2022, like 2021, 2020, and 2019 before it, has been a lot so far. Between the news, some difficult events in our extended circle, and everything going on at school lately, I am emotionally exhausted and in the market for a distraction. You may be too. So in that spirit, I offer this update from the mini-wildlife refuge we call a backyard.
If I were you, I’d be really curious to know what it’s like to work in a public school library during Omicron. With the caveat that our district has done a lot of mitigation work during this pandemic (ventilation upgrades, mask mandates, vaccine mandates), and is located in California so eating outdoors and opening windows is possible, Omicron is still having an impact.
My job is amazing, and I love working with both middle schoolers and books, but I do have a tendency to use up all my words at work. But we have a day off today, so I thought I’d spent at least part of it telling you how things have been going at the library.
Guess who gets to spend the 2021-2022 school year working as a library assistant at her favorite middle school?
School starts on Wednesday, and guess who gets to start working in the library in-person again (at least for now)?
Happy Fourth of July!
One side benefit of The 14-Year-Old being older than I think she can possibly be, is the fact that she is eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine. We took her last week to one of our county’s mass vaccination sites. One shot down, one to go.
All week I kept stumbling across useful articles and podcasts about this almost-there-but-not-quite-yet moment in the pandemic. Here are three of my favorites on muddling through this moment in the pandemic; helping middle schoolers establish and evolve critical coping skills to manage their stress, anger, and anxiety; and pandemic changes parents actually want to keep.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and reading about how to detect and neutralize misinformation this week –and how to teach my daughter to do the same. Here are a few of the articles, blog posts, and books I’ve found most helpful.
Happy New Year! Someone on Twitter commented that living through 2020 had given them a new appreciation for the relentless partying that broke out during the Roaring Twenties after WWI and the 1918-19 influenza pandemic. Living through 2020 also made me think about the Roaring 20s differently. I finally understand why so many women in vintage flapper photos are giving such achingly sad side-eye.
CATERPICKLES 