Thursday, October 28, 2021

I have two topics in mind, one COVID-19 related (in a strange way) and one not. On October 15, while I was in my graduate class on Zoom, I got a text message from a friend from K-12 days. It said her brother had died of COVID-19 (not vaxxed) that morning after 22 days on a vent. He had a bonded pair of female Beagles, and the plan was to take them to a shelter. She lives in another state and did not want that to happen. I think it is likely they would have found homes, but she did not want them separated. So I told Bob, and we adopted them. We picked them up an hour north of where we live, in the same town where the shelter is that Rosie and Harry came from! They are darling, and Harry is happy. Several weeks ago I tried to adopt a nine year old Beagle mix that I saw on Petfinder, and the rescue denied me! I told myself that day that my next sweetheart would find me -- and I was right X2!

 

This is the other subject I wanted to write about for a while. We watched the Netflix limited original series "Maid" recently. The book Nickel & Dimes was better, but the series was binge-worthy, interesting, provocative. Not to minimize the domestic abuse issue or gloss over the struggles of the poor, but a couple of things irritated me. First, the actress who played the lead did not seem like a hard-working but impoverished single mom. She seemed like a Vassar co-ed. Second, the character struck me as manipulative with a big entitled attitude. She so reminded me of Donna that I felt angry. Donna was alcoholic, bulimic, a victim of various types of abuse but also a master of manipulation with a huge chip on her shoulder. I guess it is finally okay to mention Donna, another friend from K-12 times, since she has been dead for over six years. She caused me a lot of heartache for over 40 years and she socially ruined high school for me. She was mean to a lot of other kids. I think the character in the series would have many more serious flaws than shown, along the lines of Donna (plus smoking cigarettes).

Tuesday, October 05, 2021

I am an early adopter of online teaching and learning and have been experimenting with remote delivery and alternative approaches since the 1990s, so when everyone everywhere "flipped" in March 2020, it wasn't that traumatic for me or for students who were taking my classes. Content ranged from 50-75% web-based before COVID-19. Since then it's 100%. I don't plan to go back to the physical classroom even post-pandemic (assuming that time ever comes 🥵😢). I'll tell you a secret. My classes are *better* now. Radical redesign has been cathartic for me and students. Converting some classroom activities is challenging trial and error. Every semester since Spring 2020 I've been trying to figure out how to effectively play the game Set in small groups over Zoom. I use it to teach qualitative analysis and it was always a fun day in the classroom but I haven't been satisfied with the online approach. Yesterday I think I figured it out!! It's the plan for Thursday's class so stay tuned.