Day 172

 Sunday August 30, 2020

A year ago not many people would have imagined the condition we currently find ourselves in. The novel coronavirus which became COVID-19 and officially became a pandemic on March 12, 2020 has infected over 25 million people and has a death total nearing 1 million (it is around 847,000 as of today). India now has the fastest-growing coronavirus caseload of any country in the world, with more than 75,000 new infections per day. In the past week, India has reported nearly half a million cases.

Yet the world and all its inhabitants continue to disagree on very important issues such as mask wearing and social distancing.  The two most important defenses against a virus primarily spread through human transmission. I suppose people are either uninformed of the virus and how it is continually spreading or very opinionated about their rights not to help themselves and fellow Americans. There is hope for the "all saving vaccine" soon, but I imagine even that will be met with both controversy and repudiation. 

The United States is in the middle of a presidential election (November 2020) as both the Republican and Democratic conventions recently wrapped up. The nation is also still protesting and calling for social justice as police officers continue to make grave mistakes when confronting citizens even after the killing of George Floyd in May turned the country on its end. There are struggles in most major cities around both the control of the virus and social issues regarding civil rights and police enforcement. In Denver this week police ransacked homeless encampments and made several arrests.  My friend Peter shot this video of one of the raids.Denver Police raid on homeless encampment

Many major sporting events were cancelled due to the recent shooting of another black male, Jacob Blake, by a white police officer. The shooting led to protests and rioting which eventually resulted in a civilian shooting two protesters. 

In Portland, Oregon the protests against police brutality and racial injustice have gone on for three months and last night a group of protesters clashed with a Trump rally and one person was shot dead.

Our society is desperate for leadership on so may levels beginning with the top, but also at the state and local levels. 

When will this hell on earth end? Will the eradication of COVID-19 (whenever that happens) be enough to regulate the world? The anger and hatred will still fester. Changes in our world societal systems are needed. In a conversation with friends recently, someone mentioned the feeling of solidarity of around the world after 911. For a short time we felt the pain and the human suffering deep inside our hearts and every man, woman and child mourned the loss of life in a tragic event.

The terrorist attacks that September day manifested changes in the airline and travel industries. Are these tragic moments we are witnessing, although not on the same scale but still inhumane, not enough to evoke the changes we need to see social equality and more humane treatment of impacted people.

“The time of a man's life is as a point; the substance of it ever flowing, the sense obscure; and the whole composition of the body tending to corruption. His soul is restless, fortune uncertain, and fame doubtful; to be brief, as a stream so are all things belonging to the body; as a dream, or as a smoke, so are all that belong unto the soul. Our life is a warfare, and a mere pilgrimage." - Marcus Aurelius

 

Day 165

 Sunday August 23, 2020

It has been a week since my last entry.  We are one week into remote teaching and all is well.  By the end of the week things started to feel comfortable and creating a consistent and predictable classroom was helpful to both the students and myself.

I love the space I am teaching in and that helps a great deal. I have enough space and feel safely isolated while still being in the school. 

Of course it feels odd to be in a school without children, but hey are only a google meet link away. The students appear to be positive and engaged for the most part. I can tell some students are not comfortable of happy with their current circumstances and I feel for them.  This entire endeavor is not easy and the uncertainty of it all must be stressful.  Especially if much of your life operates on a day to day basis.  The pandemic becomes one more giant WHAT IF?

The fact is much of this is both in our control and out of our control.

We have the choice to protect ourselves and others through social distancing, wearing a mask and washing our hands regularly.  We have the option to socialize with certain people or not.  We can stay home if we need to.  It is the virus itself we do not have control of.  Where is it? Many carriers are asymptomatic and that is fearful.  The fact that it keeps spreading due to people who are not choosing the option to protect others.  The potential for this to last for many more months without a vaccine and even then the effectiveness of the vaccine is unknown.  Many questions and few answers.

This past week saw the democratic convention take place online and I suppose it fit with the times.

As Joe Biden and company are taking the stand that the incumbent POTUS has not done right by us and continues to fumble major issues such as the handling of the coronavirus, the social injustices surrounding Black Lives Matter and even the upcoming election (Post Office anyone?)

With the November presidential elections looming there is also a tension in the air because the election will ultimately affect the next four years.  Which will in turn determine how the country continues to respond to the virus as well as major social issues around Black Lives Matter and the United States police forces.  The education systems are bound to be impacted with decisions regarding safe practices involved the different models of teaching.  While the youth of our country are destined to be affected in more ways than one (socially, educationally, and economically) All of this and the pandemics' economic impact that has ramifications affecting us and the world around us, which also continues to ebb and flow with the virus and pandemic, they all want to see who will be the leader of the United States of America.   The state of our country relies on the leadership in office and we need strong leadership now more than ever. 

Both in Colorado and California wildfires continue to rage as the drought conditions and high temperatures are preventing firefighters from making any headway in containment as over 900,000 acres in California and over 200,000 acres in Colorado have been scorched. 

Sports are back in a remote and modified way with seasons being shortened and restrictions in place to keep both team personnel and players safe. Fans are safe since they cannot attend games. 

And although it has been enjoyable to have this brand of entertainment again it is not a panacea for our current woes. 

The world as we once knew it has changed and will continue to remain a distant and remote and virtual world for quite some time. The best we all can do now is hold our collective breath and wait as the world turns. 

