Let me say from the outset that not only am I an adjunct but this is also my second career. My primary takeaway is that the uni/state does not give a rat's ass about any of us (not just adjuncts) and I've been a bit of a fool to pour my heart and soul into the work the way I have for the past 7 years. Upside? I discovered I like teaching online, I've learned a lot about teaching-- online & F2F--and I think I may have a knack for it.
As for reopening, this thing is far from over and my students' lives are dumpster fires. I can't imagine what the pressure is like for them to behave as if everything is hunky dory now.
Our campus reopening has been ... rocky. Students seem a bit better this semester; last semester many of my students were in constant crises. But faculty are not engaged. Those with young children really suffered with Omicron--constant school and day care closings--and seem only now to be recovering. Many faculty just come in to teach and only attend events and meetings on zoom. These hybrid meetings and talks are awkward and too often lead to tech difficulties. But my guess is that they will continue through the semester. We will see if folks are willing to "fully" come back in the Fall. The horrific violence in the Ukraine has also created another layer of stress/trauma. I'm teach U.S. Post-'45 and my students are learning a lot about the nuclear arms race and Vietnam at the moment. They are fairly freaked out. My only successes coming out of two years of COVID is a steady meditation practice and learning to play the flute again. I'll take it.
Before the pandemic, finding the necessary time and solitude for writing was always a struggle, but one that I had always managed to carve out. During the worst of the pandemic and continuing today, the unlimited time and solitude forced by the pandemic yielded very low creativity and output. Even reading was difficult on good days. It will take more distance and time to fully process the magnitude of what we have collectively experienced, but what stands out for me at this point is the question of the nature and substance of motivation and how it is produced not by sheer will as I had thought before, but rather by the interaction between our individual and collective selves in the refinery of experience.
Decision fatigue has been such a theme of the past two years, as we stumble about with such inadequate and often unreliable/politicized guidance from public health authorities (who have no authority to speak of anyway). It hit me again today as I sent my kindergartener off to school for the first day post-mask mandate. He really doesn't want to wear a mask. We really want him to, but also don't want to lean on him too hard about it, which led to us flailing into a totally confusing set of advice that puts way too much decision pressure on him to choose a path based on what other people are doing. So I guess today we replicated the CDC's failings for our one small person and now I am sitting here worried about him at school trying to figure out the right way to go.
Let me say from the outset that not only am I an adjunct but this is also my second career. My primary takeaway is that the uni/state does not give a rat's ass about any of us (not just adjuncts) and I've been a bit of a fool to pour my heart and soul into the work the way I have for the past 7 years. Upside? I discovered I like teaching online, I've learned a lot about teaching-- online & F2F--and I think I may have a knack for it.
As for reopening, this thing is far from over and my students' lives are dumpster fires. I can't imagine what the pressure is like for them to behave as if everything is hunky dory now.
Our campus reopening has been ... rocky. Students seem a bit better this semester; last semester many of my students were in constant crises. But faculty are not engaged. Those with young children really suffered with Omicron--constant school and day care closings--and seem only now to be recovering. Many faculty just come in to teach and only attend events and meetings on zoom. These hybrid meetings and talks are awkward and too often lead to tech difficulties. But my guess is that they will continue through the semester. We will see if folks are willing to "fully" come back in the Fall. The horrific violence in the Ukraine has also created another layer of stress/trauma. I'm teach U.S. Post-'45 and my students are learning a lot about the nuclear arms race and Vietnam at the moment. They are fairly freaked out. My only successes coming out of two years of COVID is a steady meditation practice and learning to play the flute again. I'll take it.
Before the pandemic, finding the necessary time and solitude for writing was always a struggle, but one that I had always managed to carve out. During the worst of the pandemic and continuing today, the unlimited time and solitude forced by the pandemic yielded very low creativity and output. Even reading was difficult on good days. It will take more distance and time to fully process the magnitude of what we have collectively experienced, but what stands out for me at this point is the question of the nature and substance of motivation and how it is produced not by sheer will as I had thought before, but rather by the interaction between our individual and collective selves in the refinery of experience.
Decision fatigue has been such a theme of the past two years, as we stumble about with such inadequate and often unreliable/politicized guidance from public health authorities (who have no authority to speak of anyway). It hit me again today as I sent my kindergartener off to school for the first day post-mask mandate. He really doesn't want to wear a mask. We really want him to, but also don't want to lean on him too hard about it, which led to us flailing into a totally confusing set of advice that puts way too much decision pressure on him to choose a path based on what other people are doing. So I guess today we replicated the CDC's failings for our one small person and now I am sitting here worried about him at school trying to figure out the right way to go.