Pre-COVID at the SDSU Student Research Symposium before evacuation D. Fisher
It wasn't until after the second week in March that the Pandemic became real.
Covid 19 reality shook me from engaging in the annoyingly trivial "OK BOOMER"/"WHAT NOW, MILLENNIALS?" debate. Other generation cohorts seemed to be distanced from the Boomer/Millennial social media brawl.Gen X was absent from the verbal barrage.
Covid 19 reality shook me from engaging in the annoyingly trivial "OK BOOMER"/"WHAT NOW, MILLENNIALS?" debate. Other generation cohorts seemed to be distanced from the Boomer/Millennial social media brawl.Gen X was absent from the verbal barrage.
The generational conflict got uglier-- with references to the pandemic as a major "BOOMER
REMOVER" event and an equally offensive "MILLENNIAL KRYPTONITE" moment.
Yet, I sensed a very fed up attitude with the social hypocrisy and racism of both Boomers and Millennials that seemed to be distastefully noted by and exploding at an alarming rate of discontent among generation Z.
As a BOOMER who witnessed us saying to older generations, "Never trust anyone over 30," it was so laughably ironic. WE are the ones over 30 now, ha! Or should I remind most of us, over 6o? How does it feel to be so reviled? I was really getting distracted by the Bdelygmia on both sides.
As a BOOMER who witnessed us saying to older generations, "Never trust anyone over 30," it was so laughably ironic. WE are the ones over 30 now, ha! Or should I remind most of us, over 6o? How does it feel to be so reviled? I was really getting distracted by the Bdelygmia on both sides.
(NOTE: After the killings of African Americans George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Gen Z put the whole world on blast!)
One peaceful George Floyd protest in downtown San Diego
(Other demonstrations were not so peaceful.)
I was irritatingly getting caught up in it all. Sigh . . .the need for distraction from the epidemic? Then, the almost daily campus administrative emails started. People were dying in rapidly increasing numbers from COVID 19-our babies to our centenarians.
We received vague messages about possible class cancellations due to the virus. Students,staff, auxiliary personnel, and faculty became very uneasy. Our tech staff became proactive. They reached out to faculty with or without ONLINE teaching experience. They seemed to sense an urgency to update faculty and staff about the plausibility of an oncoming educational delivery system change.
"Come see us if you have questions." "We have several explanatory videos ONLINE." "Make an appointment and I'll explain that to you." "I have face to face and virtual availability hours" "Call us." They also seemed to be working 14 hour days.
The number of webinars and workshops increased with suggestions about transitioning from face to face classes to ONLINE formats. Blended courses and those already ONLINE would have less to do. However, pedagogy would require a shift in teaching methods, creating alternative course content more suitable to ONLINE parameters, and creating more effective course assignment evaluation strategies. Could we still work on campus in our offices? Probably not. We had no idea that a majority of college campuses around the world were coping with the same dynamics.
Announcing that we would have class until the university said not to, I encouraged students to keep their focus on their work. Canadian news, the Australian version of 60 Minutes, and France 24 seemed calmer as media covered cruise ship infections, quarantines, and world wide viral spread. America's PBS evening news also seemed less upsetting than the others. Then coverage about Italy rampaged on the global scene..
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-03-30/italy-coronavirus-deaths-rise-by-812-number-of-new-cases-falls-sharply
Spain, New York, and the UK ruptured in infection with a ferocity that undermined all facades of calm. Thinking about the first reports from Wuhan, I went numb." It's spreading so fast," I thought. Then I wept. I cried outloud, "No, no. no. no NO!" My pillow case soaking in tears. So much death.
Spain, New York, and the UK ruptured in infection with a ferocity that undermined all facades of calm. Thinking about the first reports from Wuhan, I went numb." It's spreading so fast," I thought. Then I wept. I cried outloud, "No, no. no. no NO!" My pillow case soaking in tears. So much death.
Days blurred into each other.
The WHO declares COVID 19 more than an epidemic, it is a pandemic--with global spread potential
The WHO declares COVID 19 more than an epidemic, it is a pandemic--with global spread potential
Almost a week later, emails were sent campus wide that ALL classes were cancelled; I had just finished lecturing. A colleague from the French Department who taught in the same room after my class came in. She was pale. She had a look of purpose in her eyes. For those students who had not checked campus emails, she would wait for them to arrive. As, I gathered class notes and shut down the computer, we talked.
Late students who hadn't checked their email, came into the classroom, took one look at us and almost to the last student asked "What happened?" Each one of us realized the seriousness of a campus wide shut down. Those who weren't local, since Spring Break was still two weeks away, had to make new travel plans to get back home.
After the last student, my colleague and I wiped down desks, tables, computer podium, and door handles with disinfectant swipes that she had brought. When we finished, we both took a deep breath and said our good byes. We had a queasy feeling that it would be a long time until we met again.
Events are blurred for a few weeks. I completed classes for ONLINE presentations. We had an additional week to prep and rework assignments. Some students were able to get home quickly. Others had to stay at friends houses or relatives until they could make travel arrangements. International students faced non entry for locked down nations. Some were quarantined when they arrived.
Faculty and staff were given a few days to close down research and gather necessary materials to teach off campus. Emails were more detailed. What a difficult set of communication decisions campus administrators had to make. What an enormous
burden. The situation may have seemed chaotic, but choices had been made. They
were not at the top of the administrative chain. They reached out to faculty, staff, and students with
as much reassurance as they could.
In memory: Dr Francis Njubi Nesbitt, SDSU Africana Studies Department faculty member, scholar, and colleague to whom many did not have a chance to say goodbye:
From the SDSU Africana Studies Department Homepage:
"With a deep sense of sadness and loss, we write to report on the death of one of our
own, Francis Njubi Nesbitt, Associate Professor of Africana Studies, who passed away
suddenly on May 31 at the age of 56.
A native Kenyan, Professor Nesbitt received a B.A. in anthropology from the University
of Nairobi in Kenya, an M.A. in international peace studies from University of Notre
Dame, and a Ph.D. in African American studies from the University of Massachusetts,
Amherst."
Covid 19 Remembrances,
This is only my story. Due to COVID 19, post secondary educators evacuated college and university campuses around the world, unaware that we would not return to campus for at least a year or more.
Teaching ONLINE D. Fisher
delores fisher (D. Fisher)
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