Spinning World

Day 158

 Today is Sunday August 16, 2020

With the beginning of our 2020-21 school year starting officially and virtually this Tuesday I will be blogging only on Sunday. It will be an account of the events which occurred during the week. So friends enjoy today and we'll see you in a week. 

The pandemic continues to handcuff us in many ways, but we were able to enjoy pedicures and dinner out at La Cueva tonight. It is a pleasant break from the mundane when these small victories occur, but this pandemic always in the back of our minds, feels at times, never-ending.

Yesterday marked four years since we lost our beloved cat Cassady. How fast the time flies? Or does it? The six months of this pandemic are not flying by.

Which brings me to the concept of time. What is it really? It's truly something to wonder and a mystery that has evaded humankind for...well,.. all time. Are it's only constraints are the clocks we use to keep it? What would life feel like if we didn't keep time?  Would day and night have a difference besides the light the sun provides?

We have heard the expression before; time is of the essence. And it is an ever-relevant expression because time only travels in one direction, forward. So it is essential we utilize the time we have as it does run out for each of us at some point. Time can feel slow or fast, nonetheless it moves on in its relativity. 

According to young science journal, 

"Newton believed that the nature of time was independent of our existence; time has and will always exist." But then along comes Einstein and this,

"Einstein’s fundamental principle regarding time — there is no ‘right answer’, as there is no absolute conception of ‘now’ in absolute time and space. Einstein turned the whole concept of time on its head. The implications of his theory of having no absolute frame of reference changed the way physicists looked at the world, forcing them to renounce their Newtonian beliefs. If there was no concept of ‘now’, then the actions you perform tomorrow, and the days after that, already exist. The future becomes predetermined."

Put that in your pandemic pipe and smoke it!

(Shout out to Gandalf and middle earth fans everywhere) 

This is where the subconscious mind comes into play. Projected thoughts on what your future will be can be manifest by said thoughts and correct decisions made at the right time in your future. The universe will draw to you the opportunity to achieve your goals, the goals you crave with unwavering desire and continually work for, if only you see the risk and seize it. Because most people allow fear to prevent them from reaching their goals. They "live in quiet desperation" as Emerson said.

Earl Nightingale, a purveyor of positive thought, had two goals in life. One was to discover the secret to success the other was to write books. From a young age he wanted to know what made some people rich and others poor. (He grew up poor in Long Beach, California) You can read about his story here: https://www.success.com/earl-nightingales-greatest-discovery/

He discovered the secret in the words written by Napoleon Hill, in the book Think and Grow Rich. The words were "We become what we think about"

He went on to write books, the most famous of which is called The Strangest Secret. Aptly named because, he pondered, how could such a simple truth not be known by the vast majority of humans?

He concluded and observed that most people spend their time thinking about what they don't have (complaining) or once had (reminiscing). Instead they ought to be conjuring up their successful future (predetermined or not). 

Day 157

 August 15, 2020 The weekend is here. It actually does not feel like a real weekend yet. After our first week of remote training for the 2020-21 school year and students arriving virtually on Tuesday we still have some preparing to do. So it will be a working weekend. 

The novel coronavirus from May, when it ripped through the United States at a torrid pace, is making a comeback?! I say that realizing the United States has never really controlled the virus and in fact July was the worst month of all in regards to infections.  So there is that. 

It is apparent that many Americans have no idea what is going on or how dire it is.

And just in case you didn't know, "The United States reported at least 1,470 deaths from the coronavirus on Wednesday, the highest single-day total yet in August."- The Washington Post

Apparently we are not the only ones as this map shows...red means a lot of infections.

 

In Europe, cruise ships are setting sail again.  Does not seem like a good idea to have a floating petri dish of non-mask wearers, but the economy must be revived at all costs. That is a joke (in poor taste)

The market has made a turnaround, but that only helps in recovering the wealthy, but not the working class.  In the work force, most higher paying jobs have been re-employed, but only half of the lower paying jobs ($20 and under) have comeback.  The separation of classes continues to increase, even in a pandemic, because the upper class are back to work and major chains are seeing the stock prices rise again while small business owners catering to the middle and lower class are struggling to survive. 

In local news...

This year continues to deliver bad news as weeks of dry, hot weather have caused drought conditions and spawned wild fires in the Colorado mountains. 

A stretch of Interstate 70 was shut down near Glenwood Springs due to one fire and the once clear beautiful "purple mountains majesty" has turned smoky gray.

 Over 1,000 brave men and women are charged with fighting these wildfires. This blurb from Colorado Public Radio, gives the locations of the wildfires and a quote from Governor Polis:

"Grizzly Creek Fire: 19,440 acres, 0 percent containment (Aug 15 @ 7:30 a.m.)
Pine Gulch Fire: 73,381 acres, 7 percent containment (Aug 14 @ 2:45 p.m.)
Cameron Peak Fire: 5,424 acres, no containment (Aug 15 @ 7:30 a.m.)

“It’s no question that this is a difficult time for Coloradans, especially those in the vicinity of the fires, and we appreciate our emergency first responders and public safety workers now more than ever,” Polis said"

 In other news, Joe Biden has named Kamala Harris as his running mate. Which brings me to The Post Office, which recently communicated with "detailed letters to 46 states and D.C. warning that it cannot guarantee all ballots cast by mail for the November election will arrive in time to be counted — adding another layer of uncertainty ahead of the high-stakes presidential contest."- The Washington Post

With both the Democratic and Republican conventions coming up the nation begins its big push towards November's presidential election.  The two candidates seems to be opposites on many issues and that only makes everything that is said and seen from convention days forth all the more juicy.  The world being in the midst of a pandemic makes it that more...anticipatory (something new to watch, right?) 

