The picture is looking out to the 626 in honor of Mike Sonksen…more views from Debs park.

March 22, 2020

An uneasy feeling has been following me around as I navigate this new life: is this real? One student even e-mailed that very question to me, and I replied that as far as I can tell, this is really happening…and it is like some mash up of Jaws and The Stand, but even that blithe quip doesn’t capture what I really feel. Is this really happening? I asked my husband and he assured me that it was, but then he wondered if we had all died and landed in some less than pleasant after-life. He referenced Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead…I added No Exit and Waiting for Godot…all plays about absurdity. According to Merriam Webster, absurd means ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous. Yup, that’s how this Corona virus situation feels to me.

Aside from that, things are going OK.

• We still have toilet paper (thanks to the Hi Ho selling it one roll at a time, and we’re not hoarding).
• We still have jobs, but there are ominous rumblings for my husband.
• No one is sick here, and my Mom is OK after a bad fall
• The puppy remains crazy

Much of my anxiety is about my students, and I think I will have to offer extra credit to get people to post, but I am thankful at least one student shared her story.

Most of all, I think this is a moment to take seriously. We are living history and we know it. We should pay attention if we have time.

**If you go hiking, please, please practice social distancing. There’s more than enough room, so pull over to one side as folks pass. Social Distancing  only works if we do it right, and folks in Italy and China lost the ability to walk freely. I need to walk because: PUPPY MONSTER, also self care. This ends my Ted Talk on walking in the park at this time**