#maybe it's the effect of quarantine or the fact that classes being fully in person since last semester i'm constantly around people again

[erlkoenige]

Incredible how back in high school i had no problem chilling at home for a full weekend, now if i don't leave my house at least once a day i become the worst person on earth

#i stayed in yesterday cauae i had home office and even though i had practice last night i'm already antsy #maybe it's the effect of quarantine or the fact that classes being fully in person since last semester i'm constantly around people again #so as soon as i get a 'break' from that it fully throws me off my rhythm #like i went from constantly being at home to constantly being out and about again

[hellomynameisbisexual]

Here's a shortlist of those who realized that I — a cis woman who'd identified as heterosexual for decades of life — was in fact actually bi, long before I realized it myself recently: my sister, all my friends, my boyfriend, and the TikTok algorithm.

On TikTok, the relationship between user and algorithm is uniquely (even sometimes uncannily) intimate. An app which seemingly contains as many multitudes of life experiences and niche communities as there are people in the world, we all start in the lowest common denominator of TikTok. Straight TikTok (as it's popularly dubbed) initially bombards your For You Page with the silly pet videos and viral teen dances that folks who don't use TikTok like to condescendingly reduce it to.

Quickly, though, TikTok begins reading your soul like some sort of divine digital oracle, prying open layers of your being never before known to your own conscious mind. The more you use it, the more tailored its content becomes to your deepest specificities, to the point where you get stuff that's so relatable that it can feel like a personal attack (in the best way) or (more dangerously) even a harmful trigger from lifelong traumas.

For example: I don't know what dark magic (read: privacy violations) immediately clued TikTok into the fact that I was half-Brazilian, but within days of first using it, Straight TikTok gave way to at first Portuguese-speaking then broader Latin TikTok. Feeling oddly seen (being white-passing and mostly American-raised, my Brazilian identity isn't often validated), I was liberal with the likes, knowing that engagement was the surefire way to go deeper down this identity-affirming corner of the social app.

TikTok made lots of assumptions from there, throwing me right down the boundless, beautiful, and oddest multiplicities of Alt TikTok, a counter to Straight TikTok's milquetoast mainstreamness.

Home to a wide spectrum of marginalized groups, I was giving out likes on my FYP like Oprah, smashing that heart button on every type of video: from TikTokers with disabilities, Black and Indigenous creators, political activists, body-stigma-busting fat women, and every glittering shade of the LGBTQ cornucopia. The faves were genuine, but also a way to support and help offset what I knew about the discriminatory biases in TikTok's algorithm.

My diverse range of likes started to get more specific by the minute, though. I wasn't just on general Black TikTok anymore, but Alt Cottagecore Middle-Class Black Girl TikTok (an actual label one creator gave her page's vibes). Then it was Queer Latina Roller Skating Girl TikTok, Women With Non-Hyperactive ADHD TikTok, and then a double whammy of Women Loving Women (WLW) TikTok alternating between beautiful lesbian couples and baby bisexuals.

Looking back at my history of likes, the transition from queer “ally” to “salivating simp” is almost imperceptible.

There was no one precise "aha" moment. I started getting "put a finger down" challenges that wouldn't reveal what you were putting a finger down for until the end. Then, 9-fingers deep (winkwink), I'd be congratulated for being 100% bisexual. Somewhere along the path of getting served multiple WLW Disney cosplays in a single day and even dom lesbian KinkTok roleplay — or whatever the fuck Bisexual Pirate TikTok is — deductive reasoning kind of spoke for itself.

But I will never forget the one video that was such a heat-seeking missile of a targeted attack that I was moved to finally text it to my group chat of WLW friends with a, "Wait, am I bi?" To which the overwhelming consensus was, "Magic 8 Ball says, 'Highly Likely.'"

Serendipitously posted during Pride Month, the video shows a girl shaking her head at the caption above her head, calling out confused and/or closeted queers who say shit like, "I think everyone is a LITTLE bisexual," to the tune of "Closer" by The Chainsmokers. When the lyrics land on the word "you," she points straight at the screen — at me — her finger and inquisitive look piercing my hopelessly bisexual soul like Cupid's goddamn arrow.

Oh no, the voice inside my head said, I have just been mercilessly perceived.

As someone who had, in fact, done feminist studies at a tiny liberal arts college with a gender gap of about 70 percent women, I'd of course dabbled. I've always been quick to bring up the Kinsey scale, to champion a true spectrum of sexuality, and to even declare (on multiple occasions) that I was, "straight, but would totally fuck that girl!"

Oh no, the voice inside my head returned, I've literally just been using extra words to say I was bi.

After consulting the expertise of my WLW friend group (whose mere existence, in retrospect, also should've clued me in on the flashing neon pink, purple, and blue flag of my raging bisexuality), I ran to my boyfriend to inform him of the "news."

"Yeah, baby, I know. We all know," he said kindly.

"How?!" I demanded.

Well for one, he pointed out, every time we came across a video of a hot girl while scrolling TikTok together, I'd without fail watch the whole way through, often more than once, regardless of content. (Apparently, straight girls do not tend to do this?) For another, I always breathlessly pointed out when we'd pass by a woman I found beautiful, often finding a way to send a compliment her way. ("I'm just a flirt!" I used to rationalize with a hand wave, "Obvs, I'm not actually sexually attracted to them!") Then, I guess, there were the TED Talk-like rants I'd subject him to about the thinly veiled queer relationship in Adventure Time between Princess Bubblegum and Marcelyne the Vampire Queen — which the cowards at Cartoon Network forced creators to keep as subtext!

And, well, when you lay it all out like that...

But my TikTok-fueled bisexual awakening might actually speak less to the omnipotence of the app's algorithm, and more to how heteronormativity is truly one helluva drug.

Sure, TikTok bombarded me with the thirst traps of my exact type of domineering masc lady queers, who reduced me to a puddle of drool I could no longer deny. But I also recalled a pivotal moment in college when I briefly questioned my heterosexuality, only to have a lesbian friend roll her eyes and chastise me for being one of those straight girls who leads Actual Queer Women on. I figured she must know better. So I never pursued any of my lady crushes in college, which meant I never experimented much sexually, which made me conclude that I couldn't call myself bisexual if I'd never had actual sex with a woman. I also didn't really enjoy lesbian porn much, though the fact that I'd often find myself fixating on the woman during heterosexual porn should've clued me into that probably coming more from how mainstream lesbian porn is designed for straight men.

The ubiquity of heterormativity, even when unwittingly perpetrated by members of the queer community, is such an effective self-sustaining cycle. Aside from being met with queer-gating (something I've since learned bi folks often experience), I had a hard time identifying my attraction to women as genuine attraction, simply because it felt different to how I was attracted to men.

Heteronormativity is truly one helluva drug.

So much of women's sexuality — of my sexuality — can feel defined by that carnivorous kind of validation you get from men. I met no societal resistance in fully embodying and exploring my desire for men, either (which, to be clear, was and is insatiable slut levels of wanting that peen.) But in retrospect, I wonder how many men I slept with not because I was truly attracted to them, but because I got off on how much they wanted me.

My attraction to women comes with a different texture of eroticism. With women (and bare with a baby bi, here), the attraction feels more shared, more mutual, more tender rather than possessive. It's no less raw or hot or all-consuming, don't get me wrong. But for me at least, it comes more from a place of equality rather than just power play. I love the way women seem to see right through me, to know me, without us really needing to say a word.

I am still, as it turns out, a sexual submissive through-and-through, regardless of what gender my would-be partner is. But, ignorantly and unknowingly, I'd been limiting my concept of who could embody dominant sexual personas to cis men. But when TikTok sent me down that glorious rabbit hole of masc women (who know exactly what they're doing, btw), I realized my attraction was not to men, but a certain type of masculinity. It didn't matter which body or genitalia that presentation came with.

There is something about TikTok that feels particularly suited to these journeys of sexual self-discovery and, in the case of women loving women, I don't think it's just the prescient algorithm. The short-form video format lends itself to lightning bolt-like jolts of soul-bearing nakedness, with the POV camera angles bucking conventions of the male gaze, which entrenches the language of film and TV in heterosexual male desire.

In fairness to me, I'm far from the only one who missed their inner gay for a long time — only to have her pop out like a queer jack-in-the-box throughout a near year-long quarantine that led many of us to join TikTok. There was the baby bi mom, and scores of others who no longer had to publicly perform their heterosexuality during lockdown — only to realize that, hey, maybe I'm not heterosexual at all?

Flooded with video after video affirming my suspicions, reflecting my exact experiences as they happened to others, the change in my sexual identity was so normalized on TikTok that I didn't even feel like I needed to formally "come out." I thought this safe home I'd found to foster my baby bisexuality online would extend into the real world.

But I was in for a rude awakening.

Testing out my bisexuality on other platforms, casually referring to it on Twitter, posting pictures of myself decked out in a rainbow skate outfit (which I bought before realizing I was queer), I received nothing but unquestioning support and validation. Eventually, I realized I should probably let some members of my family know before they learned through one of these posts, though.

Daunted by the idea of trying to tell my Latina Catholic mother and Swiss Army veteran father (who's had a crass running joke about me being a "lesbian" ever since I first declared myself a feminist at age 12), I chose the sibling closest to me. Seeing as how gender studies was one of her majors in college too, I thought it was a shoo-in. I sent an off-handed, joke-y but serious, "btw I'm bi now!" text, believing that's all that would be needed to receive the same nonchalant acceptance I found online.

It was not.

I didn't receive a response for two days. Hurt and panicked by what was potentially my first mild experience of homophobia, I called them out. They responded by insisting we need to have a phone call for such "serious" conversations. As I calmly tried to express my hurt on said call, I was told my text had been enough to make this sibling worry about my mental wellbeing. They said I should be more understanding of why it'd be hard for them to (and I'm paraphrasing) "think you were one way for twenty-eight years" before having to contend with me deciding I was now "something else."

But I wasn't "something else," I tried to explain, voice shaking. I hadn't knowingly been deceiving or hiding this part of me. I'd simply discovered a more appropriate label. But it was like we were speaking different languages. Other family members were more accepting, thankfully. There are many ways I'm exceptionally lucky, my IRL environment as supportive as Baby Bi TikTok. Namely, I'm in a loving relationship with a man who never once mistook any of it as a threat, instead giving me all the space in the world to understand this new facet of my sexuality.

I don't have it all figured out yet. But at least when someone asks if I listen to Girl in Red on social media, I know to answer with a resounding, "Yes," even though I've never listened to a single one of her songs. And for now, that's enough.

#tiktok #queer education #bisexual education #queer nation #bisexual nation #bisexuality #lgbtq community #bi #lgbtq #support bisexuality #bisexuality is valid #lgbtq pride #bi tumblr #pride #bi pride #bisexual #bisexual community #support bisexual #bisexual women #bisexual people #bisexual youth #bisexual activist #coming out bisexual #bicurious #bicuriosity #bi positivity #bisexual info #bi+

[brostateexam]

annual tradition

Under a cut because this is long and maybe not interesting to anyone else but tl;dr don’t get on an airplane for fun y’all

My cousin has been attached to a Spanish woman since a few years after he got his master’s degree in chemical engineering. They both work for a pharmaceutical company here in the Bay Area, where they both are chemical engineers on clinical trials, and every summer they return to the small town where she is from. This uses up basically all of their PTO for the year but it’s apparently a very pretty town and she loves nothing more than being home among her family, so this is not so bad. Also, it’s near the beach and there are lots of people who like to play soccer, so it does not make my cousin too unhappy.

I was invited to their wedding last fall but the combination of its location (from the airport, it would have been an 8 to 10 hour trip) and the timing (two weeks after @branza‘s wedding in Bucharest) didn’t quite work out. I would have had to stay in Europe for about 2.5-3 weeks and I was planning for another vacation with Shane in February/March of this year. So due to a combination of factors, I cannot personally attest to the beauty of the town but I’m told it’s very nice.

It is perhaps this pleasantness, plus the strength of their tradition of summering there, that made them decide to board a plane this summer despite the complete non-necessity of the trip. I should also mention that my cousin-in-law is often sick and in the hospital due to a complex and rare medical condition that I don’t fully understand, and the fact that they have a very small baby who is not yet two years old. Regardless, they bought business-class tickets and made their way to Madrid via Dallas. They were tested and found negative for coronavirus when they left.

When they arrived in Spain, they quarantined in my cousin-in-law’s mother’s house, who presumably vacated to live with one of the many relatives in the town. My cousin started feeling ill shortly after they arrived. His condition worsened throughout the mandatory quarantine period, and the second day after the quarantine was over, he went to the ER of the small town for severe abdominal pain. They diagnosed him with gallstones, and advised him to return home for the surgery, as gallbladder surgery is considered elective unless it’s emergent and, as a non-EU citizen, he would be liable for the costs.

They decided to return home a bit early, as he was in pretty severe pain and was, to put it mildly, not enjoying the trip. Shortly after getting home, he spiked a fever. Worried that this was the feared emergent gallbladder situation he had been warned about, he went to the hospital here in the US and was diagnosed with covid.