Day 156

 Today is Friday August 14, 2020 In recent coronavirus news. According to the Washington Post, "On Wednesday: The United States recorded the most covid-19 deaths in a single day since mid-May, nearly 1,500 fatalities. "

This seems nearly unfathomable to me. How can people, six months into a pandemic, read this and continue to venture out without masks and refuse to social distance.  Do these imbeciles not realize that they are perpetuating the virus spread? Today I heard a story about a restaurant in Kankakee, Illinois where every patron and employer were unmasked and the place was completely full. Un-fuken-believable. Where is the common sense? The concern for self and others. 

I recall, years a go, seeing a bumper that read Slap the stupid people. 

 

So it goes. On and on. It is increasingly frustrating for me to read these increasing numbers then hear/read stories like the restaurant in Kankakee and have faith in human kind.  

So I would like to talk about Marcus Aurelius and his writings. Aurelius was a Roman emperor from 161-180 and the last emperor of Pax Romana, a long period in Roman history known for peace and stability. He was a philosopher of stoicism, a belief system based on personal ethics and driven by logic and natural laws. The philosopher wrote, “The longest-lived and those who will die soonest lose the same thing. The present is all that they can give up, since that is all you have, and what you do not have, you cannot lose.” This is included in his writings under the title Meditations, a source of writings on Stoicism still praised centuries after his death.

The stoics, with their radical view of ethics, had a goal and that was to live their best life.

They strove for self-discipline and an acceptance of all things present.  They were mindful before it was cool. Virtuous and fair they were read by many great minds of history such as George Washington, Walt Whitman, Frederick the Great, Immanuel Kant and Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Kant, a German philosopher, seeking to define enlightenment often referred to the latin phrase Sapere aude which can be loosely translated as "Dare to be wise"

If only some of us dared more often.

Day 155

 August 13, 2020 

We are on our fourth day of remote professional development and my head aches, my eyes burn and my brain is fried. 

The district is front loading our cerebral cortex with massive amounts of information. The information is worthwhile and will be immediately applicable to our remote teaching term.

The part of it that is most difficult is staring into a computer screen for hours and having little time to process the data before the next training.  And we begin direct online instruction next week. 

When I was choosing a major for college I knew I did not want to be in a cubicle or desk job. And certainly not chained to a computer. It is utterly depressing. I do not know how people do it.

I chose physical education because I wanted to move and be on my feet. Which I have been joyfully doing for 25 years.  Although last spring the pandemic slowed everything to a grinding halt.  The Cure sing a song called Grinding Halt. You can listen to it here:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8el7sMurPYw

The numbers in the pandemic are rising every day and nothing appears to be able to slow its progress (or we are just not trying hard enough) The current number of daily cases in Colorado appears to be on the decline since a mask ordinance was put in place in late July. Here a map and some numbers for Denver County, the largest county, and where we currently reside.

   

We shall see what the numbers look like in October as our school quarter comes to a close and once again the board of education will decide which model to proceed with.  The models are remote, hybrid, cohort and in-person.  I just heard recently that the entire state of New York is going to reopen in September with a unique plan that falls in line with safety considerations as well as district discretion. WKBW in Buffalo reported recently saying, 

"New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced schools in New York State will reopen in September but with some stipulations.

Instead of using a "one size fits all" plan, the Governor said reopening plans are being approved on an individual basis by the NYS Department of Health.

"Remote education, a blend, half-day, quarter-day, a third day . . . that is all up to their discretion," said Cuomo."

This is of interest to me since my sister and two nieces are all in the education field and my nephew is in middle school.  The stress all educators and probably many children and parents are feeling right now is paramount.  Over the last few days, as I have planned for the upcoming remote quarter of teaching, this pandemic-pain-in-the-ass has really hit a nerve.  It is not that I forgot it or was in denial, but being in a pandemic over the summer was just a big fun-sucker.

And yes we were remote in the spring, but it was mostly access based instruction and it was more about helping children and families cope while we ourselves dealt with the sudden reality of online instruction.  This new year comes with rigor and accountability and evaluation and new learning. Tons of new learning.  Of course, all us educators are in this together.  We are all sailing the ship called COVID-19 into uncharted waters, but dang if it sometimes doesn't feel like you were stranded on a deserted island and all you have is computer! 

Day 154

 August 12, 2020 

Yesterday was another day of remote learning and collaboration with peers in preparation for the upcoming school year. We will be teaching remotely for the first quarter.  The district has provided many resources and asynchronous training opportunities around such things as creating a positive class culture to behavior management to communicating with families all designed around the digital education model.  There has also been online courses for the four digital platforms we will be using this year (Kami, Screencastify, Flipgrid and Pear Deck).

We are exactly one week away from virtually being in front of students.    

