Marian Dingle
  • Home
  • Presentations
  • Publications
  • Podcasts
  • Blog
  • Contact

4 More Weeks

6/29/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Photo by Nick Fewings via Unsplash.
In four more weeks I will be in a building
That will not be disinfected with regularity
Not because of staff
But funding

My colleagues, families, and students will be in our building
No masks required
The collection of droplets in the air may be lethal for us
Especially when you consider how people have been living

But there is no consideration
We are teachers
We serve the children
We will just have to fill in the gaps, as usual

Take temperatures
(And buy thermometers to take temperatures)
Disinfect classrooms
(And buy cleaning products to disinfect classrooms)
(And buy gloves)

Wash hands frequently
Hmm...where?
Only one staff bathroom
Kids' bathrooms run out of soap
And paper towels

Be a team player
Social distance
But don't make colleagues social distance
Or students

​Be a team player
Teach extra kids when colleagues are absent
Because there will be no subs
And teachers' increased risk is not a concern

But we must have school!
No school is bad!
Because babysitters are a must
Not because education is a must

I say: Why can't we do all virtual school?
​They say: What about the businesses?
To which I respond:

 Who will be left to patronize them?
0 Comments

Thoughts

6/25/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Photo by Aaron Burden via Unsplash.
I refuse to believe that being concerned for my own safety is selfish. It is not. Being made to feel this way is nothing more than gaslighting. Since when is the overarching concern for human life unnecessary? Why does it have to be balanced? 

I am a proud educator of children. I have found success in doing this in person, and recently, and to a lesser extent, through virtual means. Being an educator is part of my identity. It is my passion.  However, I do not think my need to educate should supersede children's need to survive. I think that is selfish.

The way we have always done it - capitalism and a "booming economy" - this will have to be rethought. We simply can not have schooling used as babysitting while parents work to fuel the economy. That model will not work in a pandemic. Perhaps this, too, is part of what we always knew, but is glaringly obvious now. 

We must begin to care for each other. We really never have on a large scale. 
0 Comments

Mask

6/23/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Photo by Robin Benzrihem via Unsplash
You came into my space with no mask
Knowing you could infect me
Knowing that if I get sick I would die faster
Than you
Knowing that so many of us have lost loved ones
Because someone, no YOU, decided

That wearing a mask was
​
Too 
                              Much
                                                        Trouble

How nice it must be
To treat people as replaceable
You have no idea
What humans know
How humans behave
0 Comments

How Are You?

6/1/2020

25 Comments

 
Picture
Photo Credit: Anshu A via Unsplash
Remember when this question was but an extension of a greeting - something said out of habit? We didn't always really want to know how someone was doing. We were quite content with the expected "Fine."

I've asked this question a lot since March 13. Actually, I have asked it constantly. Part of my coping strategy. Friends and family (and even not-friends) ask me all the time. It's nice to be asked. But you know what? It is taking me longer and longer to answer it. 

Why? Because first of all, I am not fine. And even if I lied and said I was, it would be obvious that I was lying.

​"How are you" alternatives:
Are you physically safe?
Are you healthy?
Are you in a space for a conversation?
Would you like me to just listen?


Did you sleep last night?
Do you have enough food?
Are you going to the protest?
Will you social distance?


Do you promise to be careful?
What time is your curfew?
Are you sure you can trust them?
Did you pack an emergency travel kit?


Can you stay on the phone with me and not talk?
Can you send bail money?
Will you use your body to protect mine?
Will you care for my loved ones if I don't survive?
​What a difference a day makes.
Picture
Photo Credit: Mike Von via Unsplash
25 Comments

    My Why

    Reflecting is good for the soul.  Doing so in public is terrifying and exhilarating.

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    December 2018
    July 2018
    November 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed


FOLLOW MARIAN


TERMS OF USE

© Marian Dingle 2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Marian Dingle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
  • Home
  • Presentations
  • Publications
  • Podcasts
  • Blog
  • Contact