Day 330, February 8, 2021

My Eyes! 

Tonight's soundtrack (after several failed selections): Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac (I have to thank Alan Marcus for introducing me to this era of Fleetwood Mac)

I was in a meeting that got Zoom bombed for the first time today. I suppose, given all the press about Zoom bombing, it is more an anomaly that, as someone who is online on Zoom as much as I am, that I have not experienced it before. 

Even more disorienting was that the meeting was a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and we were there were some young youth activists. 

At first it seemed like someone had just left their microphone unmuted and we were hearing snippets of a conversation that had no relationship to what was happening in the meeting, but then someone took control of the screen and started to write the N-word using the whiteboard function. Then there were more voices and snippets of pornography, strange images of individuals, and through it all, the meeting tried to solider on through multiple re-starts until the settings were adjusted and a new link was resent.

It was strange to see the apparent glee that the Zoom bombers seemed to express, like a party that had gotten out of hand, they seemed to appear out of the shadows of anonymous boxes on the screen. But there was malice too. It was not far removed from the emotional state of people rushing up the steps of the Capitol building. There seemed to be a clear intent to elicit an emotional reaction and it was unclear if what we were seeing were recorded voices and images, or actual people. I was tempted to try and analyze the experience, think about what images were shared and why. I think about the work that ProPublica did analyzing all the videos from the Capitol insurgency and creating a detailed timeline. I wonder what one might be able to piece together from the snippets of desktops one saw glimpses of... but that is all unnecessary and meaningless now. 

The meeting continued on, recovered, and was good.

But the underlying questions remain unanswered. 

And we will continue to imagine a world with greater kindness, care, and empathy. 

Take care and stay safe,

Leo

Chickens in the morning snow with baby spinach.

From Our Friends:

From President Yves Salomon-Fernández:

What Matters Most for Student Outcomes

Much like the principle of Universal Design for Learning, when intentional, thoughtful, and inclusive processes are put in place for one marginalized group, they often have the effect of lifting all–not just those that are marginalized.