The situation in the world remains the same. We are in the midst of a global pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus which has spread its way around the world and has infected over 20 million people resulting in 737,000 + fatalities.  Because testing remains limited in parts of the world, experts say we do not even know the true numbers of infected or dead. The virus has changed the way the world operates as travel bans and other restrictions have crippled the economy. The unemployment rate is at a rate not seen since the great depression and many businesses have been forced to close.  People have lost jobs, housing and loved ones as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc upon the earth.  Every country has been effected either directly with large numbers of infected people (U.S., India and Brazil are the top three) or indirectly by travel or trade bans limiting their ability to maintain a sustainable income.  The top scientists in all the world are working to create an effective and safe vaccine. But because of the mysterious qualities of the virus the results may be unpredictable.  The current coronavirus is one which can infect people, but show no symptoms, it may infect and show minor symptoms which go away in a 3-7 days and it may infect people and take their lives within 7-10 days.  Underlying medical issues can play a part and the elderly seem to be particularly vulnerable.   However, there have been cases of perfectly healthy young people contracting the virus and succumbing to it.  Originally it was though children were immune, but that is no longer the case and although they are less likely to be infected and transmit the virus it is still a possibility.  A school, which had opened to in-person learning last week was quickly shut down after persons were infected and over 800 students and 40 staff members were quarantined after only being open for six days.

If you want to know how fast the virus has spread recently here is a quote from Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, secretary-general of the World Health Organization, who said in June. “It took more than two months for the first 100,000 cases to be reported, ...For the past two weeks, more than 100,000 new cases have been reported almost every single day.”

Even after learning much about the transmission of the virus and witnessing major failures in prevention of infection across the world we are all still not performing the simple measures it takes for us to slow the spread.  A real enigma, especially after how easy it is to get the correct information and how simple the measures truly are (keep six feet distance, wear a mask and wash your hands often), yet the puzzlement continues. I suppose it says a lot about our humanism and egotism and ignorance. Our hope is for a safe and effective vaccine for the rational folks and let the ignoramus around us continue to do what they do. 

  

Day 153

Tuesday August 11, 2020

Yesterday was an all day virtual training for professional development. I was on the computer from 8:00-5:00 with a few sporadic breaks here and there. It was exhausting.  We are preparing for the upcoming first quarter of teaching remotely.  Today was information on Neurosequential Model of Education. It is helpful information, but quite overwhelming today. Three modules each one hour long.  Then content guides and specific work with peers.  Lesson planning and collaboration.  When your career changes this drastically it really brings home the reality of the pandemic.  The other restrictions do not really effect me that much, but the training today was eye-opening.  It will surely be the an interesting first quarter of teaching.  Go slow to go fast is the current motto.  In order to create community, trust and a sense of belonging in your classroom, relationship building with students is a must and it begins with a slow pace of learning and practicing expectations while installing consistent and predictable routines. 

Gathering steam as you move into the content and building up both resilience and tolerance in children. 

In case you are wondering why the virus is called novel, here is an explanation from the NY Times, "It's called the novel coronavirus because we believed it was new to human experience, a brand-new pathogen totally alien to our immune systems, totally invulnerable to the defenses our bodies had built up against other diseases."

There is some mystery around this virus, most notably why around 40% of infected persons show no symptoms at all.  The theory (with very promising research) says some people are partially immune to the virus.  Although they are not sure why there is suggestion that old vaccines may be the reason.  This is good news, but in the bad news category, Americans continue to spread the virus profusely.  Our total has reached 5 million and a very unsettling 100,000 infections in children since late July.  All this with many school districts a mere weeks or even days away from classes starting.  Many are going the remote route, but others are in a hybrid or cohort model where kids and staff will be in the building.  New research has shown how children are affected in vastly different ways (depending on age)  than adults.  Much is still unknown about the transmission by children, but either way it will be both a most interesting and precarious fall semester.  In business news, the pandemic continues to crush certain companies.  Two such ride share companies Lyft and Uber are reporting a loss of 75% of their market due to COVID-19.

 

Day 152

 Monday August 10, 2020

Saturday was National Baseball card day.  When I was young I collected baseball cards.  Mostly from the seventies as those were my elementary school years.  I remember having all the 1973 World Series cards between the NY Mets and the Oakland A's.  The A's were a powerhouse winning three world series in a row from 1972-1974.  The Mets were my favorite team and I wanted to be a catcher like Jerry Grote.  Here is his 1973 baseball card. 

I definitely owned this card. I even caught a few games when I was playing baseball in the Long Island summers of my youth.  Here is an article about that collectible year of 1973 baseball cards.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/vintage-set-of-the-week-1973-topps-baseball/

Now for some national news and of course it revolves around the continuing spread of the novel coronavirus aka COVID-19.

The United States continues to lead countries in case growth, doubling its cases in the past two months. The nation has exceeded five million cases and over 160,000 deaths.  And with that we get news that 250,000 motorcycle enthusiasts are expected to show up in South Dakota for the annual Sturgis rally.  This will be one of the largest public gatherings since the pandemic became official on March 12th.  Only in America?!  That is one reason why we have more cases than any other country.  Yes, we are the most populous, but also the least effective at slowing the spread.

With that being said, the European nations have led the way to a dusty death (leading in COVID-19 deaths per capita). Health officials in some areas did not include nursing homes in the pandemic plans and many were left unattended.   Failing to protect their elderly has led to a gross number of deaths in Europe. 

In other news; a recent explosion, due to many tons of ammonium nitrate (a fertilizer) stored in a port in Beirut, left five thousand injured and killed 145 people. That led to protests and riots against a government accused of corruption and neglect.  The protesters stormed the governing  ministries and several legislators have resigned. You can read more about it here: https://arab.news/6m7sm

Several years ago, after a magical 2007 season I officially became a fan of the Colorado baseball team. The Colorado Rockies are currently in first place and Maren and I are enjoying listening to the games.  And even though it is unlikely we will attend a game this year we are thankful for baseball and hearing our boys do well has given us great joy.  Go Rockies!  

