My students' grades had been posted and Spring Break had begun ... sort of.
Instead of sitting on the grass beyond the outfield fence of Hohokam Park in Mesa, Arizona, I was sitting in my living room in Oregon. Instead of watching the Chicago Cubs play the Oakland A's in a major league baseball spring training game, I wondered what else in my life was about to change
because of the coronavirus.
Nearly two weeks later, the answer is ... a lot!
I didn't travel to Arizona for spring baseball, and right now there's no telling whether baseball -- or any other routine activity -- will return to "normal" anytime soon. I've barely left my house but for some exercise (running and walking), one trip to the grocery store and two stops for take-out pizza.
The bulk of my past week has been devoted to converting all of my typical face-to-face classes at Linn-Benton Community College into online-only experiences for my journalism and marketing students. And I'm working with the school newspaper staff of
The Commuter to map out a strategy for shifting the attention of the weekly newspaper to its website and social media.
I'm becoming a Zoom video master and realizing all I took for granted in the luxury of working with students on campus each day.
I'm learning a variety of new skills and getting even more organized than I thought I was before.
Most of all, I'm looking forward to the start of Spring Term, a new routine, and the work that I love at LBCC.
Play ball!
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