Day 190, September 22, 2020
Warmer Days, Warmer Nights
Today's soundtrack: Meshell Ndegecello, Telluride Jazz Festival 2013 (audience noise is a bit much, but it fades into the background once they start playing)
The temperature has dropped. It was 46 degrees this morning, and because the furnace was not burning properly, the house stayed brisk all day. We did get an emergency visit by the technician around 4, but for much of the day I wore a sweatshirt over my sweater and at one point draped a blanket over my shoulders. It seems summer has left for sure.
We are still waiting on our wood guy to deliver our two cords, otherwise the wood stove would be pressed into service.
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| Hambone likes a warm sun spot. |
It is a time of transition. I moved most of my button-down shortsleeved work shirts into the plastic storage bin that will get tucked into the eaves. I opened the other plastic bin and stared at the wool socks... but didn't take them out yet. The future is just around the corner.
Summer, even a pandemic summer with non-stop work, feels like a kind of stasis, a warm pleasant pause with sweet corn, lolling moments on the inner tube on the river, and sun-warm skin. It is so different to take the dog out at the end of the night and have to bundle up inside a tightly zippered jacket and don gloves. Each excursion is accompanied with disparaging remarks, gritted teeth, and shivers. This is exacerbated by my cracked tooth, which is now sensitive enough that when I open my mouth and breathe in the cold night air it triggers a sprawling spider of pain over one side of my jaw.
Ironically, what I enjoy most about winter, I think, is warmth. To come home to a warm wood stove, or to light a fire and stand by the stove as it expands its circumference around the room, is a pleasing thing. I suppose at some point the body adjusts and what is cold it becomes realigned with the new reality. I have a stack of pine logs from a tree I cut up and the other day I chopped up a few logs for the fire pit, and just that moderate activity warmed me enough to remove my coat. And that is a pleasing feeling too, to warm one's self up on a cold day.
On the other hand, sitting at the kitchen table all day and letting the cold penetrate to one's bones is a fairly high degree of miserable. It makes one contemplate the advent of another ice age due to climate change and what that might entail... if the world has truly lost its bearings and on top of flooding and fires, there might be encroaching glaciers and permafrost. But that is just a dystopian fantasy. What we really have is the advent of a long cold winter. We are collectively bracing ourselves for the dropping temperatures, for the shuffling of the lawnmower to the back of the shed, and eventually, the donning of snow tires (traditionally the weekend after Thanksgiving). But we are also bracing ourselves for no more lunch breaks outside. No more dips in the river. We are bracing ourselves for long days sequestered in the house.
I think this might be the winter I break out the snow shoes again. I bought them years ago in an inspired fit of adventure, but soon discovered snow shoeing holds little of the appeal of skiing, skating, or even hiking with yak-tracks strapped to your boots. But, maybe I didn't give them a good enough try. Perhaps there is yet more to learn about snow shoes. This, I think, will be the winter to find out.
It is wonderful to watch Meshell out on an outdoor stage. I wonder what my bandmates and I will do this winter once it gets too cold for the patio performances. We talked about HEPA air filtration systems, and with masks, maybe that would be sufficient. I'll have to look into that. It is really something to be able to play music again, even if our only audience is the birds, cats, dog, and Bruce's family. Maybe this winter I will keep the heat on in the basement so that it is never too cold to play.
I wish you all warmer days and warmer nights, at least until the pleasures of winter return,
Leo
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| A recent socially distanced rehearsal. |
From Our Friends:
From the GCC Art Department:
Please join us for the Art Department’s second Artist Lecture featuring Margorie Morgan. Morgan work is made with her own naturally-sourced inks. She will be doing a live demonstration of her work-at-home printing via Zoom.
From Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares:
Terry Jenoure - Portal
 | Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares begins its 9th season with three virtual performances by violinist and vocalist Terry Jenoure on Saturday, September 25, Sunday, Sept. 26 and Sunday, Sept. 27, at 7:30pm, on Amherst Media. The series of concerts is entitled “Portal” and will feature Jenoure in collaboration with bassist Avery Sharpe and cellist Wayne Smith (Sept. 25), pianist Angelica Sanchez (Sept. 26), and bassist Joe Fonda and drummer Reggie Nicholson (Sept. 27). These concerts are being offered free, but donations will be accepted at www.jazzshares.org. |
From Academic Impressions:
How Colleges Are Helping Latinx Students Cope With the Pandemic
Article | Education Dive
These students' biggest needs are funding, technology, and emotional support, according to recent surveys and student affairs professionals. Read more.
Supporting the Mental Health and Emotional Well-Being of College Students of Color
Report | The Steve Fund Crisis Response Task Force
The COVID-19 pandemic has cast deeply-ingrained inequities in American society into stark view. With the sudden shift to distance learning, students are losing not only in-person contact with faculty, staff, and peers, but also on-campus housing, food, support services, and social communities. Furthermore, internships and jobs are disappearing.
On top of all of this turmoil, students are now having to process what today’s racial awakening means for them. Many of these students are directly or indirectly involved in demonstrations, adding a layer of mental and emotional stress. Despite the universal nature of these disruptions to students’ lives, students of color, who comprise approximately 45% of college undergraduates, are bearing the weight of these challenges most acutely.
This report offers recommendations for higher ed. Read more.
From EducationAdminWebAdvisor:
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From Americans for the Arts:
From NEFA:
From UB Web Seminars:
| Finding Opportunity in Adversity – Lighting the Path for Community College Students | ||
| September 23 | 2:00 pm ET | 1 Hour | ||
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From Teaching Tolerance:
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Sounds Like Hate Podcast: Confronting Racism at School
Sounds Like Hate—a new podcast from our colleagues in the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project—is about the dangers and peril of everyday people who engage in extremism and the ways to disengage them from a life of hatred. The podcast dedicates two episodes to exploring how one Vermont high school is grappling with questions about flying a Black Lives Matter flag and removing a mascot some say bears a disturbing resemblance to a hooded Klansman. Find more information and listen here.
From the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at Smith College:
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Today's Online Teaching Tips:
From OpenStax:
But we also need to spread the word, share the facts, and shake off the fine print on automatic textbook billing programs that limit choice and create more challenges than solutions. We need you to join us. We need you to use your voice. We need YOU to Free the Textbook. You can learn more by clicking the link below and searching #FreetheTextbook on social media.
From the Online Learning Consortium:
Inside Higher Ed: The Moment Is Primed for Asynchronous Learning
Madeline St. Amour of Inside Higher Ed interviews Jennifer Mathes, CEO of OLC, and other experts about best practices for asynchronous learning.
Faculty need training and professional development to learn these strategies and improve their online teaching, Mathes said. While that could mean more time, money and effort for colleges, it's worth it, because asynchronous learning can increase college access, said Sean Morris, senior instructor of learning design and technology at the University of Colorado at Denver and director of the Digital Pedagogy Lab.
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