Day 151

 Sunday August 9, 2020 

Drinking coffee in the backyard of this current life is peaceful. It is settling and unsettling all the same. It is usually quiet. I am usually alone. I am usually mindful.  Those are all the entities that create peace for me. It is my world inside the world, but it is the world itself that is unsettling. 

The pandemonium of the world is unsettling.

Since the pandemic began I have been, for the most part, confined to my home.  And since it all began in the spring, naturally, the backyard became a place to go.  The outdoor living room if you will.

So it is with great discord that I find myself here both in the backyard and in this pandemic.

One by choice, one by circumstance.  It is the circumstance that is the hard pill to swallow.

But if I have learned anything during this time of isolation from the outside world, it is the gift of slowness.  The idea of leisure and the certainty that life often moves too quickly, for all of us has opened my eyes to a new love for doing nothing and being alright with it.

  We ought to slow it down. We ought to embrace life as it ticks by, each second piling up into minutes, jamming into hours, squeezing into days and culminating into years.  Becoming our lifetime.  But time's arrow only moves forward.  We cannot go backward into the stream of time.  Only forward.  And where are we headed?  Well, at the risk of sounding morbid...death. 

Or as David Byrne would sing, "We're on the road to nowhere.."

Is that not what death is; nowhere? (to us agnostics anyway)   In the time of the pandemic when life has slowed down we are being reminded to enjoy the little moments.  

Enjoy the small pleasures. Enjoy every tiny task. 

Enjoy the mundane routine of waking and living. Simply said, enjoy being.  Time has not, in fact, slowed down, only we have and that is a good thing.  In his book, In praise of slowness, Carl Honore states, "Inevitably, a life of hurry can become superficial.  When we rush, we skim the surface, and fail to make real connections with the world or people."  This shift to relaxing and enjoying our homes albeit due to stay-at-home orders and a potentially deadly virus is a shift towards clutching the now and holding on to it. Carpe diem has made a comeback in an odd sort of way.

Indeed, seize the day and every minute of it.  See the sun coming in through your window or feel the rays streaming through the trees in your backyard.  Listen to the birds. Smell the fresh cut grass.  Taste every snack.  Be alive with the world around you and with your senses be intimate with this world. (not the pandemonium world, but the one in your home/backyard etc.)

In the words of Franz Kafka, "You don't need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen.  Don't even listen, simply wait.  Don't even wait, be quite still and solitary.  The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked.  It has no choice."

 Some day the masks will come off and distance will be shorter than six feet and that is when time's arrow will once again fly at full speed.  Still ahead and still towards your one and only demise.  

My hope is that you are late for this rendezvous. 

Day 150

 Saturday August 8, 2020 The weekend is here...Does anyone care anymore? I suppose people who have worked through the pandemic still look forward to weekends. I guess we all do, out of habit, but it feels so contrived.  I long for the authentic and spontaneous feeling of T.G.I F. Some day...

It has been a few days since I have looked at COVID numbers.  The seven day average in the world for new cases daily is an incredible 255,000+.  Since July 7th we have been over 200,000 a day on average and climbing. Here is what the chart looks like:

The trend continues to rise and still people in the United States are refusing to where masks and or social distance.  Although our daily case average has decreased the last two weeks cases are still surging in many states and it ought to be obvious to everyone this virus is not going away anytime soon.  A good trend is death totals have decreased and are well below the peak levels. 

This chart indicates the seven day average of new cases in the United States:

The latest news revolves around schools and how they will operate this coming fall. Many districts are beginning classes this month and most are going remote to start. 

New York City, the largest district in the nation, returns to school after labor day.  The decision is not clear which model they will follow. Governor Cuomo has endorsed in person learning in some format. (the two models are a hybrid of in-person and remote and a cohort model of inperson with little movement of students throughout the day)  Mayor de Blasio says a final decision will be made at a later date.   Since the beginning of the virus outbreak and subsequent pandemic we have learned much about how the virus is transmitted. 

The virus that causes COVID-19 is thought to spread mainly from person to person, mainly through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs. Spread is more likely when people are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).  And although many mysteries still remain some new research has found:

Asymptomatic spread. A new report from South Korea provides more evidence that people without symptoms can unwittingly spread the virus. Researchers found that people with no symptoms had just as much virus in their nose, throat and lungs as those with symptoms, and for almost as long. Roughly 30 percent of those infected never develop symptoms, the study says, but are probably still capable of spreading the virus.

Airborne transmission. A leaked report from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment provides one of the clearest examples yet that the coronavirus can be transmitted through the air. The study examined a retirement home where almost an entire ward of patients was infected. Health authorities found large quantities of the virus in the air-ventilation system.

Stay safe friends. Wear a mask. Keep your distance from others. Wash your hands more often.

Day 149

Today is August 7, 2020    It is hard to believe, but we started this pandemic while we were in school (it was officially declared on March 12, 2020) just getting primed for spring break.  They extended our spring break by one week and we never went back to in-person teaching again that school year.

