2020 Quarantine - Week 8

Let's talk about the big event things that are looking very different during the quarantine.

First - birthdays. Especially kid birthdays. Juliette's is next month, and let me tell you, birthdays when you are turning 8 are a big deal. She has been planning her party since she turned 7, and right from the beginning of the quarantine she had the idea that this might change plans. We still have a month, so we'll see. She's holding out hope for a lifting of the social isolation protocol, but I just hope we can have a small gathering with her cousins and her best friend.

Many people are organizing the "birthday drive-by parade". This is where friends drive by in their cars, holding signs and decorated with streamers and balloons. There is honking and well-wishing through the window. It doesn't last long, but I sure love to see those birthday faces beam. We've participated in one full on parade, where the cars all came at the same time. It was for a friend of Colin's. They live half an hour outside of town, and there were about 20 of us that trekked down for it. I've seen a few videos online of friends who live further away who are doing the same thing.

We've also made a special trip out for a few others friends (and one of my students). We can't do much more than park outside and honk, perhaps have a short conversation from the car, and drop off a small gift or treat. It's definitely not the same as a party, but it will have been a unique experience for all those with quarantine birthdays.

The other big spring event being affected are graduations and proms. Mostly I've just seen that proms are cancelled. I was never a big fan (I didn't even attend my high school prom), but I have a feeling that although the cancellation will feel very sad right now, a prom means that you are on to bigger and better things. In the fall, those grade 8s will hardly want to look back at elementary (they are usually very eager to get out). The high school grads will be at university or college and will have moved into a very different stage of life. And the university/college grads are finally out in the real world pursuing their dreams.

Graduations, though, are a celebration of an accomplishment right now. I know my own elementary school is working through a way to have a virtual graduation for our grade 8s. They are getting lawn signs to indicate "MVPS grad lives here!" As for university graduation ceremonies, I'm helping organize a private one for my best friend. After four years of school while raising 5 kids, her accomplishment is something her mother wanted to celebrate now. So tonight we will go live on Zoom to broadcast a short ceremony, involving some kind words from her husband and daughter, a video of celebratory messages from friends, a cake, a banner,  and general well-wishing by her mom, sister and me from the backyard.

This week my children sat down to write a letter to my grandmother. Nana takes all the grandkids and great-grandkids to a cottage every summer. It is the highlight of the kids year. And of course, it is in jeopardy this year. Because Nana lives 3 hours from us, we only get to see her a handful of times a year. And because I had a pile of photos to send off to her for a scrapbook project, I asked the kids to each tuck in a letter as well.  Letter writing has taken off in the time of quarantine. Funny - email and FaceTime quickly replaced letter writing. And it's not like either of these formats is unusable during quarantine. But for some reason, without the ability to have physical touch, something about a hand written letter is filling a bit of that hole. Nana was overjoyed at the package she received, and a little unsure of what to answer my 10 year old Ben who begged for a letter back with news of what she has been doing. "It's been a little dull over here," she chortled. Nothing like Ben's letter filled with snake-hunting animal-watching adventures.

When I went to mail the letter, I needed to purchase a large padded envelope from the post office. The  worker informed me they were behind the counter, and got me one. Then he stared at the letters and photos I had in my hand. "I can't mail any package that wasn't sealed at home." I stared back. "But, you have the envelope I needed." "I know," he replied, "But I can't mail anything that wasn't sealed at home." Stupefied, I stuttered: "So, if I just go out to my car and stuff this..."  "Um, well, no, I mean, I'm not sure. I can't mail it because it was loose..." I shook my head and quickly exited the door. Then I stuffed my envelope in the hallway and returned back to the post office desk. "Is this okay?" "Yes, that's fine." I tried not to laugh or judge aloud. Just following rules, but rules set by someone who doesn't really consider the reality of the situation.

My friend posted on Facebook this week about her experience going out to a store. She is deaf and relies 100% on lip-reading. This makes the world of face masks very scary for her. She can ask for something but not hear a reply. She cannot understand an answer to a question. She does not hear how much she owes, or even if there is an emergency and they need to communicate something to her. The implications of the safety measures we take can have a totally different meaning to some we have never considered. She reported her trip into the store went okay. Employees did not remove their masks, but they did try to use gestures to help communicate.

Education is still in flux. Some schools around the world are returning. But many parents are choosing to keep their kids home, so classes are quite empty. There are images of teachers in full clear face masks, desks moved to be 6 feet apart, technology and games and books are banned, and movement among students restricted. The general public opinion seems to be "please open the economy but we are not ready for schools to open." I think the undertone of this is "I'm okay putting myself at risk, but I am not putting my child at risk." Ontario is waiting until next week to hear what will happen with the rest of the school year. Currently schools are closed until the end of May. Speculation abounds. I for one am growing a little weary of online school. My days are mostly filled with trying to give weekly feedback to 100 students. That takes 80% of my time, with only 20% of the time for planning and teaching. When I'm in school, it's reversed: 80% of my time is teaching and 20% giving feedback. I have delivered 5 weeks of online school, and there are another 7 to go...I still have about 90% of my students handing in work, but we'll see what happens as the weather improves.

The online community is still harshly divided down the middle, but there is a third voice emerging. That of "this was a serious virus but the reaction was overblown." I wonder how history will write this time period.