Day 226, October 28, 2020
Trick or Treat?
Tonight's soundtrack: The Ginger Baker Trio with Charlie Haden and Bill Frisell, 1995
It is getting colder and people have been talking about snow on Friday. I have a tradition of not putting on the snow tires until the weekend after thanksgiving. So, whether we have snow Friday or not, I think the snow tires will stay stowed away for a few more weeks.
Fall seems to have fallen fast, but I suppose it is always that way, that short window of peak color in the trees, quickly giving way to the dry browns and faded yellows that litter our lawns and make one think of ladders and gutters, wood stoves and splitting axes, and the smell of pumpkin pie and hot apple cider. Of course, right around the corner is halloween, that cornerstone of childhood. When I was a kid, it seems as if whole years revolved around or were defined by a particularly good halloween. There was the time my dad turned me into the invisible man (H.G. Wells, not Ralph Ellison) using a trench coat buttoned up over my head, gloves stapled to the sleeves, a plastic pumpkin wrapped with masking tape, and a fedora tacked on top.
I have just a slight memory of my treacherous journey walking around the school parade, but no memory of going door to door through the neighborhood peering between button holes, but nevertheless, it was one of those marvelous costumes that parents get as excited or inspired about as their children. I do not know if I had ever heard of the invisible man except perhaps in some vague memory on an episode of Abbot and Costello.
I also remember halloween on my first visit to Korea when I was five. Even at that age I despaired over missing halloween, so my mother went around to the neighbors and my uncles' little houses and distributed candy for them to gift back to me. I do not recall having a costume, but I remember going up to random people's doors and being too scared or embarrassed to say trick or treat. I also remember, my uncle John, who lived in a little freestanding house/room in the courtyard of my grandfather's compound. He opened the door wearing a traditional Korean wood mask and blew cigarette smoke out through the mouth in an effort to look as frightening as possible. I loved it.
There was also the time, one of the few years when the gaggle of kids on the street were not teasing or at odds with one another, when a group of us decided with come up with a collection of costumes. We each had three changes of costume that we hid in duffle bags in the woods, and after going through the neighborhood, we retreated into the woods and changed, then went through the neighborhood again. On the third time my mom answered the door saying, "Nuts, nuts, nuts!" And distributed handfuls of nuts into our loot bags. I imagine she had fun with that one.
In that same neighborhood was the family that owned Mayflower Trucking. They lived in a giant white house with a pool. They always had amazing halloween treats, like footlong Charleston Chews or Million Dollar Bars, or toy Mayflower Trucking trucks. And there was the scary house with an ivy covered stone wall at the end of the driveway, and nobody ever home. We would dare one another to sneak up and peer into the windows at the furniture covered in sheets. It seems like such a strange thing to be away so long that one would cover the furniture in sheets, like something out of a movie. I think I must have imagined it. But I think there was one time when there was somebody home and when we held out our bags with shaking arms, he dropped one gleaming red apple in each of our bags. Of course, this was the time in my childhood when people warned children about razor blades hidden in fruit and that made the house all the more frightening and we all ran away throwing our apples into the woods.
When my own kids were little, I remember when Michael Kittredge, the man who started Yankee Candle, used to open his home to the public on halloween. He owned a vast walled in compound and on halloween a police officer would be stationed at the gates and in predetermined flights, certain numbers of children and families were let into the grounds. The years we went, there was a three ring circus tent set up with a magic act, a freak show, and a room of mirrors where the lights went out and of course, out popped scary clowns. Each screaming child was then given a 1 pound bar of chocolate as they left the tents.
I live in a town that takes halloween seriously. In part, because of our rural nature, people from all the local towns come out to Montague Center. There are bonfires, intricately designed yard displays with ghoulish and surreal assemblages of abandoned cars, doll parts, tombstones, and the liberal use of colored lights and synthetic spider webbing. The fire department is there, in part to give out freshly popped popcorn, but also to put out any of the random yard fires that pop up due to overzealous pumpkin candles.
This year will be different I suppose. For the children, it will be one of those halloweens that are forgotten... one of those countless store bought costume years with the thin delicate plastic masks that felt like they were cutting into your skin around the eyes and forehead, or whose thin elastic was never strong enough to truly keep the mask pressed against one's face. Those halloweens blend into the countless halloweens like it and are then lost to the history of memory. I suppose this halloween, for the kids, will be like that. Who would remember the absence of a thing? Unless, perhaps, if their mother distributes candy throughout the house and one has to knock on closet doors and whisper, "Trick or treat?" And then open the door to discover a foot long Million Dollar Bar. Maybe, they might remember that.