 Yesterday we started preparing for the upcoming school year and we are still virtual.  Aurora Public Schools announced they would be teaching remotely for the first quarter (Aug. 18-Oct. 8) and will then review COVID statistics and health advice before transitioning into another format.  The possible formats include a cohort model, a hybrid model and full in-person teaching.

This day was all about reviewing district expectations and understanding the safety measures in place when you are in building.  You have a choice to teach remotely from your classroom or from your home.

All students will be learning from home.

All of it struck me as very surreal. Like, is this really going on? I realize it has been going on for over four months, but as it became more clear today that this is how things are and no one is sure when it will change. The entire school year is going to a fluid procedure moving forward.  Not only in regard to the model we teach in, but how we teach and how students learn. 

Once again, grace and patience is on the forefront of everyone's mind.

This is the latest school news from around the United States, according to the NY Times:

"American parents overwhelmingly oppose sending their children back to classrooms full time, despite their serious concerns with online learning. Nearly half favor a mix of digital and in-classroom instruction, according to a Washington Post-Schar School survey conducted by Ipsos, and 16 percent support the White House position that nearly all children should go back to class.

Many school districts plan to hold online classes for at least part of the school year, but few of them are prepared to do it, The Post’s education desk reported. Many teachers have not yet been trained to teach remotely, administrators have done relatively little to plan for digital classes, and “millions of students nationwide still lack devices and Internet access.”

Parents of special-education students are especially worried about a school year of solitude and screens. The Post interviewed families across the country who fear remote classes will leave children with disabilities behind and deprive them of crucial skills they need for an independent life.

Meanwhile, some schools that decided to reopen are already running into crises. A Mississippi school district has sent 116 students home to quarantine after an outbreak in the first week of classes."

We are planning for more live instruction, more rigorous instruction and more student accountability including attendance and grading.  There is also teacher accountability as the evaluation system is back on track.  The entire evaluation will be around teacher rubrics with no student learning objectives (as in the past).

The district has done an extensive job in preparing all staff and students for this upcoming remote learning endeavor and although I am sure there will be bumps and obstacles they have many resources in place to help all of us navigate through the process.

I spent most of the day in virtual meetings and asynchronous learning videos. "Onward" is a word a former principal of mine, Michelle Barone, used to say all the time. 

Onward, indeed!

Day 148

Today is Thursday August 6, 2020

When pandemic meets epidemic or coronavirus versus the flu or when the sh*t hits the fan.

What experts do not know is what will happen when the seasonal flu runs up against the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

Some experts believe undoubtedly there will be waves of COVID-19 throughout the fall. which is not much of a prediction because there have been waves though the summer and all along the way since mid-March.  Australian is batting down the hatches as they face a second lock down to help squash a second wave. 

The upcoming flu season brings with it a myriad of problems mainly because it appears the spread of COVID-19 will still be occurring.  First is fact that many hospitals will already be overwhelmed and hospital beds may not be available for those in need. Second will be determining which virus a patient has, coronavirus or the flu, as the symptoms are often indistinguishable.  A third variable is just how COVID-19 will react to the flu.

This article from The Guardian can explain it better than I can, "Every autumn there is a predictable series of outbreaks of respiratory viruses. It starts with rhinovirus, the main cause of the common cold, which breaks out every September as young children go to school and swap mucus...The rhinovirus subsides as most children are exposed and their immune systems activate. Then another virus breaks out: respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. Every year in October or November, this causes mild colds in people of all ages, but sometimes severe lung infections in the youngest and oldest of us...Then RSV subsides, and the annual flu epidemic sets in, anywhere from early winter to spring, driven mainly by transmission among children, but taking its main toll among the elderly..."

 The mystery of COVID-19 continues as we move forward.  

Rising case reports and anxiety is keeping everyone on edge.

Day 147

August 5, 2020

Over four months into this pandemic and it is hard to believe we are still dealing with these headlines:

• Government data leaked to the BBC suggests Iran is covering up the true toll of the virus. Nearly 42,000 people there have died, the data shows, which is three times as many as the publicly announced total.
• More than 40 people on a cruise ship from Norway tested positive for the virus, The Associated Press reports. Health authorities fear the ship may have spread the virus to dozens of towns and villages along its route.
• President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines ordered Manila and its suburbs to re-enter lockdown for two weeks after 5,032 new cases were reported.
• Despite a lockdown that began a month ago, officials in Melbourne, Australia, announced stricter measures to stem an outbreak. For six weeks, residents will be under curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., with exemptions for work or giving and receiving care.
• New Jersey will again restrict indoor gatherings as cases have risen in the state. Gatherings will be limited to a maximum of 25 people, down from 100 people.
• On Saturday, the superintendent of the Elwood Community School Corporation in Central Indiana sent a note thanking students and parents for “a great first two days of school!” But several staff members then tested positive, and the high school was forced to close its doors.
• Just hours into the first day of classes at Greenfield Central Junior High School, also in Indiana, the county health department notified the school that a student had tested positive. The student was isolated, and others who had been in proximity were forced to quarantine for two weeks.
• At a high school in Corinth, Miss., someone also tested positive during the first week back, and exposed students there were asked to stay home for 14 days.
• That is all I have to say today but it ought to be noted that in 1918-19 during the influenza outbreak, when experts advised mask wearing as a preventative measure against the spread, people resisted then (just as they do today) Have we not learned very much in 100+ years? 

Day 146

Today is Tuesday August 4, 2020

This is the first week of school. I have a few remote meetings today.  Wednesday and Thursday free. Thursday we report...remotely.

