How to Survive This

For Tuesday, March 31:

Question of the day:  How is "social isolation" going for you?  Are you isolating yourself?  (My answer -- I am isolating myself and it is going quite well.  I like to be alone quite a bit, and I enjoy reading and writing and watching old (and new) movies on tv.  Many of my neighbours have dogs so we all get out every day and talk even though we stand at a distance from each other.  My sons are here and we have dinner together every evening but for the most part, they are doing their own things as well (not with other people, though -- we are not socializing outside of the house at all).  Today, I had several "zoom" conferences with other teachers and I feel quite tired now!

Warmup:  Stand straight, hands loosely hanging to your sides.  Breathe in through your mouth, out through your nose (for about ten breaths).  Shake your hands to make sure they aren't clenched.  Flex your shoulders, pull down on your shoulder blades and then relax them.  Turn your head gently to right and left.

Slowly bend over from your hips.  Try to lengthen your spine but don't tense.  When you are as far down as you can get, shake your head slowly and make sure your hands remain loose.

Your neck should also be loose.  Slowly come up, one vertebra at a time.  Your head should come up last.  Keep breathing throughout.

Slowly stretch to the sky, tip-toes, fingers reaching.  Keep breathing.  Stretch with every muscle to the sky.  Then slowly back to standing, hands loosely hanging.  This is a good physical warmup and helps you relax.

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One of my video conferences was with the Fine and Performing Arts teachers.  Mr. Akselrod would like you to think about ideas you could put in the yearbook based on your lives under the isolation orders of the pandemic.  This is a worldwide event and the yearbook should reflect your experiences. He is interested in images, poetry, drawings, scenes -- think about what you would like to see in the pages about this topic.

Here is a terrific poem by the writer, Barbara Kingsolver (author of The Poisonwood Bible, The Lacuna, and Flight Behavior among others):

How to Survive This

O misery.  Imperfect
universe of days stretched out
ahead, the string of pearls
and drops of venom on the web
losses of heart, of life
and limb, news of the worst:

Remind me again
the day will come
when I look back amazed
at the waste of sorry salt
when I had no more than this
to cry about.

Now I lay me down.
I'm not there yet.