The world keeps turning… Week Twenty-Three arrived and has since faded into the past. COVID-19 time is strange. Years pass in single days and months change overnight. Somehow I keep putting one foot in front of the other (although some days it’s just to move from the bed to the couch).
Sunday
Going to a protest donning a mask and trying not to touch anyone was a new experience for me. It’s a little eerie standing in a crowd in which everyone is wearing masks, afraid of contagion.
This was a risk for me. I have an autoimmune disease. I’m one of the people who’s supposed to be extra cautious. But I’m also one of the people who can’t stand on the sidelines. I need to stand with my community.
Monday
David Levithan officially knows I exist. I’m sure he forget about my existence as soon as he moved on to the next question, but I had my moment of glory.
Tuesday
Teaching has become a sweatpants endeavor, but also one in which I have to try to work with a student while keeping my attention-seeking cat from falling off the desk.
Wednesday
This scene reminds me of the picture we painted for our holiday gathering at school, only it’s summer and day time.
Thursday
My parents went out of town for a mini-vacation before going back to work. My mom was okay with returning. She’s always been a busy-body (Though I do think lockdown has shown her she can survive without working), but my dad was very upset about the prospect of returning to his job. To be clear, my dad is officially retired and only works one day a week.
My dad is ready to move on in general, though. He confided that he’s “just as perturbed” as I am that the possibility of being able to land a new teaching job and move to NYC is very slim thanks to COVID, because when/if I move, my mom won’t have an excuse to stay in this area anymore. But this picture here shows one little piece of the oasis she created that regardless of where my brother and I are in the world, she will not be so readily willing to leave.
Friday
I’ve moved this little buddy (Get it?? BUDdy… though I’m not sure it is technically a bud) back outside a few times. Apparently, I am not the only one. I keep trying to tell it there’s nothing inside it will want, but I think it likes exploring.
Saturday
I need to go back inside and stay there, secluded. I know this. But people are trying to force change and I want to help them.
Syracuse had a good turn out. About two thousand people between the rally and the march. And I listened to a high school student talk about the SROs in the schools and it really made me think about things and reflect on the idea of defunding the police. I’m still researching, still reflecting, still listening… I hope the rest of the world is, too.
I did have a small win on Facebook, which almost never happens. A friend from my gym posted some statistics about police shootings that favored many pro-law enforcement arguments. She comes from a family of police officers, and I respect that, but at the end of her post, she said “Black lives matter. White Lives matter. Blue lives matter.” I thought: Hmm. Lots to unpack there… But I decided to start small. She’s since taken the post down, but here is essentially what I commented:
I think we need to be careful using the phrase “blue lives.” Blue lives are not a thing the same way black lives are. Police officers can take their uniforms off at the end of the day, people of color cannot remove their skin. I say this with respect for many officers. I think it’s similar to teaching; many feel called to that line of duty and it’s part of who they are, but not in the same way. I know many people of color who respect law enforcement and are offended by that phrase.
Best comment ever? Of course not. And it didn’t touch on half of what I was itching to say in response to her, but she ended up liking my comment and altering her post to remove the phrase and that felt like a win. Of course, I was then told (not by her) that I silenced her and that it’s sad we live in a time when people can’t state how they feel without fear of being attacked. But whatever.