The next two weeks will be planning for rigorous online education as we prepare to for students to re-enter the virtual world of education on August 18th.  After teaching for 26 years it will be the strangest first day ever. Researchers in Austin Texas "have new estimates that provide a rough gauge of the risk that students and teachers could encounter in each county in the United States."

Especially these days it is wise to take everything you read and be careful to analyze it or just realize some of it is meant to grab headlines and your attention.  Still it is nice to see a sprinkling of hope every now and then. According to Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert, who everyone knows by name there is a good possibility the United States will have a vaccine by either the end of 2020 or early in 2021.  He did say a "safe and effective vaccine" so he is being specific and my guess is if anyone would be able to predict the timeline it would be him.

The question still remains what will a vaccine mean and how will it actually affect the virus outbreak.  There are indeed many mysteries and situations upcoming that may keep this virus lingering for quite some time.  For example even though over thirty states and many cities have issued mask requirements when outside your home, enforcing it is still a reoccurring problem in some regions.  

In order to really crush this virus and slow the spread we must be united on all the measures it takes to do the job.  If not then we will just continue to allow the virus to move among us and put us all at risk.  But telling the people who are fighting mask mandates and social distance advice is like talking to the wall.   It just seems to me that common sense is lost on some people.  

I also suppose there is the other side of the coin. People want to be independent and so much so that they do not want to conform any more than they already must (taxes, rent, laws, etc)

They find individualizing themselves and standing out gives them power to be different.

The great poet E.E. Cummings wrote, "Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel. Why? Because whenever you think or you believe or you know, you’re a lot of other people: but the moment you feel, you’re nobody-but-yourself.

To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."  

Just some thoughts to consider as continually fight this invisible virus beast called COVID-19.

Day 145

Monday August 3, 2020

We continue in the same path with this pandemic. "The coronavirus pandemic is ebbing in some of the countries that were hit hard early on, but the number of new cases is growing faster than ever worldwide, with more than 200,000 reported each day on average." -NY Times

So it goes. And so love goes. It goes on and on for Maren and me. We were visiting with some friends the other night and they asked us our story.  After reminiscing we both remembered the magic of the evening we went on our first date.  It is still fun to talk about eighteen years later. 

We found love right away and have nurtured it through our years and although they all have not been easy we persisted and always found a way back to the way it is now.  Love-simple and true.

One strange phenomenon regarding COVID-19 is the odd extremes in people who are infected. 

We have learned underlying factors can lead to sever sickness and even fatality, but beyond that some people are acquiring the virus and it is making them extremely ill and in some cases dying even when they were completely healthy before being infected.  On the other hand are people who are infected and do not even know it because the are asymptomatic.  This is a mystery that still has experts perplexed.

Lately I have been pondering how quickly our moods can change.  Mostly due to circumstances that are constantly changing around us.  And even more so during the pandemic.  So I was trying to remember why last week, in the middle of the day, I felt happy.  I could not quit pin it down, but just yestrerday I had another moment of unabashed joy.  And I remember the moment it happened and I know why it happened.  It is because I am Italian! I was enjoying and expressing my Italian heritage! 

Frank Sinatra was singing When you're smiling as I began to chop the onions and garlic. I was sipping a red wine blend and enjoying the flavors.  As I prepared the peeled tomatoes to go into the pot and collected my Italian spices I realized how happy I am being Italian.   

No matter the condition of the world or the circumstances we may find ourselves in, at that moment I was at peace with who I was and what I was doing.  I had hope. Even if it was just faith in a bowl of rigatoni and marinara sauce.

It may be the music, the smells, the people you are with and in that moment you find yourself content to be who you are.

Thanks Mom and Dad.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Portoghese and Monterosso for the lineage and the Italian blood flowing through my veins.  And the love of all things Italian forever nestled in my heart. Per sempre Italiano!

Day 144

August 2, 2020

Yesterday I wrote a piece on grit.  Grit is something we all need, certainly in the time of a pandemic but also when dealing with everyday life.   On Friday I was in an auto accident in which I was uninjured.

The accident, as many do, came out of nowhere and since the driver of the other vehicle ran a red light. I did not realize what was happening until impact.  Then in some sort of slow motion recall I remember being thrust around and my car spun in a 360.  It was now facing the direction I had come from and still running.  I shut the car off and after a quick assessment of my physical self I began looking for my phone.  My cell phone had been catapulted during the accident and eventually found a resting place under the passenger seat.    

It occurs to me now this insane obsession to our phones as I had little concern for the other human in this situation, but rather the determination to locate the cellular device that links me to...what?  I glanced a the other car a few times and saw movement.  Before I could even exit my car a pedestrian asked me if I was OK? I answered yes and he returned with, "well not in the long run" referring to the upcoming hassles of dealing with everything related to being involved in an accident (Police, insurance, cost, loss, etc.). 

After finding my phone I immediately called Maren then walked over to the other vehicle to find no one there.  The accident occurred at the intersection of Hudson and Colfax where a Circle K gas station sits on the northwest corner.  Many folks were standing around and saw the driver of the other car run away.

