Thursday, March 12, 2020

Coronavirus: "Caring across social distance"

I couldn't make this morning's Grant Club meeting because I woke up with a terrible sore throat.  I am in the C/F/C--cold/flu/coronavirus--netherland.  The only things I know for sure are: I hope it's a cold and it's lonely.  I shouldn't say it's that lonely -- I was talking on a webinar to 100 people and other calls have been coming in all day.  But it has a shell of loneliness because I shouldn't go out and others shouldn't come in, as least not until this thing declares itself.  I've never wished so hard for a runny nose and sneezes.

Anyway, in this state, I was glad to see a google doc shared by our UofO leader, Molly Rose Kaufman, called "Caring across social distance."  By way of context, Molly is my youngest child. When she was a baby, she would sit in the kitchen nook and have breakfast with every member of the family as they floated through.  Social distance is not her thing.  Some of the items on the "Caring across social distance" list included: headsets for the UofO team (so we could optimize our Zoom calls); "digital campus" that included a baking show led by Holly Barszcz and me (which has long been a dream of mine); and telephone call trees.  While much of what is going on is dreadful (meaning full of dread), it is also a time when we have to invent a new way life.  It's like camping, or breathing during an inversion.

An email to faculty from the university where I teach (The New School) had the subject line:
Moving your face-to-face courses 
online in a hurry
It was very supportive of the challenges we face and suggested that we take control of that which is within our control.  At this moment, it is within my control to plan my first contribution to the baking show, "Making David's Brownies."  Link to follow!

2 comments:

  1. Feel better soon! This is a crazy moment and I am counting on you and Molly to help us through with guidance like this. Elbow bumps and virtual hugs,
    Jen

    ReplyDelete
  2. Be well Mindy — and your entire village. ❤️

    ReplyDelete

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