Day 217, October 19, 2020
Practice
Today's soundtrack: Muddy Waters, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, 1968
In the year 2020, after the pandemic struck, and all the venues closed, the band went on hiatus for several months as each of us figured out what work did and didn't look like, how to balance home schooling for the kids, and when we felt comfortable enough to start to emerge from the insular comfort of quarantine. It was not until the early fall with the rates of infection falling, that we gathered again.
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| Did a little amplifier maintenance this weekend. |
We met out in Worthington up in the hills where we could play outside and not bother anyone. Bruce set up his translucent Ludwig drum kit on the brick patio under the basketball hoop and beside the woodshed. Brian plugged in his Warwick bass on one side and I set up with my Guild semi-hollow on the other, and as long as the sun warmed our faces we played to the nuthatches, cats, dog, and the two kids playing in the hammock. Bruce's wife planted bulbs and harvested onions and the air smelled sweet with onions.
Even after months of not playing, the songs came back to life and we worked on arrangements, found our groove again.
But slowly the days got colder and we had to play earlier in the day. Pretty soon it would be too cold to play outside and we needed to decide if we could play inside. I bought a HEPA air filter, and we talked about wearing masks in the basement.
For the last few weeks, playing has been a respite, a break from the unrelenting continuity of day after day. A respite from the uncertainty of the election and the coming winter. It is a little frightening to consider what will happen if we do not have that to look forward to.
That first evening we played together after so long, it was warm. I brought pizzas, and there was a fire in the fire pit. We played into the evening until the moon rose high in the sky. It was like a dream.
We each have our pandemic bubbles, but I think we all recognize our bubbles are permeable with each relative we visit, the kids who are partly in school, or mostly not, or living in dorms. The arrival of the chimney sweep, the furnace technician, the socially distanced meeting that ends in a hug. But for a few hours each of those days, we were transported to a state of innocence, as if it were an ordinary thing to set up and play outside, that the pandemic was a fictional dystopia and it was a perfectly normal thing to sit outside with a few of your friends and play some music.
Take care, but take it,
Leo
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| The view behind me in all my Zoom meetings. |
From Our Friends:
From GCC's STEM Week:
Friday, October 23rd 12:00pm- 1:00pm
Click Here to Join: https://zoom.us/j/4722239429
Join Professor Anthony Reiber for a hands-on exploration of the physical attributes of the soils of GCC. Zoom with us live from the GCC campus and ask Anthony (Tony) questions in real time. RSVP to receive the Zoom link.
From Black Lives Matter LA:
We’ve made a video to celebrate the weekend and hope you’ll take a look and share it.
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From UMass Amherst's FAC:
 | Augusta Savage Gallery Breathing While Black On View online through November 20 Featuring works by over 50 artists from 17 countries, Breathing While Black is a juried digital visual art exhibition, inviting international response to the recent and ongoing slaughter of Black Americans.  | ||
 | Jules Jones: Piece Me Back Together On view through October 28 Local artist Jules Jones closely inspects the concept of Wellness through vibrant collage and print paintings that explode with energy.  | ||
From HigherEdJobs:
by Dr. Gina Ann Garcia
The racial justice movement in higher education has finally arrived -- perhaps 400 years too late -- as colleges and universities across the U.S. actively engage in conversations about race, anti-racism, and anti-Blackness. College leaders are calling for change, but those calls now need to be put into action. But what does action look like? How do we undo 400 years of higher education where whiteness is normative? Let's start with your mission statement.
From Shannon Doran and Northeastern University:
The 7th Annual Reach(OUT) LGBTQA+ Career Conference will be held virtually this year, November 1-5, 2020. This event focuses on perspectives and concerns of queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming, non-binary, intersex, and asexual students in preparation for co-op, internships, and professional life beyond campus. Students will have the opportunity to hear from alumni and professionals in various industries about topics such as navigating microaggressions, corporate culture, gender presentation, etc. Additionally, students will engage with their peers on these topics and meet one-on-one with professionals to further discuss questions related to preparing for professional working environments.
Fill out this interest form here to be the notified when registration opens for the various virtual events as a part of this year’s conference.
All college and university students are welcome to attend. Registration is free and open for any college student with a university e-mail address. Online pre-registration is required and will be open soon! All Northeastern University and other college and university students are welcome to attend (with student email). Online pre-registration is required and is now open!
This conference offers an opportunity for students to gain advice and career planning strategies in preparation for co-op, internships, and professional life beyond campus! Don’t miss your chance to engage and network with exceptional panelists, including LGBTQA+ people living and working across the globe.
Reach(OUT) 2020 is sponsored by the Office of Institutional Diversity & Inclusion, LGBTQA Resource Center, and Employer Engagement and Career Design.
From Racial Justice Rising:
400 Years: Truth & Healing for the Next Seven Generations
Sunday, October 18th from 2-4pm YouTube. (A shorter link is tinyurl.com/400-years-program.) This is a important opportunity to hear Native speakers share their peoples’ experience of 400 years of colonization of their Native homelands - along with music, interfaith prayers, and ways faith communities can act in solidarity Native-led efforts for rights, respect, and land.
Walking to Unity Park. On the three preceding days (Thursday Oct 15 thru Saturday Oct 17) the monks of the New England Peace Pagoda are leading a three day walk from the Sojourner Truth Memorial in Florence past faith congregations in Northampton, Hadley, Amherst, Leverett, Montague, and Greenfield ending at Unity Park in Turners Falls. We are making many steps to ensure safety for all participants.
- Discovered or Stolen? Repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery (6 mins.) from the United Church of Christ
- We the People (17 mins.) Navajo Mark Charles’ Ted Talk on how the founding documents of our country were steeped in racism concerning Native and Black peoples here.
- Doctrine of Discovery (5 mins.) from Haudenosaunee faithkeeper Orlen Lyons.
From the Massachusetts History Alliance:
Conversations on the Commons invites you to:
400 Years and Beyond: Commemorating historic events in the twenty-first century
October 23, 2020, 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
A Conversation with Linda Coombs, program director at the Aquinnah Cultural Center, Desiree Mobed, Director at the Alden House Historic Site, and Michelle Pecoraro, Executive Director of Plymouth 400
After 400 years of colonization of Massachusetts by Europeans, we enter a period of town anniversaries. How can we use them as an occasion to start addressing that “settlement” in Massachusetts also meant “displacement”, the beginning of attenuated conflict, and the “disappearing” of Native American presence and history, often in plain sight? As some leading organizations change their identities to be more inclusive, how are you approaching these events in your own towns and institutions? Do you have celebrations coming up? What can we do to bring residents together and start telling these complex stories? Are you working on this? Are you wondering how to move forward, and thinking about how to mark significant anniversaries without celebrating conflict and dispossession? Bring your questions, observations, and experiences, as well as your obstacles and successes in reframing narratives and using your collections in a new way.
The conversation will be moderated by Gloria Greis, Executive Director at the Needham History Center & Museum. Registration is free.
REGISTER HERE or visit the Mass History Commons to learn more.
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| The wall of posters at my office. |
Today's Online Teaching Tips:
From NISOD:
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From Higher Ed Hot Topics:
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From EducationAdminWebAdvisor:
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