A New Term, and a New Routine at LBCC

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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