can fly through the air.
Congratulations to the Augusta Savage Gallery on their 50th anniversary.
Take care and be well.
Leo
From Our Friends:
From the Authors and Artists Festival:
From Academic Impressions:
September 11, 2020 | Virtual Training
Use your influence and authority to create a culture that supports faculty of color.
October 2, 2020 | Webcast
How are you creating safe spaces for your students, faculty, and staff to organize in response to current events?
From Tara Murphy:
Donations are welcome:
Paypal: info@ammaya.org (Pay to "Friends/Family");
Zelle: info@ammaya.org; Venmo: @Tara-Murphy-122
From EducationAdminWebAdvisor:
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From UB Web Seminars:
While managing student lifecycles in a way that effectively supports student success was already complex for many institutions prior to COVID-19, the disruptions caused by the pandemic have made promoting—and even defining—student success even more challenging.
We’re looking forward to a very informative presentation and discussion, plus live Q&A.
Even if you aren't able to attend the live event, feel free to register and you will receive access to the presentation and the event recording.
From the UMass Fine Arts Center:
Breathing While Black on view starting today
Available through November 20
Opening Reception TONIGHT via Zoom, 6 p.m. ET
Featuring around 100 works by over 50 artists from 17 countries who responded to Augusta Savage Gallery’s call for entries earlier this summer, “Breathing While Black” represents an international response to the recent and ongoing slaughter of Black Americans. Some works are abstracted emotional responses. Others, hyper-realism. Some reference historical events while some are futuristic and mythical. There are cautionary tales told through the camera lens, ideological symbolism, and use of digital tools to create outrage. Click view exhibition to view this web-based document and RSVP to attend the opening reception tonight.
Up Next:
Kristina Wong for Public Office: Live from Her Home!
Thursday, September 10, 7 p.m. ET
 | This comedic performance mashes up campaign rallies, church revivals, and solo theater shows to uncover the history of voting, what it means to run for local office, and the impact artists can have on democracy. Originally built to tour alongside the rallies leading up to the 2020 Presidential election against a charming hand-sewn felt set Kristina sewed herself, this rally is now being broadcast live from her home to yours! |
Today's Online Teaching Tips:
From Academic Impressions:
Cultivating a Professional and Engaging Persona on Your Video Calls - Additional Dates Added!
September 14, 2020 or October 5, 2020 | Virtual Training
Learn some simple ways you can improve the quality of your communication and connections with others online.
Adapt Your In-Person Peer Mentor Program for a Virtual Environment
September 21, 2020 | Webcast
Adapt your peer mentor program to keep students safe and enrolled, regardless of what the academic year holds.
Recognize Student Distress in a Virtual Environment
September 28, 2020 | Webcast
Recognize the warning signs of student distress and understand how to take appropriate action.
From the Macmillan Learning Team:
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From Inside Higher Ed:
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From The Online Learning Consortium:
Supporting Your Child With Online Learning: A Free On-Demand Webinar for Parents
Now available free on-demand, share this webinar with parents as a helpful resource in supporting kids with online learning during this incredibly challenging time. A panel of online teaching and learning experts (and parents!) discuss how to manage stress, consider the role of routines and schedules, and gain specific strategies for success.
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