Day #162 Writing Through COVID-19: Masks (Have we talked about this before?)

I made adjustments in my classroom on Day 2. I threaded two paper-towel rolls onto the retractable stanchion cords to make it quick for kids to grab a towel for wiping down desks as they enter my room. This eased congestion and helped them to touch only their own towel.

As soon as one class left, I dashed around the room squirting disinfectant on each desk. This also works as an air-freshener: my room now smells like cheap tequila. 
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My seniors are sad. Today they told me that last year's graduates lost April and May of their senior year, but they're "losing" their senior year right from the start: football games, Homecoming, fall musical...all can be canceled at any moment.

They don't know yet what expectations will be in place for the crowds. Can they cheer with their friends? Isn't shouting an aggressive way of distributing the virus? Will their peers wear masks while shouting "D-E-F-E-N-S-E"? Will everyone social distance and offer air hugs after touchdowns?

Our school has its first scheduled football game this Friday. 
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This feels like such a small thing to the 60-year-old me. But the 15-year-old who still lives inside me can relate. I lived for Friday nights. My first kiss happened at a Ft. Dodge Dodgers football game (yikes). I can smell fall air and remember the giddiness of it all. I see the harvest moon rising over the bleachers.
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Moment of the day: My newspaper class talked about the confusion and awkwardness surrounding the vague masking policy in our school. "Recommended" and "expected when social-distancing cannot be achieved" has by Day #2 morphed into "anything goes."

While I saw an uptick in masking in my own room on Day 2 (likely in response to my emotional appeals of yesterday and this morning's email I sent telling my students how much I appreciated masking in my room), my journalists said that it is hit-and-miss throughout the school. 

Even the kids who tell me they are "pro-mask" (I am dismayed that we use the conflict terminology of pro/con on a public health issue) say they feel unease and odd social pressure when masking expectations wax and wane from class to class.

One of my editors said that initially, she'd been anxious about my class because she knew I was going to be hypervigilant on mitigation strategies because of my age, previous cancer, and responsibilities for caring for elderly family members.

Instead, she said Room #408 was one of the calmest for her because I'd drawn boundaries for distancing and expectations for masking. "I could relax," she said, because everyone around her was wearing a mask and respecting distancing. 

Her words made my day.
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I ate lunch alone again, outside and in the sun and fresh air. Because my prep period aligns with lunch, I have 70 minutes of non-teaching time in the middle of the day. 

Eating alone is lonely. My fellow English teachers have stopped by my lawn chair to say hello. I've shared my carrots. We are texting when we normally would have popped into each other's rooms. This helps.
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Tonight when I Zoomed with my dad for a game of Bridge, his laptop camera was again not working. Nevertheless, we played a good hand and lost only 5 IMP points on our failed attempt to make game with 3NT. 

Regardless, we had fun talking through strategy, counting tricks, weighing options.

After Bridge, my mom joined us and I told her about my teaching day. She told me about blowing bubbles.

Enough.
Be well.
Write.

Allison

Trying to be a grandma from too far away. I can't
wait until Wolf is able to actually see me when we Facetime.
Look how chonky (his Irish mama's word) he is! 
Andrea says his thighs are fattening up!