Hello AFMSAD,
Poof, a week flies by. D. write on, keep your pace, keep the chain going!
We had a short power failure today, so my S.O. and I walked to the high-end mall which still had power and strolled around commenting on stores which are still opened, will open, or are gone.
Before this shelter-in year, I once hiked to the local university and claimed one of the study rooms when I needed it. It worked great several times. But, they've been understandably hyper-safe so I can't do that tomorrow. Though supposedly a place of thinking and learning, their charges (students) act like their sense of immunity to harm is a real thing. As soon as they had opened the greek houses this summer they had a bunch of fresh c-virus cases to deal with. 139, I think.
Is the whole of higher education is a status-conferring ritual with little substance? I read about the lead of a teachers' union pushing back against re-admitting students into K-12 schools. She was quoted in the news, "there's a lot of fake news and disinformation out there ... " And I thought, "you're the head of a union of teachers. Can't one of your members figure out where to find trustworthy information with references that you believe?"
That's what I've been doing since Feb. 2020. So I had confidence Moderna and Pfizer, JnJ, etc. were going through all the stages all clinical trials go through. I read the WHO's summary update on research that said surfaces were less a risk than at first believed. That those clear face shield were worthless, better to stick with masks and the 6 ft rule. And so on. The WHO report cited sources for further digging.
Again, if teachers are lost on how to independently research the truth in the flow daily news, what rights do they have teaching "critical thinking?" Or anything?! Alright, off the soap box.
Hope the power's on tomorrow as I have two critical calls to attend.
R