The fire department rescue truck showed up within minutes and asked me a few questions to help determine my current mental condition .  Who am I, where am I, what day it was, who is the president? Who is the president? Is that a standard question for accident/concussion protocol?  I remember making a face and saying "Trump" with some chagrin.  Thirty-seven minutes later the police showed up in the form of a civilian crash investigation van.  Garry, the officer,  then had me fill out an accident form describing my account of what happened.  He spoke to one witness John who was nice enough to hang around and speak to the officer. He ordered a tow for the other car as we called our insurance company to arrange for the pick-up of my 2005 Jeep Wrangler which now looked like this.

The other vehicle had Utah plates and when he did some investigation found out it was stolen out of Castle Rock, CO.  So it would make sense I suppose for the driver to run away.

I can only imagine he had a myriad of problems the first of which he was driving a stolen car.

After getting all my personal belongings from the Jeep and finishing up with Garry.  The Jeep was towed away and we went home.  I took a long nap and then did some thinking about mortality, fate and the universe.  I was on my way to meet Jim Ajemian for coffee and the phone app told me to turn onto 14th avenue one block before the intersection of the accident. I found that odd so decided to go straight.  Straight into destiny? Was the app giving me a clue? Was that the universe speaking to me? God? After traumatic events, especially ones in which fatalities occur, we often ponder the mysteries of life.  The whys and hows of our fleeting lives.

This thinking can often be morbid as we wonder the what ifs or possible alternate endings to the moment.  It made me think how suddenly things happen and how in any second you could lose much of what we take for granted including the most precious of all, our very existence.

It made me think of the control we have or maybe don't have when it comes to these moments.

I have always been a believer in the philosophy that says we can guide or lives and manifest our dreams into reality with positive thinking and sustained focus.  But what of these occasions when tragedy strikes? We surely are not manifesting these moments.  Could we be manifesting the avoidance of the fatality that could have occurred?  Could we, by having hopes and schemes and plans and dreams, be solidifying our place on earth for the purposes of reaching those aspirations?  Then what of the dreamers who left too soon?  Or was it their destiny to be cut short of time for the rest of us to learn from?  

For a number of years now I have been leaning towards an existential view of life.  The existentialist believes in freedom of choice and development of the individual's purpose of life through the rational actions in an irrational world.  Not governed by laws of nature.  We can make life be what we want it to be.  "I think therefore I am" the words of philosopher René Descartes are unique to existential thinking.   They ought not be unique to all of us as we navigate this journey we call life.  Think and be.  Believe and become.  Our mind tapping into the powers of universe can guide us to places we want to be or not be.  How critical are those little moments when we go "left" instead of "right"? Only we can decide if we are truly masters of our own fate. Or can we?

Before Storm- A Painting by Inna Montano

Day 143

It is August 1, 2020. I am not sure I need to share with you all the latest numbers on COVID-19 as they have been virtually steady for the past several weeks.  The ebb and flow of the virus, known as novel coronavirus. It is a new strain of coronavirus hence the novel prefix. SARS and MARS were also coronaviruses. "WHO recommends that the interim name of the disease causing the current outbreak should be “2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease” (where ‘n’ is for novel and ‘CoV’ is for coronavirus)"

In case you were wondering all that. If you are wondering what type of human characteristic it takes to endure something like the current pandemic brought on by 2019-nCoV my vote is for grit. 

I am currently reading Getting-Grit-Evidence-Based-Cultivating-Perseverance and although I am only on page 26 it describes the characteristic as something we all need right now.  The author Caroline Adams Miller describes grit as “passion and perseverance in pursuit of long-term goals.” Her approach to getting grit is one that has to do with finding your sole passion in life or realizing your why as you reside on planet earth.  The reason you get up in the morning or rai·son d'ê·tre as the French say.  However if you see grit as having the ability to see things through amidst difficult circumstances or life obstacles then we all need a lot of grit at this time and for months to come.  Getting grit is going to be important to everybody looking at getting through the pandemic. Part of having grit or getting grit requires us to be focused on positive outcomes, goals and dreams. Developing a growth mind-set rather than a fixed one.

It is very easy right now to see the world and our current situation and be depressed, feel hopeless and have a pessimistic outlook.  Mostly because we do not have a time frame about the pandemic.  We do not have any solid evidence as to when it will end or any concrete understanding to how it will end. 

A vaccine is everyone's savior right now, but it is speculative.  We have some history on how vaccines are used and their effectiveness, but every situation is different. Besides one has not even been created yet and the predictions about when range from as early as October to next spring. 

All of these unanswered questions are the factors leading to our uncertain future and our dominant uncertainty as a collective people. 

So having the fortitude and perseverance in pursuit of a goal (a virus free world) is increasingly important for all of us.  Because of restrictions due to the pandemic coupled with the fear of acquiring the virus it is on everyone's minds and lips for the majority of our day.  It permeates every facet of our lives and dominates our thoughts and conversations.  It is in every headline and a reoccurring topic on news, radio and podcasts.  It is currently inescapable in our existence and because of the mystery of when it will end we are thrust into fear and anxiety. It is difficult to feel relaxed when going to the supermarket or a salon or a restaurant is stressful. These times require all of us to reach deep within our well of perseverance and see this through with a rational mind. It is another obstacle in life.  We have all been through them.  We have endured illness, financial hardship, mental unsurety.  The grit we used then will work now it is only a matter of having some, most or all of these five characteristics of grit.

I will paraphrase them here: courage, conscientiousness, perseverance, resilience and passion. 

Now I will let Angela Duckworth the author of The Power and Passion of Perseverance tell you all about them in detail. 

https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance