7/29/2020

today was the first mandatory day for teachers to report to campus. i went to my room and "attended" the faculty meeting online via google meet... it was somewhat strange. i don't know if you all are aware, but we are headed into uncharted waters this year. due to covid-19, some parents are reluctant to send their kids to school (face to face learning), and even for those that do opt to have their kids come, we need to split them into two groups to allow for enough social distancing space (kids separated 6 feet apart means we can only fit a limited number per room). as teachers, we must accommodate ALL students, whether they are at home or at the school. that's the challenge facing us. and we must do that while maintaining, to the best of our ability, some general safety precautions: mandatory mask wearing, maintaining social distancing, frequent hand washing and hand sanitizing, frequent sanitizing of areas, no shared equipment, etc.

in addition to this, due to teacher and parent concerns, it may very well be that the start of our school year (or rather, the start of the students' school year) will be delayed by about 14 days (to august 17). we're all not entirely sure. although the general sentiment is that the board of education will make the decision at their meeting tomorrow to delay the start of the year, they may cave in to pressures from the general business community and mandate that we start on the "regular" start date of august 4. some of the comments of the governor tend to point in that direction, actually (august 4)...

what's my opinion? well, i will do whatever is asked of me. however, i honestly feel that the reopening of schools and the reopening of the economy should be contingent upon the state of the pandemic within any given locality. if the infection rate is trending upwards, then it's probably not a good idea to open up the schools. i frankly think that the big mistake america made was that they set up arbitrary timelines to start things up, even if there wasn't adequate monitoring and control of the virus on the ground. that led to horrendous spikes in florida and texas, for example... and now, we're in the state we're in.

the thing about hawaii is that, although it appears to have very low infection rates (today was our highest, breaking the 3 digit mark with 109) compared to other states, we are trending upwards. remember that we are an island state, and that we SHOULD have lower rates if we have things under control. so to have strongly increasing trends in the infection rate over the past week or so is disturbing... the other thing is that, while there is a big push to reopen our economy, what that means essentially is opening our state to travel from the mainland. and, frankly speaking, the mainland is a shitshow. california, which sends the most travelers of any state, is one of the states which is out of control. so if we reopen to tourists, we are basically reopening to widespread infection.

it's stupid, to me, really. i mean, i know that our economy is suffering. but we don't lead the issue or determine the timeline right now. the virus does. or, should i say, our management of the virus does. i used a metaphor to describe our plight. basically, reopening is the ice cream, and our management of the virus is the spinach. we get no ice cream until we finish our spinach...

*****

i guess i've been having trouble maintaining my routines. this always happens. the year intrudes, with all of its stress and impending priorities, and it ripples any and all of my plans. essentially, i'm a simple person. i can generally be happy by repeating things. not exactly repeating things, but "turning" things, as in a compost pile. getting air, burning and decomposing myself to become richer and richer. when more immediate priorities impinge upon my simple routines, then i neglect myself in my need to be "appropriate" to my circumstances... i forget myself, and a part of myself dies. maybe even putrefies.

i'm going to try not to lose my focus on my routines, despite what happens around me. (we'll see how long that lasts).

...speak of the devil... i'm being contacted to assist with gearing for some art project. talk to you all later!