What I remember, is how my father seemed to never miss a halloween when my kids were little. I think it may have been his favorite holiday. He would show up as we were putting together the finishing touches on the year's costumes, one child dressed as Winnie the Pooh in a jar of honey, another wearing a cardboard spaceship mounted on suspenders, and the other an angelic looking devil. My dad had a fancy rubber mask, that I think the kids were too frightened by, or maybe it was hot inside, so he ended up carrying it most of the night. He came with us as we paraded through town and he loved looking at all the kids in their fantastic costumes and even tolerated the eventual meltdowns of children with too much sugar and not enough sleep and too cold. I love that I remember both my parents joining us when the kids were little. I am thankful that they shared those moments with us.
However your halloween is this year. I hope you are warm and safe and healthy.
Sending you all love and solace,
Leo
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| There was something special about the box. I don't quite recall what, but it was important. |
From Our Friends:
From Inside Higher Ed:
Black students continuously experience, fight against and bear emotional scars from racism, which can lead to increased anxiety and poor mental health outcomes. Some colleges are just starting to address these issues. »
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Shared by Paul Lindale:
https://blackfreedom.proquest.com
At ProQuest, we believe that knowledge and trusted information can help guide progress and change – and as an EdTech provider, we have a unique responsibility to take action.
That’s why we developed this website focused on Black Freedom, featuring select primary source documents related to critical people and events in African American history. Our intention is to support a wide range of students (see examples for using in teaching and learning), as well independent researchers and anyone interested in learning more about the foundation of ongoing racial injustice in the U.S. – and the fights against it.
By centering on the experiences and perspectives of African Americans, we hope this collection imbues the study of Black history with a deeper understanding of the humanity of people who have pursued the quest for freedom, and the significance of movements like Black Lives Matter.
From Complete College America:
Visit the website for more details on speakers and sessions, and register today.
From the REBLS Network:
Society of Women Engineers Annual Conference
WE20 is now a 2-week virtual conference and career fair from Nov 2, 2020 9:00 AM (CT) to Nov 13, 2020 5:15 PM (CT)
From Academic Impressions:
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How Career and Technical Education Shuts Out Black and Latino Students from High-Paying Professions
Article | Hechinger Report
New data reveals disparities between Black and Latino student enrollment in STEM areas versus their white peers. The causes are varied and complex. The impacts on wealth gaps are alarming. Read more.
From the Chronicle of Higher Education:
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From Mass Poetry:
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From the Vermont Studio Center:
Monday, November 23rd - 7:00 pm
A Featured Artist Talk with Abigail DeVille
Abigail DeVille was born in 1981 in New York, where she lives and works. Maintaining a long-standing interest in marginalized people and places, DeVille creates site-specific immersive installations designed to bring attention to these forgotten stories, such as with the sculpture she built on the site of a former African American burial ground in Harlem.
DeVille received an MFA from Yale University and a BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is the recipient of the 2014-15 fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, the 2015 Creative Capital grant, and the 2015 OBIE Award for Design. DeVille is the 2017-18 Chuck Close Henry W. and Marion T. Mitchell Rome Prize fellow.
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| I was proud of the Darth Vader outfit. |
Today's Online Teaching Tips:
From Magna Publications:
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From Academic Impressions:
December 1, 2020 | Webcast
Adapt your service learning courses to the online environment for a dynamic and meaningful experience.
December 11, 2020 | Virtual Training
Examine and disrupt the norms that have shaped the traditional classroom experience to create a more equitable learning environment for all students.
Marina Hofman, Ph.D., Palm Beach Atlantic University | Article
How can we as instructors step back, break down the sense of isolation and hopelessness, and use the sharing of our experiences of crisis to create a safe space for students to grow and learn?
These Companies Are Redesigning 'Zoom University'
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Two startups run by ed tech experts are tailoring videoconferencing software for use in virtual college classrooms, but their approaches differ. Read more.
Duquesne University Outfits Classrooms with Audio Conferencing Tech
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Pennsylvania's Duquesne University has installed audio conferencing systems in more than 40 classrooms to support its shift to the hybrid learning model, in which some students attend class on-campus while others participate remotely. Read more.
How Colleges With Hybrid Instruction Can Support Online Students
Article | Education Dive (log in may be required)
Using the right technology, setting clear expectations and being mindful of the differences between in-person and remote learning are key, experts say. Read more.
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