Because he lives with his immuno-compromised wife and infant son, he is quarantining with two of his friends, who drove him home from the hospital, and willingly exposed themselves to covid to take him in. His condition so far is stable and he has not had a need to return to the hospital.

Given the timing of his symptoms and his negative test prior to his departure, it seems most likely that he was exposed while he en route from the Bay Area to Madrid. Despite sitting in business class, he told my mom that the person next to him basically kept ordering complimentary drinks for the duration of the flight from Dallas to Madrid so that he could remain unmasked.

I’m thankful that he is not in worse shape. I’m furious they thought it was a good idea to go to Spain, and route through Texas to boot, for a pleasure jaunt with their tiny baby, especially given his wife’s chronic health concerns. I was already feeling kinda iffy about setting foot on an airplane until there is an effective treatment or vaccine, but I’d thought that if I had to, business class would be the way to go to avoid infection. I’m less sure now.

#*coronavirus

[natashart]

Heyo! Could you do some headconons for the MLQC boys with an s/o who is blind or legally blind? I’m legally blind myself (without my glasses or course), so I’m wondering how they might react to finding out and how they would help. Thank you very much!

Of course! I’m so sorry for the extremely long wait nonny! Life has been super hectic since I first started this blog, but with quarantine things have (in a way) finally calmed down! I hope you enjoy (if you ever find this anyways. It’s been so fucking long I’m sorry ksjafkdfksf). 

None of the boys would really treat you all that differently if you were legally blind/blind. I think they’d all agree on the fact that you are still a capable of taking care of yourself, even with your poor eyesight. But they certainly have their own ways of helping you when you need it!

Gavin:

Thinks you’re really cute with your glasses on :(( and isn’t afraid to let you know but he’ll definitely get all blushy and smiley hehe. He’s such a softy for you 

Is 100%!! Always there to help you !!! Being a total little bit of a mother hen, Gavin will gladly be one gust of wind away to help you out in any situation necessary. 

10/10 will read things out for you if you can’t make out the words and it’s honestly the cutest thing kjdkakdjkaf

Always really gentle if he’s helping you maneuver around areas that may be particularly cluttered 

Will call to make sure you have your glasses on in case you have a habit of forgetting 

Lowkey kinda worried that you might bump into an unseen pole and die or something but he’s also reassured by your own personal capabilities to not do that. He won’t totally treat you like you’re fragile, but he does take care to look out for you when he needs to

He just wants you to be safe :(

Will follow a lot of online tips on how to make his home more accessible for you, but for the most part, he’ll rely more on himself to assist you rather than anything else. He takes pride in being able to help and take care of you when needed

Easily the best at making you feel the most protected. He’s there for you whenever you need him, and in every single situation he’s always thinking of how to care for you/protect you! Maybe it seems a little suffocating at times, but Gavin is always the one to be on watchdog mode when it comes to your wellbeing. 

Kiro

Puts on your glasses for fun to see what he’ll look like in them lol

Look, MC! I look just like you don’t I?

Wouldn’t be surprised if he wears contacts himself, but he would totally buy a matching pair of glasses frames so he could twin with you

Always by your side with a patient smile whenever you need him. Much like Gavin, he loves helping you too! Definitely gives you more liberty to take care of yourself, though. 

Asks before offering assistance because he doesn’t want to step in your way

Kiro especially loves helping you because it means he gets to spend just that extra bit of time with you. You’re both working people with busy schedules, and with Kiro’s perpetually tight schedule sometimes it’s hard to really have that one-on-one alone time with each other. So he will happily come over and help whenever you need it.

Sometimes kind of of forgetful of your impairment and may not always be the best at giving you the most descriptive directions of where things are located. 

It’s on the left, MC!

...Kiro I’m blind

Will ask you if you have a heightened sense of smell or hearing or something to make up for your lack of vision lmao

Surprised by the seemingly lack of resources for people with vision impairments. He wants you to receive the same treatment as he does anywhere you two go!

Will definitely be a public advocate for improvements in public life for those with vision impairments!!!!! He’ll take to social media and even to the higher ups he’s acquainted with to support any measures that’ll improve daily life for people who are visually impaired (or have any other disabilities, really). 

Easily the best at making you find more sparkle in your life. Kiro knows having impaired vision is no bueno and can make like more difficult, but with him around, the little setbacks become less frustrating and more fun

Lucien

Is that bitch who will ask you how many fingers he’s holding up to test your vision

but as a joke

The most knowledgeable about such vision impairments!! Duh !!! He’s also got a wide range of knowledge on the best ways to help you. In that sense, he’s also the most relaxed about it

Is a fellow glasses wearer because we all know his vision is probably fucked from the many late nighters he’s pulled with his nose stuck in a textbook or something

Is probably knowledgeable enough to check up on your eyes for you, but he’ll suggest you visit a licensed practitioner anyways for most future needs

Would really love to take you out to a variety of exhibits that focus on more visual effects (i.e. an art museum, a film festival, an aquarium, etc.), but depending on the severity of your vision loss, he’s sure to find alternatives that you can fully enjoy as well! Will take you out to go listen to a beautiful concerto, visit a local animal shelter, or an art class instead!

Really good at describing things for you when you need it. He’s got a wide range of vocabulary and a really nice voice  so he’ll easy make anything as descriptive as possible for you

Will sometimes help you out without asking if you need it. Not in an unassuming “you can’t do anything” way. He just likes to play the part of prince charming. But for the most part, he’ll always ask to help before he does anything.

Will use this as an excuse to hold your hand or tuck your arm into his more often

Easily the best at making you feel the most included in whatever activity you’re partaking in. Will never make your lack of vision seem like a setback or a nuisance.

Victor

Offers you the best resources needed to help with your vision impairment. The best eye doctor, the best public services, etc.

He has a lot of connections with a lot of different people, so there’s no way he can offer you something other than the best of the best

Carries spare glasses with him that have your prescription or any other tool that’ll help you see 

For the most part,,,he really doesn’t treat you any differently. He’s not much of a coddler imo, so he’ll kind of leave you to your own devices 

That’s not to say that Victor won’t help at all--it’s far from that!--but he just won’t be constantly breathing down your neck to see if you need help. He really believes in your independence

His general help is in more subtle ways, like offering to drive you home every night so you don’t have to worry about walking alone in the dark, or conveniently ordering any business documents sent your way to have larger text font in order to help you read a bit better 

But if you ever need anything from him, you’ll get top quality service for sure!

Good at boosting your confidence. Perhaps he’s not overtly expressive in his praise, but his continual belief in your own capabilities to do things on your own really help you feel like more of a “normal” person.

Adds in little touches to all of his at-home facilities that’ll allow you to use everything he owns more freely

Huge supporter to charities for the blind. Will also directly fund city-wide projects that help the blind

Easily the best at making you feel the most confident! He really shows you that you’re just as capable at anyone else to be successful and thrive, and anyone who says otherwise can go to hell.

#mlqc #mlqc headcanons #mlqc lucien #mlqc victor #mlqc gavin #mlqc kiro

[gluestickcherrybum]

Happy Earth Day peeps! ヾ(@°▽°@)ノ

I haven’t written in a while but I wanted to write something for this occasion, and more posts about environmentalism since its something i’m quite passionate about. Coronavirus is pretty much all anyone’s talking about lately. And as a result , our entire way of living has been adjusted due to the outbreak: Staying indoors, washing our hands, and social distancing has become the new normal.

But just because we’re experiencing difficult times doesn’t mean we should lose sight of the bigger picture which is caring for the earth. 

Thinking about sustainability is even more important now because it connects us to the world at a time we’re told to quarantine ourselves. We’re told now more than ever to purchase single-use hand sanitizers, face masks, gloves, and other products. 

Unfortunately, these items will likely end up in landfills, or worse - the environment. Already, face masks are polluting the shores of Hong Kong. Also, people fear reusable items like never before - some businesses flat out refusing reusable mugs, containers and produce bags. While I understand we want to stay healthy, and prevent the spread of the virus, we should still make a conscious effort to think about how our decisions effect the Earth too. So, with this in mind, here’s how to stay zero waste during the coronavirus outbreak.

Why should we care about zero waste right now?

Sustainability probably isn’t on the forefront of anyone’s mind right now, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still care or talk about it. As I mentioned earlier, thinking about sustainability helps us connect to the world in a time we’re told to bunker down and stay inside. It helps us appreciate things and maybe view the world a little differently. And, as scary and disheartening as all of this is - there is some good news too.

For example, there have been several reports of clearer waters in Venice where fish are now visible. Air pollution has dropped significantly in Italy due to the fact that fewer fossil fuels are being burned from people staying indoors. Even New York, Los Angels, Chicago, Seattle and Atlanta have reported significant drops in air pollution.

I’m well aware these positive changes come at a cost - so they’re bittersweet, at most. However, they can’t be ignored. It would be fantastic if, after the emergency is over, we could remember the beauty we’ve seen reappear in the world and do our best to preserve it.

There’s of course negative news as well, single-use items are being disposed on the daily and ending up littering up our community. Worst part is, these gloves and masks are not biodegradable or good for the environment - they’re made with petroleum. They’re also a health hazard because you can’t exactly pick these items up without worrying you’ll catch something.

That’s why it’s so important to think about sustainability right now. And zero waste does figure into all of that. By remaining zero waste during this time, we’re acting on our commitment to bettering the planet as a whole. 

How can I stay zero waste during the coronavirus outbreak?

Thankfully, there are several ways to make an impact during this time. All hope is far from lost.

Make the most of your food by reducing food waste

In this hard time, the food we eat should be cherished. With so many people struggling to put meals on the table due to job loss, we need to make our food last us. One way we can do this is by cooking with leftovers. For example, if you have some leftover rice and vegetables - make fried rice. Or turn boiled potatoes into mash.You can also get creative and make vegetable stock out of food scraps, turn mushy berries into jam, pickle some fruit. Or getting into some good old composting.

Invest in reusable masks and gloves

During this time, you’ll likely see a ton of people walking around with face masks and gloves on. Most of them are single use too. As I mentioned earlier, lots of face masks and gloves are being littered right now. 

It’s bad enough these items are single use only, they should be disposed of properly. Face masks have already started to wash up on the shores of Hong Kong in addition to other ocean polluters. Yikes.

Cloth masks havent been proven to be as efficient as clinical face masks in filtering the air, but for those who are sick and would like to prevent infection to others, the cotton does aid in catching water droplets from coughing and such. Just make sure to wash them regularly.

Instead of plastic gloves, consider using those reusable rubber gloves that people use to wash dishes sometimes. You can wash them with soap or even boil them to disinfect.

Decluttering

If you haven’t yet read Marie Kondo’s book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up”, now’s a good time to get inspired. Time to go through all of your items and find the items that truly “spark joy” and be rid of the rest. Unfortunately during this time, you can’t exactly donate items to thrift shops. More than likely, thrift shops will be closed. However, you can at least set items aside to be donated once all of this is over. If you’re not comfortable waiting that long, you can always try selling it online like on Depop or Carousel.

That said, don’t be afraid to throw certain things out. I know that may seem kind of counterproductive, as I’m advising you to stay zero waste during this crisis.However, I’m fully aware there are some items we hold onto as zero wasters because we hope to keep them out of the landfill as long as possible. Items that are hard to recycle, or we don’t know how to recycle; items we believe we can fix but never get around to fixing; items simply destined for landfill one way or the other.

I know it hurts to let these items go, but you have to. It’s good for your mental health, and for the sake of your home. Remember: There is no such thing as being fully zero waste. We can get very close, but the truth is, our economy is a linear one. And every living creature creates waste of some sort. Now, this doesn’t mean I want you throwing out perfectly good items. Try to find items homes first! See if your friends or family want items you don’t first. Then, if not, seek to donate or sell. But obviously things like clothing tags and junk mail must go.

Invest in reusable period products

At this moment of crisis, with everyone panic buying basic necessities, menstrual pads and tampons are starting to get scarce so much so, you might have a hard time finding those items these days . This might be a good time to try out some sustainable alternatives. Women spend an enormous price in period products throughout their lifetime, so investing in reusables not only keeps a phenomenal amount of waste from landfills, but also saves the time going to the store and a whole lot of money.

Personally i use a menstrual cup (which i might write a whole post about it later), but for the less adventurous there are a good few other choices like reusable cloth pads and period panties (which sounded like a miracle when i first heard about them, but i haven’t seemed to be able to find any sold locally for now)

Heck, invest in reusable anything…

Its not just pads and tampons with reusable counterparts, if you want to get a little advanced in zero waste, try swapping out any disposable items possible, like stainless steel safety razors for plastic ones (ask your granddad), the infamous metal straw for plastic straws, or even things as simple as bar soap for bottled body soap.

Shop for food without the waste

During this time, please only stock up on what you need. You don’t have to hoard food - there’s plenty to go around. There’s more than enough food for everyone. Just take what you need and leave some for others.

To continue shopping sustainably, you can bring your own reusable shopping bags or produce bags (or you can diy some from old pillow cases)

I understand not everyone will be able to shop in bulk during this time for dry goods. So, you should shop as if you have no bulk food options. This means opting for items packaged in paper, cardboard, glass and aluminum.

If you must get something packaged in plastic, get the biggest container you can afford. Smaller plastics especially cling film are harder to or even impossible to recycle. Less than 9% of plastic is actually recycled so the less we consume, the less will likely end up in the landfill or oceans.

And thats all for today’s post, im sorry if its posted a bit later on Earth day than expected. I hope everyone is safe and healthy during these hard times. And if youre a student, i hope the online classes arent as bad as people say (im conveniently on a special leave of absence this semester (see my last post) so i have no idea how its going down) and if youre interested in more tips and tricks in being zero waste, feel free to hit me up and maybe ill write more posts like these. Thanks for reading ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ

#zero waste #zero waste lifestyle #gluestickcherrybum #studyblr #earth day #happy earth day #quarantine #coronavirus #covid-19 #outbreak #environmentalism

[a-cai-jpg]

“what do you think is the biggest issue plaguing our society?”

hm. capitalism? or this idea that life is a zero-sum game? or the blatant disregard for human life that isn’t our own? or the prioritization of our wants over other people’s needs?

READING LIST:

The New Jim Crow - Michelle Alexander Fatal Invention - Dorothy Roberts The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot The Case for Reparations - Ta-Nehisi Coates (and bruh, if you're too lazy to read a book, check out the nice Instagram graphics)

Today, I heard a song that I used to listen to a lot when I drove to and from work. In the past three months, memories of work have muddled and swelled and distorted until they become small snippets in my dreams that have increasingly made less sense as quarantine drags on. The frequency at which I speak of my students and teammates at the dinner table have decreased, even more so in the past week as the program ended and we are no longer obligated to get up around 9 in the morning and sit in a half hour to one hour call with each other.

Parts of me miss it. Although I like being able to lounge in bed until the sun is begging me to throw my covers off and wash my face, I am somewhat wistful for the structure that those days had offered me.

But the thing that gets me the most--the thing that makes me suddenly interrupt the comfortable silence in the ktichen with a sigh or the thing that makes me accidentally press the brakes a little too hard when I'm driving--is the fact that my work e-mail is now terminated. I now have no access to the lesson plans I've created for my students, the student profiles that I still sometimes think of when I'm alone and want to add to, the OneDrive that my laptop screen has been so accustomed to hosting. With a "Log-in Denied" screen, the disconnect between my students and I had become permanent.

Someone recently asked if I was going to write about my experience, and although in the beginning (like really beginning, like August 2019 beginning) I had planned on doing it, as time wore on, I realized how measly my written account would compare to the actual experience.

See, what made the experience worth it was the smallest, most trivial interactions with my students and my teammates. It was the delirious mornings before 7:15 AM, the semi-hysterical 10 minutes before 3:00 PM, the weariness of 4:30 PM when a student is still chatting and not leaving the classroom, and the restlessness of a Friday afternoon. It was when a student wandered into our classroom during class (uh oh) or right before the end of lunch just to update us about something or when a student showed up for our after school program and all of us cheer and the student takes an even longer detour to walk over to our table because they were lowkey embarrassed. Fuck, it's when a student fell off his chair laughing but the process of falling took over a minute so I didn't notice until he was physically on the floor, when another student and I hid in the back of the classroom to play Super Smash Bros and I was so stressed because I swore the substitute teacher knew we weren't doing schoolwork, when a student kept saying these two words that I didn't get and after asking him to repeat it so many times he was going "MISS STOP PLAYING" I realized he was saying "cookie jar," when a student tried to play Battleship against me but underestimated by psychic powers, when a student finally understood mRNA transcription and protein translation and gained confidence in himself and in biology as the year goes on, when a student was causing a ruckus but then we waved hi and he beamed at us and came up to greet us like we have made his day, when a student tried to tell me I have a chance in marrying Jackson Wang because we're about the same age, when a student screamed "Congratulations miss" across the classroom because he thought it would be appropriate for the beginning of English class, when a student conspired very obviously with my teammates to play "Happy Birthday" for me on my birthday, when a student found a two-person game to play with me even though I suck at computer games because he wanted to include me in whatever he was doing with his friends--see.

I can list all these memories, but what they actually mean wouldn't make sense to anyone but me and my teammates.

And there are other things that I can't really describe in a sentence. Like the contours of a connection with a student, how it starts off from hello's and compliments to their hair, and then becomes conversations about racism and sexism.

Sometimes I ask myself, Annette, you spent a year supposedly serving to alleviate inequity in schools. Why are you not talking more about whatever the clusterfuck is happening right now? The racism, the discrimination, the white supremacy clusterfuck that's apparently ripping apart families (to which I applaud).

In the beginning, I talked about systems and inequity a lot. I remember a friend and I literally sat in a Jollibee's all the way in West Covina, debating angrily and passionately about racism until the sun set. I would have lengthy text message conversations about it, sit in cars and talk and feel angry but also like I was doing something.

But fuck, as the school year went on, I just got more and more angry.

Fuck talking about it, I would think as I drove home near tears. Fuck talking about it if no one is going to do anything.

I suddenly hated talking about systemic inequity. It was just such a jarring feeling, sitting in a classroom discussing inequity and not fucking being able to do anything about it. I was so pissed that superintendents, policymakers, all these people with important titles would talk and talk and talk and fuck all would happen in the schools. I felt like a fucking hypocrite, talking to the students about systemic inequity and then not being able to do anything about a racist teacher or a punitive administrator. It was like fighting a damned uphill battle with just your 8-person team when it was promised that everyone else--schools, programs, fucking lawmakers--was fighting the same damned battle with you.

I was pissed that money and programs flood the schools, but fuck all is happening in the community or all the money is being used in the wrong places and there's inequity in literally whatever the fuck we were doing as we march into schools declaring that we're alleviating inequity.

And honestly, I'm still fucking pissed.

I ride a thin line between being an elitist about systemic inequities and having a holier-than-thou attitude and being fucking pessimistic about the world. It was sitting in that classroom, that I finally felt, for the first fucking time, utterly hopeless.

And it was a weird feeling, because I didn't really know how to talk to other people about it, because the fuck do I know about systemic inequity, living in my sheltered ethnic enclave, cruising through innocuous YouTube videos about sewing or some shit?

See, the thing I can't fucking stand about people who talk big ideals and policies and shit is that human beings become a statistic. They become a damned number or a martyr or a beneficiary.

Don't get me wrong--I'm a numbers, data-oriented person, and being able to have statistics to back up my claims about racism makes me feel safe. BUT why the fuck does a person have to become a damned statistic before they matter?

(yes i know there's a cause and effect that happens, but that's not right. no one should have to fucking die for people to realize damn, yeah this shit's messed up.)

I remember in sophomore year, I attended a race seminar, and was called in to chat with the two seminar leaders a little while after the seminar ended. After a while, I just kind of fell silent and stared at the table for a while, and one of them asked, "Annette, what are you thinking?"

And I said it fucking pissed me off that people die and become a statistic and then suddenly so-called change happens and people start caring but what about that person who died? And maybe it was the first time that I fully recognized the value of a human life and the potential of a human life, and that was why I was so distraught. Because I had been seeing Black men killed by police as a damned statistic, but during that week when all we did was talk about race and protests and riots and Ferguson, all I could think about was what if Michael Brown hadn't died, what he could have done and what color he would have had in his life.

This is such an elementary and rudimentary point to make, but fuck, people don't get it. A human life matters.

Period.

A human life matters.

So what if there is a criminal record? So what if he isn't a college graduate? So what if she is a sex worker? So what if they were intoxicated and in a stolen car? Fuck you, none of that constitutes a fucking death sentence, and who the fuck are you to indict them anyways?

(wow this took an unexpected turn.)

But.

I think it's important to talk about systems. To recognize the political implication of the BLM movement, to understand the historical and political context of racism. You can't fight systemic racism without that understanding. But all of it has to be rooted in viewing each person as a full human with full dignity. There cannot be White saviors in politics, fucking old, White men who are honestly both sexist and racist being hailed as heroes because they're fighting for minority rights like no calm the fuck down that's literally what they're supposed to do.

Like yes applaud them but fuck, applaud the minority women in Congress who are doing so much fucking more.

I think everyone needs to have that kind of reckoning, where they sit and fucking realize that damn yeah, Black people or poor people or trans people or gay people or fucking women are like.

People.

With potential and dignity and life and are wholly deserving of potential and dignity and life.

And to have that cut short by something that was a product of the very fucking system created to strip away potential, dignity, and life is unjust and not something that should be ignored.

And once you have that kind of reckoning, you can move on to understanding the system and how American history was literally shaped by racist, White men with the overarching goal of creating a society where they would always be in power.

And maybe the two learning processes have to happen in conjunction. It probably should happen in conjunction. But regardless of how it happens, nobody should just sit back and say "Yeah, I'm a good person, it sucks that so and so was killed or arrested," because that does fuck all.

If you can't do anything about it, at least feel fucking pissed about it, so pissed that if one day someone said something dumb as fuck, you will have the courage to tell them they are fucking dumb as fuck.

(ok maybe don't put it that way, but honestly, if you're righteously angry, who can determine how you are to show your anger?)

READING LIST:

We Were Eight Years in Power - Ta-Nehisi Coates The Health Gap - Michael Marmot The Color of Law - Richard Rothstein

(books to be read by me)

[yudibonita]

Coronavirus And Your Career: How To Effectively Network During A Quarantine

For those scanning for work or building a customer base, organizing is the best quality level for finding openings. Be that as it may, with huge gathering social events, day by day exercises and in any event, eating in eateries being required to be postponed for a long time to come, a few regular systems administration conditions have dissipated.

Fortunately because of present day innovation, meeting face to face isn't required to grow new connections or develop existing ones. In this way, despite the fact that we're all rehearsing some type of social separating for the occasion, here's the manner by which to keep up and develop your system while isolated:

Put forth the attempt

The most troublesome piece of effectively organizing right presently is that the normal open doors are everything except gone. So if this was your essential wellspring of associating, you'll should be increasingly deliberate about it now. 

Maybe you were accustomed to getting out and about at the workplace, making up for lost time over party time, or idly chattering with your running gathering. Or on the other hand possibly you're a devoted speaker, meeting member, business explorer or cooperating space part who met new contacts consistently through every day communications. 

Whenever these open doors are closed down, it's anything but difficult to let multi week, at that point two, at that point a month pass by without associating. Since we don't yet have the foggiest idea how much time will be expected to effectively level the bend, don't pause. 

Be proactive in finding better approaches to organize day by day, for example, messages, web-based social networking, online classes, online gathering talks or whichever innovation feels generally great to you. Along these lines you'll remain top of mind and be presented to new data all the more promptly.

Think long haul

Regardless of whether you're not in a critical quest for new employment or your business isn't compelled to reduce exercises because of isolate limitations, what you do now can majorly affect what openings stream your way not far off. 

In the event that you have a business, associate with clients to share refreshes and ask how you can bolster them regardless of whether they aren't in a situation to draw in your paid administrations. 

Give free devices in case you're capable, either through your association or others that may profit them. On the off chance that your present business circumstance hasn't been affected past an expansion in working remotely, perceive that it might be if this isolate keeps going longer than half a month. 

This isn't intended to impart dread, but instead intended to ingrain activity. Remaining associated with your system, helping other people where conceivable and assembling positive attitude can just work well for you later on.

Grasp the feeling of network

Government and corporate help is developing as associations make sense of better approaches to help those who've been affected, yet since we can't recognize what every one of our individual fates hold, standing by to perceive what happens is certifiably not a judicious decision. 

It very well may be difficult to make a move without clear heading, yet some of the time it's that activity — regardless of whether it doesn't appear to be legitimately valuable at the time — that makes you fully aware of another point of view or thought (see Managing Your Career During The Coronavirus Crisis). 

In case you're in a situation to help other people presently, do it. Connect, contribute, support, interface, or energize. In case you're in a position where you could utilize help, don't disconnect. 

Tell individuals explicitly what you need. Not every person will have the option to help you in the manner that is generally useful, yet they likely know about an asset or contact who can, and if not, they can do some exploration inside their systems. 

Predicament can draw out the best in networks to energize support, and most everybody I've collaborated with needs to help and are searching for approaches to do this. Give them the chance and you might be astonished how it extends the relationship on the two sides.

Be the paste individual

This 2-minute digital broadcast from Dan Pink offers a supportive tip about how you can stand apart to your current (or next) business that is imperative at the present time. 

We have to cooperate to comprehend what our associates, clients, merchants and providers are managing so we can settle on savvy choices about how to continue in helpful manners. 

On the off chance that you've not had motivation to reach across offices previously, this might be the ideal time to discover joint effort focuses across practical lines. 

You'll both stand apart to your chief and clients as a proactive issue solver and fabricate perceivability and new connections that will be advantageous as long as possible.

Join an online discussion

Regardless of whether you tend not to take part in online conversations or gatherings, increasingly more are progressively springing up to share assets, offer help, or give recommendations on everything from critical employment opportunities to exercises to keep your home bound kids engaged. 

Discover one that lines up with an intrigue and participate in the conversation. This is a novel method to open your system to another circle, which could likewise mean introduction to various chances. 

Simply keep an eye out for falsehood or getting sucked down the bunny opening of media emotionalism. For the entirety of the supportive assets accessible, there's likewise lamentably a great deal of babble that can sap your vitality.

Return in time

One zone that is frequently ignored when systems administration is lethargic contacts, or those people with whom you've built up a relationship, yet have put some distance between throughout the years. 

Previous associates, old colleagues, and past neighbors can for the most part be handily found via web-based networking media and restoring an association can be simpler than making a totally new one. Communicate something specific and ask how they are. Ask what's going on where they live. 

The pandemic is a mutual worldwide encounter so we're all inclination the worry somehow or another regardless of whether the effect on our every day lives contrasts. Basic encounters are an extraordinary method to rapidly set up or quicken connections and this is one that cuts across industry, level, topography, and everything else.

Think about the unique circumstance

While a few people may have additional time on all fours excited to associate with another human during this season of separation, others are clinical experts on the cutting edges, guardians attempting to shuffle both working and thinking about youngsters who are not in school, or individuals who are lamentably sick or thinking about sick relatives. 

On the off chance that you don't get a reaction, don't think about it literally. Every individual is making sense of the most ideal approach to deal with these phenomenal occasions, so they may not be promptly accessible to help or react. Proceed onward to another person on your rundown and perceive that those in a situation to answer will, maybe not as fast of course.

A note of alert: As everything is moving on the web, it's important that con artists are increasing their game, particularly with regards to affected occupation searchers who are critically searching for work. 

Do your examination, search for warnings and ensure yourself. It's terrible that others try to utilize troublesome circumstances furthering their potential benefit, so be tireless, hear a target point of view if things appear to be scrappy and trust your gut.

#CoronaVirus #Effectively Network #Quarantine

[chonacatibog]

Commitments: Lent 2020

Photo from IG:@chonacatibog: “ When it comes to my small #IndoorGarden, it's always a satisfaction when i see my rescued plants regrowing and doing much better than ever! 🌱🌿 ”

I was in my second, or third year in college when I decided to tear the walls down that kept me from God, the walls that stood boxing Him in--the very same walls that maybe I did build influenced by society, the world, maybe my family and friends, and probably even the Church.

Coming from a family who practiced the Catholic religion quite seriously, I still wouldn’t call myself religious then. (I still prefer not to be called religious today, though!) I went to Church on a weekly basis. I took down notes during religion classes and performed well during exams. I enjoyed whenever my grandparents invited their friends over and did their regular activities as a CFC household. (I genuinely miss those--as of writing!) I enjoyed the mass songs taught to me by my Titos and Titas never fully understanding what the songs meant. And when my parents separated, I was taught that God was not pleased because it’s a violation, a disrespect, or something to that effect, to the Sacrament of Marriage. I went to a semi-Catholic school in high school and was part of quite a prayerful community. I prayed, sure. I prayed with my family. And I was taught at a very young age that whenever two or more are gathered in prayer, Christ is there with them. (Matthew 18:20). So I did pray. I understood then that when I needed help with something, I only had to pray and ask God. I have memorized a lot of Catholic prayers but never truly knowing what they really meant. I have some Bible Verses memorized as well, and sometimes used them--for the benefit of none other than me--but mostly, I’ve learned, they’re taken out of context.

But it wasn’t actually until God surrounded me with people who are actually qualified to be called His disciples that I truly, truly, truly understood: I know nothing about who the Lord really is!

Looking back, I still thank Him for placing these people in my life. Some I’ve already lost in touch with; some remained and are still actually my good friends!

I think I just also have to  mention that not all these people are from the same religion as mine yet they illuminate the light of God, no doubt. And if there’s anything I’ve learned from all those years of seeking and getting to know Him, it’s that He shouldn’t be caged in a religion, in a practice. I understood He’s far greater than that. He is in every person I meet and encounter who practices love, especially when it’s just so hard to love. Just as Christ did. And just as He still always does up until this very time, this very moment.

Love. God is Love.

And for this year’s lent, my commitment would be to learn more about love by practicing love, always. To everyone. At any given time.

I know myself and I know it’s not going to be an easy task.

Ever since I began my commitment and my declaration (to self) that I am a child of God and that I love Him above anything else in this world, I became more conscious of the things I’m doing, and feeling, and thinking. Is it right to feel this way? Is this the right thing to do? It is not an easy task and getting an answer isn’t always one plus one equals two. I have learned that the world is not black and white and there’s actually a blurry line between right and wrong.

Although I have always tried to be conscious of the things I do, many many times I still fail to follow Him. I am an impatient person. I judge other people, sometimes way too quickly, whenever I feel like they’re standing on a wrong belief. Sometimes, I find it hard to listen. And most of the time, I let my pride eat me, totally consumed, instead of the other way around. At the end of the day, I am still a disappointing, always-sinning, failure. And although I think I could have had a total control over my actions, it’s a cycle that almost never ends. And it doesn’t help that I keep forgetting that each time I feel frustrated, I beg for forgiveness and pray that He grants me with a heart just like His.

---

Just a few weeks and days ago, the entire Luzon has been placed under an Enhanced Community Quarantine as a safety measure against the COVID-19 virus outbreak. What a time of great uncertainty!

While I am privileged to have a roof above my head and resources that will help us get through these troubling times, I acknowledge the fact that there are brothers and sisters out there who are forced to risk their lives everyday to serve fellow neighbors, countrymen, and their families. I’d like to think there’s a reason why God has placed this burden on our shoulders just in time for Lent. I am not saying that it is a reason to celebrate, but it is a reason to slow down, grow much much much stronger in prayer, remain vigilant and in search for Truth.

Provided the many painful news we receive everyday, I have been in such a crazy emotional roller-coaster ride--the emotions being mostly negative, by the way. I hear news about increase in the number of cases, and I get anxious. I hear news about the government’s incompetence, and I’m angry. I hear news about other people’s indifference, and I’m furious. I hear news about fellow Pinoys abused and just neglected during these times, and I’m just heartbroken.

I notice, once again, that my feelings lead me to becoming a disappointing, always-sinning, failure. I confess that I have spoken against other people. I refused to listen. I refused to put my shoes in their shoes to maybe look around where they’re coming from. Thinking about those things now, I also confess I still have this little voice in my head telling me “those things are straight-up, unadulterated, absolutely wrong and there’s nothing to even consider about it, not worth listening to!”  I try to justify how I feel by telling myself “God wouldn’t like it either!”--so it’s just right to be angry at these people, forget about your relationships with them ‘cause they are not worth your time and understanding!

Awful. Just awful. God wouldn’t like that either.

This Lent, I confess I have committed all these mistakes and that these were all made out of the lack of love. I always pray for God to help me become more like Him, less like me. And while I know God always wants to help me with this, I am the one who wanders away. I commit, and then I forget.

So today, I am going back to keeping a journal. Writing, anyway, has always helped me think better. For example, before I created this entry, I didn’t think I’d write this much!

Moving forward--and there’s nowhere else to go but forward, the question to answer is: What is love?  How would Christ exhibit love at a situation like this? How do you best practice love?

Let’s see what God has to say.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for reaching out to me the past days. You know how weary my heart is now. And how eager I am to finally change my ways--especially now that, I think, the world needs it more. Forgive me for all the mistakes I have made.

Teach me Lord to see things the way You see them. How do I best practice love at these times, Lord?

#love #christ #jesus christ #catholic #lentenseason

[mteaunion]

MTEA Member Testimony on MPS In-Person School Reopening Plan

Thanks to all who spoke at last night’s school board meeting on the district’s in-person reopening plan:

Jane Audette, Itinerant School Social Worker

“Dear Milwaukee Board of School Directors, My testimony has two parts.  First is my personal reaction to returning students to school in April.  Second is my commentary on the need for my school board to hold this administration to a higher standard. First, investing the money to return to school in April, with the incredible disruption to carefully crafted routines which families in Milwaukee have created, is really ridiculous.  There are so many costs associated with this plan that simply are not worth it for such a short time back in school.  I am not going to take time to lay out all the emotional, financial and health consequences, as I know that you are getting plenty of testimony which lays that out quite clearly. Second, since the presentation was released, I have been devastated by the anxiety and stress that has been precipitated in MPS staff, students and families.  It is truly irresponsible for our school board to allow this administration to put out a slide presentation to the community with serious gaps in specificity and clarity.  Perhaps the board has been provided the actual plan, THE WHOLE PLAN, but it is unconscionable for the board to expect MPS staff and families to testify without full knowledge of what they are testifying about.  That slide presentation creates more questions than it answers. I am testifying as an MPS employee and constituent of President Miller.  However, as Chair of MICAH Education, I have witnessed innumerable times that these slide presentation do not ever tell the entire story.  With a decision to be made of this import, I am speechless that the Milwaukee Board of School Directors would be willing to allow the community to be, once again, shut out as true partners in public education.  The Board could finally step up and hold this administration accountable to the community, but I am not sure members have the political fortitude to do so.  Please prove me wrong.  Demand that the full plan be published TODAY!“

Justin Belot, Obama SCTE Teacher

“President Miller and Members of the Board:

I am a high school teacher with MPS and want to start off saying that I, along with countless other teachers, want to be back in the classroom with students. However, this can only be done when it is safe and in the best interest of students.

The current Roadmap to Readiness plan, however, does not meet those two requirements. Although teachers and school staff became eligible for the vaccine on March 1st, it is impossible for anyone to be fully vaccinated by the stated staff return date of March 29th. CDC guidelines state that a full two weeks after the second dose is needed to be fully vaccinated. It would be irresponsible to force staff back into buildings until the two-week waiting period concludes.

The plan, as presented, sparks more questions than answers.   There is a difference if we are planning for 5% of students returning or 90%. Families have not had to make a choice yet, so any plans are speculative and may require drastic changes based on the number of students choosing in-person learning. This is likely to be rushed to meet the timelines presented in the plan. And rushed plans are not safe.

Communication between all stakeholders is lacking or non-existent. Staff have been provided with little to no answers from administration about procedures and safety practices. Even worse, some have even been provided with direct information that contradicts the little information that is in the plan.

As a high school teacher, I am working tirelessly to get my students to pass their classes and earn credits. This shift to in-person learning with only a month left in school (for high schools on the early start calendar) will be detrimental in that process. Why are we even thinking about sending them back for a month? Given that no textbooks or other resources may be used, we are left with the same online lessons we are currently utilizing and, perhaps, worksheets. I see no real benefit to in-person learning other than they will now be sitting alone at a desk or table in a classroom.

We have made it this far keeping staff, students, and families safe. Why are we throwing the towel in now? We are so close to the finish line, but I see another surge looming. I urge you to vote no on the Roadmap to Readiness plan.

Thank you.”

Gina D’Acquisto, Maryland Avenue Montessori Teacher

“I am speaking tonight in opposition to the MPS reopening plan before the board. Let me tell you about how this feels from an early childhood teacher’s point of view. Every fall, I greet young children in my classroom, many who have never been to school before. There is a silent promise to parents in that moment – I will keep your child safe. But at this moment, and with this plan, I can’t say that I can keep your children safe. I have no experience in teaching during a global pandemic. None of us do. I am creative, but I have no idea about systems to keep 32 children in a classroom distanced from each other and from me, masked, in their seats. We know this is not developmentally appropriate for young children. And may be damaging to their development. Truthfully, this plan doesn’t mention any of these mitigations. We need specific information, assurances, protocols. Where there are holes in the system, the virus gets through. I don’t know how many children are coming. I don’t know how to change my systems for safety. I don’t know how to teach virtually and in person at the same time. We are in a race between vaccines and variants, and we are neck and neck. Milwaukee may be orange now, but our neighboring counties are turning red, and an average of 1 person in Milwaukee has died of Covid everyday over the past 14 days. Going back will bring more cases, more deaths. This is not “a safe reopening.” I would ask: what is the rush? Can’t we hold on for 8 more weeks and get through vaccinations? I understand the board is under pressure, but voting yes, only shifts the pressure from your shoulders to ours, to our principals. We don’t have the answers. We are not ready. There will be cases, there will be deaths. So  I appeal to the board to vote no on this plan. Please wait. Please slow down. We are in the home stretch! We can’t let there be even one more death. Please let me wait to greet children, when I can honestly say “I can keep your child safe.”

Andrea Dougherty, WCLL Teacher

“Dear Director O'Halloran,      I  have started many of these emails this year to the board thanking them for keeping myself and family safe but this time I cannot say the same. I am thoroughly disappointed in not only Dr. Posley and the Central Office Staff but the board as well. Yesterday's board meeting was train wreak.  I am not only a proud MPS staff member but a proud MPS parent. I'm not sure I  can say that anymore. Over this past year I have lost more friendships and contact with family because I was that proud MPS staff and parent. I have defended the choices made by the board over and over again with facts and insights that only a staff member could make.  It truly disheartens me that I may need to leave the district to be more appreciated by my board and superiors. There are so many holes and unanswered questions that needed to be answered to make a clear and unbiased choice.  This district already has so much inequity's it is sickening.   1. The division between the southside schools and the northside schools is horrible. These so called plans may work for the southside schools but not the north and centrally located schools.  Many of the schools are already have no Chromebook in their schools but now students are to return and leave them at home? How is this going to work.  I know for a fact that many of the Chromebook in our building are centuries old and we have tech that comes 1 time a week.  He already can't keep up with fixing them.  So where are our students going to get Chromebook to sit in class with if they are not bring them in? What about testing? How will it work with the virtual students? 2.  I can tell you for a fact that students are not going to sit in an assigned seat on the bus. The students already don't listen to their bus drivers. So what is the consequence for failure to listen.  Not being able to take the bus.  The school I work at is a city-wide school so the vast majority of our students ride the bus.  Just last year before shut down I had several of my students suspended off the busses for failure to comply with bus rules. Guess what? They couldn't take the bus they did not come to school.  They missed out on valuable instructional time.   What will happen to the students that take the city bus and miss it due to the city bus being at full capacity with its COVID restrictions? They will be marked absent and late missing out on valuable instructional time. 3.. What about these virtual Wednesdays? Can staff work from home so our buildings can be deep cleaned. I have ak5 MPS daughter. I have no where for her to go on Wednesdays?  Will I be able to bring her work with me if I have to be in the building? This was not addressed. I don't have close family and no daycare will take a child 1 day a week.  I checked. 4.  What happens if my daughter has to quarantine?  Can I teach from home since I can't leave a 6 year old home alone?  I don't have close family and no daycare will take a child that has to quarantine. 5. Are parents going to be able to flip back and forth between virtual and in person?  I can tell you in building we have some parents that will do that.  We as a district need to improve our communication and transparency with parents.  Maybe the CO staff need to take PD on how to communicate effectively with parents? 6. What is going to happen with the overflow kids? Our building has no extra rooms. 7. What about the students with sensory issues and cannot keep a mask on all day?  How about the students who refuse?  Are they going to be then placed on the virtual roster? 8. What are some of the behavioral consequences? I have several students this year that are chronic hall wanders and regardless of consequences continue to disregard the rules.?  Can they placed on the virtual platform? 8. Are the kindergarteners taking nap?  Their little bodies need that break? 9.  Will staff meetings still be held virtually or in-person. 10. There was talk from CO about textbooks. I can tell you the outdated Journey books for elementary are not the same as the updated Journeys we are using right now. The old online version of Journeys is no longer available online. 11. Are the virtual kids really going to sit online for 7 hours a day?  That is to much without breaks like we have now. There are so many unanswered questions!  As a parent the board and CO took my right to choose for my daughter away. I cannot keep her home safe because I have to return to work.  Don't get me wrong I want to see my students but safety is priority right now.”

“Dear Board Members,              

I first want to thank you in making the best decisions for the children of Milwaukee. You have kept thousands of students, families and staff safe. You have not succumbed to the demands of a few but have stuck up for the safety of everyone. I am calling on you once more to make the right decision for our students, families and staff.   This has been quite a year and a half. Our lives and way of living has dramatically changed. It is still not safe for our students and staff to return to any sort of in-person learning this school year.   Even though teachers are now just beginning to get vaccinated we still have a long way to go. Not only do the teachers need to be vaccinated but the rest of MPS valuable staff , kitchen workers, engineers, safety and bus drivers. How are we going to be able to meet the needs of of students if we are short on bus drivers, engineers or kitchen workers.  I have followed very closely with other districts and have talked to many other teachers. This will not work with the short planning and funds to back up the necessary supplies needed to fully insure a safe reopening.  I have school age family that have had to quarantine a number of times this year due to coming in contact with a positive COVID 19 person at school. I even have had a family member lose a teacher to COVID 19 this year.   Do you know how hard it is to watch a child have to deal with a lose like that when in fact it could have been prevented by having a school board and district that cared about their students and staff during a global pandemic? Believe me it was not easy.  As  MPS staff I feel that we have been left out in the cold on a number of things in regards to the reopening plan.   I know CO staff has a lot of decisions to make but sometimes they forget what it is truly like in the classroom.                Next, is it really worth spending money for 5 weeks for early start and 7 for traditional.  It will be the same as if we were in the classroom all year coming back form Spring Break.   Yes our students haven't been in an classroom for a year.  We are dealing with a global pandemic. Safety has to take course above all the rest.  It takes a good  6-8 weeks to develop a solid routine that students can follow. Now we are just going to throw them back into a classroom and expect they know how to act and what the new procedures are?  No. That is the worst possible thing to do and  we are for student mental health.  Just thinking about it as an adult it throws me into a tail spin.  Before staff can teach the new procedures; they need to shown the ropes and caught up with what has to happen as far as procedures.   Jumping from Spring Break to having kids back immediately is a tremendously bad idea if we are headed back this year.                Yes you as a board will vote on this issue but what time does that give staff to adequately set up their classrooms. Staff need time to prepare to continue doing the job of two to three teachers since we will be teaching both in person and on the computer at the same time. There are still so many unknown questions and answers right now. What kind of time are we giving parent and staff to make arrangements?  Looks like none. Have parents even been notified what days would be best for their child to be in the building if we go hybrid? The answer to that is no.  Parents and staff also need to have a say.                          The media, mayor and even the bus companies have been putting speculation out. Has the Mayor talked to you or Central Office, how about the press or bus company. If what they are putting out about reopening for sure April 12th is true then last board meeting it should have been stated. As a parent and MPS staff, I am very confused right now if MPS is united in this.  These speculations and rumors need to be addressed immediately.  A example below.                                                                                                  Please make the best decision for our students, families and staff.                                                                                                                                                              Thank you.”

Jacqueline Dotson-Miller, Franklin Paraprofessional

“Good evening Superintentent Posely,  President Miller and Members of the Board and Parents... I'm a new Para with MPS. I'm an Educational Assistant at Benjamin Franklin. In addition,  I am an EA Chairperson representing MTEA. As working virtually is my first experience of teaching,  I would prefer to continue to work this way by choice for as long as possible.  We are not at a persistent  decrease with  stability with  Covid-19 numbers. All staff,  students and their families  will not have adequately   received both doses of the vaccine  and awaiting a full two weeks after the second dose for it to do its job of supplying immunity by a return date within the month of April. One Student,  1 Teacher, 1 Staff member is one too many to be put in a position of becoming a possible casualty  of this Pandemic we are in,   to date.  Students can not  learn from the grave. Teachers can not teach from the grave. Going forward with plans to reopen now would cause much disruption,  and anxiety for many students and families. I  am willing to continue in my stance by allowing my voice to be heard and felt making certain we remain virtual until its safe to return. I have raised two outstanding MPS Alumni students, and a proud MPS Parent. As I have fought for the betterment of my Children over the years,   I will equally fight via voicing my concerns for the safety of our students,  my colleagues,  and in making certain to remain diligent in my efforts. I plea to the hearers of my testimony that we not take any chances with precious lives at stake. MPS serves the most vulnerable in our state,   why would we dare to put them in harms way?????   Allow us to remain safe and stay virtual for the remainder of this school year.  Allow this process not to be rushed , and to have  more efficient ,  substantial  barriers in place for the overall safety of our district. Health and overall safety shall never be rushed.   Respectfully,  if your holding this board meeting virtually ....which it is,  and as you all have been for a year,  don't ask of MPS Staff,   Students and Families to do what you won't do. Marinate on that long and deeply. I thank you kindly in advance for your consideration in this matter.“

Crystal Ealy, MEAA President

“I do not support were returning to in person learning right now until all staff have been vaccinated and inoculated and mitigations are in place for safe learning. This past year has been a year of anxiety for some frustration, for others, and a piece of cake for a few, all while allowing us to maintain a safe learning environment within our homes. I understand how hard it might be for parents right now trying to continue to adjust their homes and work schedules to virtual learning because I have six grandkids in MPS, which consists of two sets of twins, six-years old and 11 years old, a 7-year old and a 14-year old so it has not been easy for my daughter. I have experienced MPS on all levels as a student, graduate, parent, grandparent, and employee of 28 years. This would be a great opportunity for MPS to start a practice of being proactive instead of reactive.”

Lorinda Flores, Fernwood Montessori Teacher

“President Miller and Members of the Board. I am an MPS teacher at Fernwood Montessori. I am speaking tonight about Early Childhood in the Montessori schools, which hasn’t been addressed in the plan. However, what I speak about affects many early childhood K3-3rd grade.   The 32 students on my roster are 3-6 years old and my classroom is about 850 sq feet small. Half of my students sit in chairs at tables, in small groups. Montessori schools do not have seating for all of their students because the other half have spots on the floor, working side by side. If you vote to return, and then require students to stay seated for 3+ hours, because we are fearful of spreading a deadly disease, it would be an irresponsible decision.. Montessori schools around the world have successfully returned to in-person learning during a pandemic without compromising their curriculum and pedagogy. They have done this by maxing the number of returning students at 16 so that the children can move about, work together, and use Montessori materials. I am grateful for the proposed modification to the plan to bring back only 15-18 at a time, otherwise, it would be an irresponsible decision.. Sanitizing materials can become part of the work cycle for the 3-6 year olds. Children are able to work with Montessori manipulatives and in small groups, with everyone wearing masks. If you vote to return, and our Montessori students can’t use the materials in our curriculum and pedagogy, and are instead sitting with chromebooks, because we are fearful of spreading a deadly disease, it would be an irresponsible decision.. Montessori curriculum and pedagogy emphasizes natural peer-to-peer social interactions in order to support unfolding social emotional development. I believe my number one job as a teacher is to keep my students safe, and to be their advocate. This includes protecting the WHOLE CHILD. Not just their physical safety, but also their social emotional well-being. It is my job to crawl under a table with a child who is scared or acting out. To hold them. To listen. To help them blow their nose if they have been crying. To clean up accidents and vomiting. I help them feel SAFE. If you vote to return, and my tending to the 3-6 year olds’ social emotional well-being isn’t allowed, because we are fearful of spreading a deadly disease, it would be an irresponsible decision. We all want our children back in school, but we need everyone to be safe.”

Jessica Foster, Fernwood Montessori Teacher

"I have my own ideas about returning to school, but ultimately I serve my students.  So tonight I’m here for them.  When they realized that under MPS guidelines they wouldn’t be able to physically work together, that they would still be getting lessons on their Chromebooks, and that they could not use classroom materials, the looks on their faces broke my heart.  The fact is YES, everyone is aching to get back together in their classroom communities, but not necessarily under the restrictions of the current plan.  Board Directors, have you found out how the families you represent with your vote feel about this?Is it true that classrooms will have a 15 student limit?  I have 30 students.  What is the plan for choosing who gets in?  What happens to those who don’t?  Will they be spread out to rooms throughout the school?  If all of the rooms are full will they be sent to other schools?!  If so, will busses be provided?    Speaking of busses, are there enough?  It doesn’t seem possible even with 3 tiers, and knowing what happened last year with 2 tiers, we’re in for a HOT mess! Getting back to my students, many are nervous about catching COVID and getting sick.  The CDC is saying kids aren’t getting it at school.  Great, so where are they getting it?  From restaurants?  Water Parks?  Hotels?  Disneyland?  All of the places families will be going over Spring Break?  This is when you want to return?  The road to readiness is a short road, and for lack of planning it is full of cracks, sinkholes, and danger.  The current plan will create a massive nosedive in the educational aspect of school.  Please consider what it takes to begin a completely new educational model. Directors, if you vote for this, please be CERTAIN that MPS can deliver what is promised.  Are the air purifiers going to arrive on time?  I was promised a working laptop in September, I got it LAST MONTH.  Our students were promised art supplies months ago.  We haven’t gotten those yet.Your vote will determine the educational quality, health, and safety of all MPS students.  Please make your choice with careful consideration. Our children are in your hands."

Sarah Greuttner, MPS Nurse

"President Miller and Members of the Board.  I am testifying tonight against the reopening plan. As parent and employee, I am disappointed by this reopening plan. A March 29th return date for staff is not acceptable or safe. The school I work at currently has 2 positive cases of COVID. Not to mention the fact that this plan continues to have many holes and leads to questions that can’t seem to be answered by this board or this district. I as a parent will NOT be sending my child back to school because you have not proven to me that it is safe or worth disrupting his routine. I sent in written testimony with 86 questions, I dare to ask a few tonight. Why were Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association and other stake holders being left out of the health and safety committee meetings held by Jennifer Smith since October-is that because the district would rather speak to nurses who sit behind a desk instead of those with boots in the building? Do they not value to the MTEA and stakeholders' input? You stated a nurse in each building-do you have nurses hired to have a nurse in each building every day? Or are you playing with words and considering a half day, consult nurses etc. as a nurse “in the building?” You mention HEPA filters for every classroom-what about HEPA filters for nurse's offices-where sick students will be sent? You have stated classes will be capped at 15, who will teach when more students show up than anticipated? Where will they go? Who gets the teacher they are assigned to and who gets someone else? Why are teachers being told if more than 15 students show up they will just be allowed in class? Why haven’t you sent out an opt in/opt out form prior to this meeting? Why do board members get to meet virtually yet you want to stuff classrooms and schools full? Please realize that we are still completely unprepared to open. We have had a year to properly plan for reopening and instead we continue to be reactive instead of proactive. Please see this and continue to make the hard decisions. Let the families and community of MPS get fully vaccinated, plan from now throughout the summer and come back prepared in the fall. Stay safe and stay virtual"

Erin Hallinan, Bradley Tech Teacher

“Good Afternoon Members of the School Board, My name is Erin Hallinan. I am a special education teacher at Bradley Tech and in January, I completed my 9th year of teaching in MPS. I just want to start by saying that I do not envy the choice you are tasked with making. I know that Milwaukee has shown strong improvements in our spread of COVID-19 as well as the rollout of the vaccine, and because of this, I want to take a different approach in explaining why I oppose the opening of the schools compared to the arguments of some of my colleagues and the parents in the district. This year, the school board has made the consistent choice to stay virtual due to the health and well-being of the students and staff of MPS as well as the city of Milwaukee. I am urging you to stay virtual for the health and well-being of our students and staff, but this time with a focus on the mental health of those in our district. To call the last 365 days a rollercoaster of emotion, would be an understatement. We have all dealt with fear, confusion, anger, and traumatic amounts of stress but to make things worse we have all done it isolated from those we love. While many of us put on a brave face day in and day out, the cracks in our mental well-being that we have tried to repair through so many new and different strategies have only gotten larger and more difficult to patch. I worry that if we return we are going to see a damn burst of mental and emotional health problems across the district. Daily, I speak with staff who are constantly on the brink of a panic attack or anxiety attack or just an overwhelming amount of emotions. Any phone call I take or google meet office hours I join, I see a teacher attempting to hold back tears because they are trying their hardest and despite the many successes we have seen in our classes this year, we have a constant shadow of feeling like we aren't doing enough and like we aren't enough. We have seen from countless districts and schools that hybrid learning is a failure. If we are asked to enter into a model that we know will fail, will only exacerbate these feelings. We all know that in times of high stress, people lash out and make rash decisions, and the last thing any educator wants to do is to take out those emotions on a student. This will also be paired with students who are going to be experiencing high levels of stress because they just spent the last 7 months utilizing one routine to be thrown into a brand new routine for a total of 4 weeks (at the high school level). If you place teachers who are already under an immense amount of pressure, in an extremely stressful situation that has been proven to fail across the country in rooms with students who are confused and frustrated- you are guaranteed to see a mass exodus of teachers before the next school year. The final question that I would like to ask, is what do we really benefit from if we go back in a hybrid setting? I have spoken on the mental and emotional risks, we all know the physical risks since COVID-19 is still spreading, but what do we gain? I can only speak to the high school level, but if we go back on April 26th, there are 3 weeks of instruction and 1 week of finals that will be in the hybrid setting. If students only attend 2 days per week, that boils down to 6 days of face-to-face instruction per child. Since many of you are former teachers, you all know that 6 days is not sufficient time to teach procedures and expectations and attempt to build relationships with students before we have to roll out a final exam.   This instruction has to be done while attempting to keep a group of students who are online and watching from home, engaged in the learning. It is not our fault that the Mayor has been working against the district and the board's decisions this entire time. It is not our fault that the health department has been making decisions of safety based on what they see in private schools that are located in new buildings. It is not our fault that the local news misrepresented your decision at the last school board hearing for the last month. It is not our fault that those who live in surrounding suburbs will always look down on the decisions MPS makes, no matter what decision we make. So please, when you cast your vote at the next meeting, listen to those that work and live in the City of Milwaukee and not just the voices of the most powerful.”

Jenna Hauner, Bryant Elementary Teacher

“Good Evening, Members of the Board. I sent this e-mail to each of you, but I felt it was important to voice it out loud as well.I am a K4 teacher in the Northwest region in MPS, and I do not support this "Roadmap to Readiness" being presented by the district.I planned to testify tonight, something I have never done before, and I'm testifying  because I've done my part already to ensure a safe school year, but the district has failed to do theirs.I've adapted to online teaching.  I've built relationships with all of my families.  Despite all of the struggles and growing pains, my students feel safe and loved, even through the computer.  I got the vaccine on March 1st, the very first day it was available for us to do so, and I got my second dose tonight, right before the board meeting.  I’ve done home visits, become an IT specialist, and I’ve been an emotional support for every family in my classroom.I've kept my end of the agreement.  And yet, the district STILL has not provided a thorough plan.  They have not promised (IN WRITING) to keep class sizes low (it should be 10 max per room, but I'll settle for 15).  They told MTEA that each classroom would be provided with an air purifier (yet, as of yesterday, my administration still only has one in the building, and it’s for our future isolation room).  And now they expect us to accept a "Roadmap to Readiness" plan that is missing so many details, and because of that, we don't even fully understand what we are supposed to be voting for!  MTEA was also not included in any of the discussions for the return to the school building, as the district promised they would be. We, the teachers, were not asked about any of these plans.  We're the ones who have to administer all of these plans on the front lines of this school district, and you're not even going to ask us to weigh in?  It feels like a slap in the face, and it's incredibly irresponsible of the district to not even request our input.I urge you to vote no on this plan, as the lives of my families both inside and outside the classroom depend on it.  Thank you. I also sent a follow up e-mail with questions to each board member (same email mostly, just sent individually), should I send that to you as well?“

Ingrid Henry, MTEA Vice President

“If given the option of in-school learning, 67% of Black families said they would probably or definitely stay remote, compared to 23% of whites, according to Project Ready, a Newark-based social justice group.

“Black and brown people are seeing the COVID-19 impact at a disproportionate rate so we can’t blame parents for thinking about the safety of their children,”

-NorthJersey.com

In all this talk of reopening families and educators have not been asked anything nor have they been presented with a comprehensive plan to reopen. What would learning look like for students at home and school?  Are we being offered hybrid? Which schools will have camp? How many students will be allowed in a class? What mental health supports are there for families? Will food distribution continue? Are we really bringing students back for a state test? Some questions have been answered most have not.

This year has been hard on children and families, but they have done their best to make it work. This sacrifice was done to keep children, their families, and staff safe. In the last two weeks, MTEA had a conversation with some families across the district and the common theme was the need for information and the desire to be heard. MPS has not had discussions with the parent leaders of the District Advisory Council. Families and educators must be a vital part of planning and discussions around reopening safely. Our voices must be heard and honored in this process. Black and Brown families in MPS must have faith that decisions are being made that puts the physical and mental health of our families and the community at the forefront.

Josh Jackson, MTEA Treasurer

“President Miller, School Board Directors and Dr. Posley,I am a proud MPS Graduate, Rufus King C/O 07, and proud 4th grade teacher at Neeskara Elementary School. I will spend the bulk of my two minutes discussing the inequities that this plan will result in, but I cannot emphasize how disrespectful, under the original plan, it is to give the educators in this district who are parents only 11 days to find adequate childcare. It was inconsiderate and appalling that it was an afterthought for the board. As I have learned over the past few months as a parent to a almost 1 year old, daycares will not just save spots and, to spring this date, on us in that manner is disappointing.The plan administration has brought forward is clear that had no educators who have been actively teaching virtually for the past 130 school days and the last days of the 2019-2020 school year were on the planning team. In the classroom that I teach we have created an environment that requires learning and has had rigorous teaching. The fact this plan insinuates that F2F instruction is needed to make up for the ‘learning loss’ is an insult. Everything that was presented tonight has this belief that our children have not been receiving an education while virtual. We will be uprooting routines that are well founded and concrete and create uncertainty and recreate routines. Let alone will we be now forced to prioritize between either in-person students or virtual knowing that what works for one, does not work for the other. If we are honest with our families, some will make a choice to risk their lives and the lives of their families because of a perceived educational benefit of being in person. We must be honest that not only is it unsafe for us to return to schools, but we will be increasing the inequity within our district. We are discussing making a dramatic change for 37 school days when any teacher will let you know it takes that much time to get into a groove with all the procedures and routines. Let us make the right choice and not risk the lives of our students and their families in a trial-and-error manner and stay virtual for remainder of the 2020-2021 school year.“

Jane Konkel, Hampton Parent Coordinator

“Good Afternoon School Board Directors.

Families, students, and staff appreciate your efforts in keeping us safe for the past year. You have some weighty decisions ahead of you and I don't want to take up too much of your time, but I want to share some very real safety concerns.

I've been reporting to my school building each day since the beginning of the school year. As Parent Coordinator, I'm responsible for handling Chromebook distribution and exchanges. I've engaged with many more families this year than ever before. That's one of the "silver linings." They also have many questions and concerns, which will likely go unaddressed in a

too late

survey. Will a survey honestly address the conditions that their children will be returning to, if we return to in-person learning?

Not only do classroom temperatures reach 90 degree + temps, there is not adequate ventilation in the building where I work. Most of the windows do not open, or the effort to open them takes herculean strength. When we are able to get one open, it only opens 4 - 6 in. The outline of the plan says that classrooms will have windows. I want you to help ensure that windows in all classrooms do indeed open. I'm 6 ft. tall, and I need to get up on a chair for the right leverage. Please, visit some schools and see for yourself. Try to open a few windows, look for those air filters, and check out the bathrooms. Until adequate ventilation is addressed, no one should return to these buildings.

As for the portable filters for each classroom, my principal said we have one. I have not seen it. I'm concerned for the safety of our children and my colleagues. I've already been threatened with monitoring the sick room. Curious, who will attend to my other duties when I'm covering the sick room? Or what will we do when parents can not or do not pick up sick kids, or they send their sick children to school. Perhaps Central Office Administrators - regardless of licensure - could cover these rooms? I understand they are willing and available to offer support.

There are many questions about how lunch will work. I saw conflicting information in the plan. People will be eating indoors without masks and this is worrisome. I haven't eaten indoors with anyone outside my household in more than a year. Suddenly this will be expected, if we return to school this spring. I intend to suggest we eat outdoors, but I'm quite sure that suggestion will be shot down. Waiting until Fall to return to school buildings, when more family members will be vaccinated, seems wise.

In a business where children ARE our business, we seem to have such little regard for them. Our youngest learners will need weeks to adjust to school and new routines. Not sure how those masks are going to stay on or how they will stay distanced from their peers at school and on the bus. Their developmental needs are not a consideration in this plan. Getting kids outdoors, lots of art, music, phy ed and SEL needs to be our priority whenever we return to school - not testing and "academic rigor." I hope the developmentally appropriate needs of our youngest, oldest and special needs students are a consideration of you and the other Directors when examining this plan.

I question the need for High School students and staff to return at all this school year. It seems like a huge expense and a huge risk.

Staff should not be required to report back to buildings on March 29th. This date was pulled from nowhere and it is inconsiderate to expect that our employees with children can find childcare in a few days. Not all of us will be fully vaccinated by that date, so again this is a huge safety concern. If MPS expects to attract and retain staff, demanding a premature and unwarranted return is no way to go about it.

I can only speculate that part of the reason for this rush to return is to get kids through tests, and this is disturbing. I know funds are at stake, but so are the lives, health, and well being of our students, families, and staff members. Please make the decisions as if money was not part of this equation. The political pressure must be tremendous, but I urge you to stand strong and do right by the city of Milwaukee. MPS and our caring School Board could be a model for the rest of the nation based on decisions made this evening.

Three more "silver linings:" Bucket Drums, Milwaukee Art Museum Art Bags, and "Fresh Produce Thursdays." Love that kind of innovation. Hopefully more innovation to come”

Elizabeth Kosmach, Whittier Teacher

“Good Evening, I do not agree with the so-called outline, I mean  plan administration has shown tonight. It is not safe or smart or thought out. .President Miller you brought forth policy  that would have all stakeholders at the table for this plan and MTEA was left out of all   healthy and safety meetings since the fall.  They left out the voices of workers who are on the front line. Real teamwork there. As a special education teacher, I am alarmed that there was one sentence mentioned about special education services. BUT don’t worry parents sports got it’s own slide before special education who services over 14,000 students of MPS. Priorities. Also, I feel this plan was created to cater to a certain subgroup of parents and historically when MPS did that in the 90’s that is how School choice started and we are still fighting that battle.  Parents needed to be surveyed way before this meeting, before this plan came out. What happens if a whole class of 36 students wants to come back, do we throw out the cap, I hope not because that isn’t safe. Would there be a lottery on who can come, who knows because it’s not in the plan.   Do parents understand in real time students will be on a chromebook in a classroom with a mask on, nothing is changing except the setting and masks. There is no real time PD in the world in how to teach engaging lessons to both a screen and students at the same time, we are not a superhero but a teacher surviving a global pandemic. We are not going back to the same teaching like before the shutdown because it’s not possible. But of course MPS wouldn’t tell parents this. There is so much pressure from politicians,DPI and the health department but also the media. I’m sorry but the administration needs to do a better job correcting the fake news that goes out. Because educators are on the frontline answering parents' questions  that they hear from the news and well most of the time they aren’t correct  and we have to tell them the real facts. or educators are looking dumb because we have no clue what’s going on. In order to get a proficient plan, we need a plan with more than just a  topic sentence but one with well thought out details from all stakeholders. Do Better MPS”

Monica Lopez, Clement Avenue

"Good Evening, I have many questions as a parent of two MPS children and as an educator. However, tonight, I am speaking on behalf of common concerns from Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association early childhood educator cohort. It is our district's responsibility to provide structure for successful and safe environments. On the surface to an outsider, the plan may appear to be detailed, but as a staff member we understand the presentation and its lack of direction. The majority of early childhood students are slated to return to school first, even with Director Miller suggestion to move the start day back it does nothing to support Early Childhood students.First – MPS district re-opening plan does not address our Early Childhood Students.Early childhood education is kindergarten through 3rd grade.Second –Staffing early childhood students is not addressed in MPS district re-opening plan.Traditional child development requires a lot of scaffolding and close proximity of an adult, under 3 feet and with multiple adults for support during all parts of the day with activities are planned, implemented, and staffed in increments of 2, 5, 10, 15 minutes. Every school year, at building levels we try to reduce students in lunch and playground but come up against inability to reduce students numbers because of staffing shortages. The CDC still requires adult to be socially distanced 6 feet from studentsThree – Early childhood Academics are not addressed MPS district re-opening plan Early childhood academics requires, manipulatives, movement, physical interaction with peers and adults, routines for rest (important to understand students resting are doing so without masks), play, recess, toileting, and sanitation for all these components, creating issues separate from other age groups. It is hands on learning. Fourth – Planning for our Early Childhood Students is not addressed In MPS district re-opening.In a traditional year two days of 1.5 would be adequate however we are not in a traditional year. Early childhood education is intricate and detailed by nature and the current plan isn’t providing adequate information for staff. The majority of early childhood students are slated to return to school first, Covid health and safety protocols put nearly all of our practices out of complianceIn summary, The administration must work with staff at all levels and disciplines, early childhood, special ed, Montessori, etc. to sufficiently address concerns prior to our two-day professional development. MPS’s own Frog Street curriculum k3/k4 begins each day with a student greeting and commitment called a “safekeeping ritual”. Educators introducing their job as Safekeeper, stating everyday: My job is to keep you safe.I implore the School Board, and Administration to use information gathered tonight as building blocks. We have a lot of work ahead and give us the tools to keep our students and by extension community safe. Thank you."

Amber Mahaffey, Milwaukee German Immersion School Teacher

“Dear Board members,My name is Amber Mahaffy. I am an early childhood special education teacher and I have spent my life advocating for my students and their families.I want to start off by thanking you for keeping our staff and families safe so far during this pandemic. What I can’t understand is why you want us to re-enter the buildings before we have even had our second vaccine and are not immune to COVID19.I get my second vaccine on March 31. I will not have my immunity by March 29th. As a single parent.  I am in shock at this reckless and haphazard plan. Not to mention offended that I have to now get a form, disclose my medical conditions and have my family practitioner check a list saying that I am at risk.1 in 4 Wisconsinites have pre-existing health conditions that make them at a higher risk.  Not only I am at risk but my daughter who is 14 is at risk. I have already rushed her to the ER three times because her asthma was acting up, she was coughing and coughing until her little lips turned blue.  She had to see a respiratory therapist two of the times. This fall, there wasn’t a respiratory therapist to treat her. They were all busy treating COVID19 patients.  I can’t imagine what would happen if my daughter got COVID19. Yet your reopening plan does not allow employees to protect their family members. We are only allowed to stay home and teach at home if we ourselves have a pre-existing health condition.As a single mother, I am all my daughter has. Yet, I am perhaps one of the luckier MTEA members as I  won’t have a problem getting my physician to fill out my form to stay at home due to  my personal increased risk for death from covid19. So I can protect myself and my  child. But I stand united with other MTEA members who have family members who are at incredibly high risk. We should all have the chance to stay home until our loved ones can also receive vaccines. What can be gained from disrupting the students routines the last few months of school? Nothing at all.What happened to a solid hybrid plan? One that has gating criteria and allowed us to ease back into in person teaching. Did you even survey the families to see how many children and families would be returning to in person?What about our special needs students? Most of them have lots of preexisting health conditions and facial tactile defensiveness that makes wearing a mask next to impossible. Let me explain what tactile defensiveness looks like near a student’s face. A child sees something coming towards their face. It could be a pair of sunglasses, a scarf to keep them warm in the winter, or a facemask. Yet to a student that has facial tactile defensiveness, that mask is like a huge stinging murdering hornet that will send them into anaphylactic shock or kill them. The smell, the texture and the colors of the mask all cause them to go into fight or flight mode.  They grab, swat, and hit in response to things that they are tactically defensive with. To that 4 year old austic child a facemask is a murdering hornet. Then there is the concept of space.  My students don’t have a concept of 6 feet or 3 feet or whatever the CDC latest whims are.Don’t even get me started on our new commissioner of health Kirsten Johnson. She previously worked as a director of Washington Ozaukee County Health Department.As of three days ago Washington Ozaukee County has the highest COVID19 caseload in the state.  Their  firefighters and EMT’s are working overtime trying to provide citizens with a high quality of services while battling COVID19. Kirsten Johnson learned nothing in Washington Ozaukee County and she plans on fully opening up Milwaukee with little regard to the first responders, teachers, health professionals and citizens here.We cannot let Milwaukee become Washington Ozaukee County, Italy or Europe. We must learn from others. History cannot keep repeating itself. It must stop now.   The political motive to open up has come with a great cost to schools in Italy and Europe. Now they a real closed down again due to children getting sick from the new variants. What happens when these variants get brought home to my students' parents? Will they lose their jobs when they have to quarantine for 10 days or will they be forced to still work spreading the virus potentially all around.  Our children are the future. They are the future firefighters,police officers, political leaders, teachers, presidents and vice presidents. We cannot let them down.We owe our students and families better than this. My students and their families deserve a well thought out plan like schools in the 53151 zip code. We might not have the funding, we might have older buildings. But we do have some of the most intelligent, creative and passionate people. It is time to invite all groups' parents, MTEA and board members to work together for an inclusive agreement that is respectful to families, staff and the community. Thank you for your time. Respectfully.”

Jesse Martin, James Madison Academic Campus Teacher

“President Miller, members of the board, I am speaking tonight against the proposed plan to return to school in person. I’m a proud MPS high school English teacher. And while I’m glad to see so many of my colleagues getting the vaccine, the general population is just now getting access to the vaccine. I’ve read the plans, I’ve listened carefully tonight, and I am not convinced that this plan will adequately mitigate the risk of students spreading the virus to one another and then to their families. As a teacher, my first and most important priority is that my students are safe. This plan would put me in a position where I wouldn’t be able to keep my students and their families safe. This school board has done the right thing over the past year despite considerable political pressure to unsafely reopen in person. I understand that the pressure is mounting from every direction, and I believe that some - and I want to emphasize some - of that pressure is well-intentioned - it has to be. But that does not mean it is any less imperative that we protect our students and families at all costs. Just one more time, for emphasis: no matter what anyone says, there is nothing as important as keeping our students and our families safe. By staying virtual over the past year, the board has kept students and families safe and has saved countless lives. In fall, when it’s projected that every adult will have had ample opportunity to get the vaccine, we will be in a considerably better position to consider opening in person. I urge the board to not send us back as long as it’s unsafe. Thank you.”

Jennifer Mueller, Neeskara Paraprofessional

“Good evening,  I am writing to you as a parent and an MPS employee.  When it comes to reopening in april I personally don't think it should happen.   As a parent how are these children going to keep masks on?  They will not be able to do anything normal. Lunch would be in the classroom specialists would be affected.  It is not healthy for these kids to be secluded in one classroom all day.   My son has asthma and being in a mask in a building that is not very well ventilated will not be good.  I understand these kids need to be in school, however my son's school which is Mgis goes above and beyond for their students.  They get the materials they need and work is still being done and submitted daily. The employee side of me.  As a paraprofessional.  We can not spread the children out 6 feet apart even hybrid.  Not all staff will be vaccinated.  I for one can not currently get the vaccine because of allergies.  As an employee there is no good that will come out of this.  Bussing is another!  Will we have enough bussing?  Also why would high schoolers start about 3 weeks before they are done anyways makes no sense!  I could go on and on.  Please really reconsider this plan.  Keep us virtual, let's start fresh in September.  Give the schools all summer to get up to where they need to be safe etc.  The variants are out and we have no idea if the vaccine will even cover those or how long the vaccine will even last in one's system.   Why take kids out of their daily routine now since we are only months away from the year being done.  Thanks for reading my email and I truly hope you take this into consideration.”

“Good afternoon Erika,  My name is Jenni.  I am emailing you as a parent and an employee.  First off as a parent my son goes to Milwaukee German Immersion fantastic school fantastic staff however I am not comfortable with him going back.  He has anxiety and adhd he can not sit in a building that isn't well ventilated with a mask on all day.   These kids have more to do at home in their neighborhoods than they would get in a building.  There they have to stay in their classrooms all day, eat lunch there etc . That is not fair to them.  My son is thriving on virtual.  I understand the importance of them being in person but it is not safe in my eyes.   As an employee I work at Neeskara which I love but in the classroom I am in we have 7 tables where we can not distance 30 kids safely.  I have allergies and I can not get the vaccine due to that so then I am put at risk with my asthma going back into a building.   I personally think we should start fresh in September where most of the general public will be vaccinated and a few months closer to the kids being able to get the vaccine.  Mps has done great job this far with this whole virtual why interrupt what the kids are use too besides when they are scheduled to go back that is enough time to get them settled in etc then school is over makes no sense.  I really respect the school board and how they have done this far and I hope they make the right decision.  To be honest that parent that spoke at the last board meeting from mgis and wants these teachers to go more above and beyond I do not think there is any way for them to go higher than what mgis staff is already doing.   A few staff members took this parent as a slap in the face. This pandemic has changed a lot of things and these parents are all about the sports you know what even if we were in person there may not be sports anyways  the rec department already said indefinitely cancelled.  Just wanted to email you personally.  I did send an email to the board goverance too.  Thanks for all you do concerned parent and employee.”

After Meeting Email

“Good very early morning!  I just want to say I am disappointed in the board tonight!   I have a son with asthma, allergies, adhd, and anxiety who can't handle a mask for more than a half hour!   Yes their is a virtual option however me being a para in mps I do not get the option to keep him virtual so how is this fair?   I am not able to get the vaccine due to medication allergies I also have asthma and allergies.  I can't handle a mask for more than 2 hours at most!   You guys have made my decision to pull my son from milwaukee public schools!   No consideration for staff!!    What about the staff who do not have access to daycare for the 12th and 13th?  Can we use sick time?   As a para I can't afford to pay daycare!  I would need a 2nd job to pay just for daycare!   What about Wednesdays do staff get to stay home too?  That is another daycare day!   Can mps pay daycare for staff members?  This plan is unsafe, rushed, and non sense. Shame on you for feeding into their political aspect!   I respect the board members who said no thank you that was smart!   Please answer my questions mainly what does staff do with their own k-3rd kids that don't go back til Wednesday?  Who is paying for their daycare needs?  What about people that do open enrollment is a bus option feasible for them?  Bussing from another public school is that an option?  I need answers or you will lose both my son and myself!  I am so hurt, confused etc to the point I am crying over this ordeal!   You put a lot of us in a predicament that can't be fixed as quick as you can put all these kids into a school building.   Daycare have caps on them not all kids can get a spot!    Please reconsider the plan.  It is not safe!!”

Amy Mizialko, MTEA President

"Administration is not being honest with themselves. MPS does NOT have the staff necessary to cover overflow classrooms. How could they? They don’t know how many students are returning and MPS hasn’t had a full pool of Substitute teachers in a decade. MPS cannot rapidly process staff requests for medical accommodations. I will remind you that during the last week of in person instruction, MPS couldn’t achieve the barebone basics of soap and paper towels in all bathrooms.Administration is not being honest about the choice families actually have - which is -- instead of students logging in safely from home continuing the routines and learning consistency teachers and families have worked so hard to create, that “in person” instruction will simply mean that students will travel on a bus with no social distancing, where mask wearing can’t be enforced, and log in on the same chromebook in a desk that is taped off from peers and teachers, where they will soon be told to take a standardized test.I’ve never heard more administrators repeat over and over again tonight that they have collaborated with MTEA. Administration DID NOT include MTEA to participate in safety reopening workgroup meetings. Administration made a choice to EXCLUDE the union that represents the vast majority of workers in this district. That wasn’t a miscommunication, mistake or misunderstanding. Leaving MTEA and workers out was a calculated decision. MTEA members will not be forced into buildings on March 29th - we will not be inoculated by March 29th. MTEA values and takes seriously the safety and health of our students, families and workers. MTEA will not stand for a haphazard, incomplete, throw the doors open and hope for the best approach, and neither should this board."

Alyssa Molinski, Starms ECC Teacher

“Good afternoon, Milwaukee Public School Board of Directors

My name is Alyssa Molinski, and I am a first year MPS teacher. I teach K3 at Starms Early Childhood Center.

I write to you today to express my frustration with the proposed reopening plan. I have included my main reasons & questions below.

The plan doesn't allow teachers to be fully vaccinated before being forced to re-enter the school building. My second vaccination is scheduled for next Wednesday, and I signed up to be vaccinated immediately - as soon as it was available to MPS teachers. I request that teachers who signed up to be vaccinated as soon as possible should have the chance to have both vaccinations & the two week period after the second vaccination to allow the vaccine to become effective. Setting up classrooms the week after spring break & inviting students back the week after that seems much safer to me. Additionally, anyone who traveled over spring break will have time to be able to be tested/notice symptoms of COVID-19 before they are invited into the school building.

I am confused as to how many students I will have in my classroom each day. My classroom has two tables in it. How many students will be sitting at these two tables when I have a class of 25 students? Is my class going to be split into groups, or will I have my whole class each day?

I have a morning class and an afternoon class. I teach half day K3. I NEED cleaning staff to sanitize my classroom between my morning class & afternoon class. It would not be safe to invite a whole new class into my classroom after the AM student's day comes to an end. How will you ensure this happens?

Will 3 & 4 year old students be expected to sit in 1 chair, on a Chromebook, for the whole day that they spend in my classroom? This proposed plan doesn't include ANY information about what the in-person experience would look like for our early childhood students.

I want my students to feel happy & safe when they enter my classroom. I can say with confidence that this plan does not consider my students' well-being or safety. I want a plan that includes feedback from teachers & families - the people who know what's best for students.

Thank you for your time!”

Karen Olson, Escuela Vieau Teacher

Oral Testimony: “I am against the districts proposal to return at this point. As a parent how am I supposed to make an educated decision this week whether I should keep my children virtual or send them back face to face? This plan is lacking details of how either will work. We have been very cautious this year to protect ourselves and our children. I am not sending my children back to be guinea pigs while they figure it out. The teachers have no more information about the plan and how things will work because the district has failed to prepare them ahead of time. There is no way they can be fully prepared with only a week of professional development while also being expected to teach, plan, help students, set up classrooms, and prepare for student return. My children’s teachers have worked incredibly hard this year and have done an amazing job at setting up routines and making them feel successful. I can’t imagine that being upset at this point in the year for less than 2 weeks. I also will not send them back just to have weeks of testing crammed in! No one can answer questions about how virtual or hybrid will work exactly. What happens if there are more than 15 kids in a room? If sent to overflow rooms who will teach them? Why would I want my children in a room with a different adult than the one they have grown to trust this year? What if we don’t feel safe, can they switch back to virtual? What about virtual, will they just be watching the teacher teach? Will they still get small group time and office hours for help? Will they be left to just watch videos and figure it out? My daughter is in 7th grade and has anxiety. She has been a nervous wreck since this plan has been released because it doesn’t give enough information and leaves way to many questions and unknowns. We told her she could stay virtual and she asked me “but what if I don’t learn what I need to because my teacher will be teaching the in person kids?” No kid should be put in this situation. A clear detailed plan should have been released weeks ago. The district should have held listening sessions where they could answer questions and get feedback from staff and parents. Staff should have received training on what to plan for and what to expect and then could have gone over it with parents if they had questions. Then if you voted to return we all would have been able to make an educated decision on what’s best for our families. And if you voted to remain virtual we would have been able to be prepared for fall. But now, with this shell of a plan, we are being asked to make a decision with little to no information. Don’t allow them to play politics with our students and let’s continue to work to keep them safe!”

Written Testimony: “The lack of communication from the district and board about school reopening has created a lot of confusion among staff and parents. Staff are getting questions about what reopening would look like from parents and we are unable to answer any of their questions because we know nothing except what is in the shell of a plan the district released last week. There wasn’t even the courtesy of sending the plan to staff for us to view or be aware of the possibility that we may return as early as March 29th. This lack of communication has created a lot of unnecessary anxiety in children, staff, and students because no one knows what to expect. Teachers have many many questions. It takes time to absorb the new information and plan how to execute that in our classrooms. There has been NO information given to staff and most disturbingly administrators were told to NOT start planning for a return until after the board meets. Why is this? PBIS and other teams could have started to plan procedures for their schools. Even if it was determined we would not return those plans could have been used for a return in fall. I have compiled a list of questions that many staff are asking so you can see just how incomplete this plan is and how many questions staff have. Staff are anxious because we have no idea what to expect or how to plan.1) If the board votes to return school teams will now have very little time to meet and plan especially considering spring break is approaching. Will they be paid for meeting outside of school hours? When will they be given time to present what they plan to staff in regards to routines for morning arrival, dismissal, bathroom routines, lunch routines and procedures, etc?2) Why are staff returning before many have had their second shot and before the waiting period before the vaccinations are fully effective? 3) If it is safe for us to return why are you still meeting virtually?4) What is being done in regards to  the concern with the variants now in Wisconsin and the data showing it affects children more than the original strain?5) If we are hybrid with different groups on M/T and W/Th will staff members students be able to attend all 4 days? Some of our staff(Paras, CHAs, and other staff) do not make enough money to pay for daycare especially if not getting 40 hours a week. 6) If we do two a week hybrid what about students who rely on camp/CLC 5 days a week? Will that still be available? 7) Will before and after school camps be available day 1 and will their enrollment be expanded? Parents who work can not go without this.8) Do buildings have enough bandwidth to support this? In past years when there has been all school testing there are many technology issues.9) How will the district ensure that ALL parents respond to if they are returning or staying virtual? If parents don't reply to a survey what is the plan? We can't have them just show up day 1 without knowing how many will be in classrooms or who is returning.10) Will high risk staff members or those that have high risk members in their household that haven't been able to be vaccinated fully yet be able to work from home? 11) Will staff be able to work from home on Wednesdays while the building is being sanitized?12) Is the plan and the videos available to parents in all languages? 13) Many teacher laptops do not have cameras and they have been using their own laptops. Will they be provided school laptops with working cameras(chromebooks are not sufficient)?14) How does this work for open concept rooms where they don't have separate classrooms? 15) What about families who have moved and are no longer in bussing ranges? Will they have to switch schools? That seems horrible at this point in the year and will cause issues with bussing and class lists. 16) How is it in the students best interests to return at this point in the year when routines and procedures have been established? It will take weeks to teach all of the procedures. How is that loss of learning time beneficial to the students? 17) What happens if 80-90% of students want to return in one school but only 20-30% in another school? 18) How is this going to affect parents who have to work and can't afford to miss work when their child suddenly has to quarantine? Right now they have situations worked out for their children, many are not in the position to change things or take time off work if their child has to quarantine. 19) How is switching between virtual to F2F and back to virtual if there is exposure good for kids? 20) How is this developmentally appropriate for our youngest students? It takes a long time for young children to become comfortable and settled into routines, this does not seem beneficial to them. Parents won't be able to escort them to classrooms, they have been home all year, some haven't been in classrooms ever and will need to adjust, some will have tantrums and try running the building. How will all of this be addressed with staff stretched thin and maintaining social distancing? 21) Are we returning just so we can do state testing? How is this beneficial to students and their social emotional well being? It takes weeks to prepare and teach students to take the tests. This is more loss of learning time on top of the teaching of procedures. Will schools be trying to complete Forward, Star, and Access testing? This is way too much to cram into a short period of time when we should be continuing to teach and not return just to test. Cleaning and safety Supplies:22) Classrooms have not been touched since summer. Will they be cleaned and wiped down before returning? That has not happened as of this email being sent? Who do schools or staff contact with concerns when proper cleaning is not happening? 23) Have you as board members toured the buildings to see if these things are actually happening with fidelity?Have you seen the supplies given to classrooms? (I have included a picture of what classrooms have received so far...24) What has been done to improve ventilation? The plan states all classrooms with windows have had broken windows fixed. What about classrooms and offices without windows? The coatrooms and cubbies that have been turned into SPED classrooms and offices don't have ventilation air returns or windows so what is being done about that?25) We have been told Hepa air filters have been ordered for classrooms. Where are they because they haven't been delivered to all schools? And some schools only received a few so when will the rest be delivered? 26) Were offices and special ed rooms(small ones usually considered offices) included in those counts? What about staff who work in cubbies in hallways, will they be given Hepa filters?27) Will there be plexi glass dividers and if so where are they because no teachers have seen them in buildings yet.28) More cleaning people have been brought in but every year there are many instances where workers from the agencies don't show up, clock in and leave, or don't actually do the cleaning, Buildings in past years have been left in disgusting conditions and have many nights in a row with "emergency cleaning" where only the garbages are emptied. What is the plan to make sure this doesn't happen and buildings are actually cleaned and sanitized every day?29) Are there sanitizing stations around the buildings?30) Will sanitizer and cleaning supplies be supplied to staff because in the past teachers purchased that?Class sizes:31)We are told classes will be no larger than 15 students. What happens to students if more return than 15? If they are put in overflow rooms who will teach those? How is this being communicated to parents ahead of time? Many parents would be upset if their child's teacher changes at this point in the year or if they were in an overflow room and not with their peers and teacher who they have created relationships with this year. What happens when the school has no available classrooms or places to put overflow rooms?32) Some classes are over 40 or even 50, what is the plan with these classrooms? 33) When parents pick virtual or in person do they then have to stay with what they picked? How is this enforced? Subs:34) Is there a large enough sub pool? There are not subs available for vacancies in normal years so how will we cover classrooms now with a smaller sub pool? The plan stated 72% of subs said they would return. Many subs have said they never received a survey so who was surveyed, how many were surveyed, and how many responded? 72% is not sufficient if the majority of the sub pool was not surveyed and responded. Staffing:35) How many extra staff members are being assigned to buildings to help with distancing, lunches, coverage, etc.?36) Will more paras be in buildings to help teachers with all of the additional work for both virtual and F2F? 37) Are more support staff being hired and sent to schools? Psych, counselors, and social workers will be extremely busy helping with behaviors, Bit plans, reevaluations, and their normal duties. Now you are adding on more attendance concerns for them to handle as well as having students in buildings who need more social emotional help and anxiety issues with returning. Will they be able to provide necessary sensory materials or have calming corners that many students desperately need? Will each building have full time Psychologists, Counselors, and Social Workers?Exposure:38) If exposed will we quarantine? Will classes have to quarantine?39) How would that work; would we still teach virtually from home? 40) Who would cover classrooms if not enough subs?41) How does that look in high schools where students change classrooms and hallways are crowded?42) What happens with teachers who teach multiple classes if they are exposed? What about students who travel to different classes?43) What happens with families who have students in multiple buildings, if a family member or student tests positive how does that affect the other classrooms of the siblings? Will the schools be informed so they can monitor those classrooms/students?44) How quickly will schools be notified that someone tested positive? What happens if that student is at school? What is considered close contact? 45) How will families be notified? 46) What happens to staff who only have cubbies to work in? Some work in coatrooms that have been converted into speech, ESL, counselor offices, and SPED rooms. They do not have windows to open and are very small. What happens with those teachers? Where do they work with students if there are NO available classrooms to work in? Have Hepa filters been ordered for them? 47) How are students being scanned? 48) Will their temperatures be taken before entering the school or classroom? 49) What will be done if a student is sick?50) What happens if no parent can be reached, if they don't have transportation to come get the child, or they say they are coming and don't? (These instance happens ALL the time)51) Will assigned seating be required in classrooms, lunchroom, and busses to help with contact tracing?52) The school that the CDC studied used electronic badges that students scanned when getting on and off the busses. This allowed them to easily know who was in contact with students who tested positive. Is the district following this safety measure or if not what other safety precaution is being taken to know who is on busses and exposed each day?53) How are our most vulnerable and at risk students being protected? What about students with Special needs that can't wear masks? 54) What is the procedure for sick students and staff to return to school? There are also colds and regular viruses going around, will all students and staff who are sick need a negative test to return or will they need to be out a certain amount of time?  Lunches:55) How will lunches work? The plan says students eat in the lunchroom but in some schools the lunchrooms are very small so distancing would be almost impossible. 56) Some administrators are saying lunches will be in the classroom. If so who will wipe desks and clean the room after students eat? Who will cover classrooms since that is the teacher's lunch hour? What is the district doing to ensure eating in the classrooms doesn't bring critters; many buildings have had issues with roaches, bed bugs, and mice.57) Are snack times in classes(primarily Kindergarten) still taking place and what does that look like?58) Where will students get water during the day? Assuming they will not be able to use the water fountains, what happens because kids don't always remember to bring water bottles?59) How far apart will kids need to sit from each other in the lunchroom?60) How will staffing work to pass out lunches to virtual students for the Stop and Go?Procedures:61) How will bathroom breaks work both for individual bathroom trips and whole class? 62) How will entry and dismissal work? Some buildings are very congested in hallways/entrances during these times?63) Again, why were schools told not to start planning this in the event that we do return?64) Some schools have 700-900 students with only 3 bathrooms for students, how will that work?65) Last year we regularly had bathrooms without soap because there was none, how can we ensure that will never happen again?66) Will students be able to use school libraries? What will those procedures look like? 67) How much of the day will be allowed for arrival and dismissal? 68) Where will students store things if they can't use lockers?69) How are students expected to carry things home including chromebooks with no backpacks? 70) What will recess look like? Will they be able to play with equipment? 71) If teachers are being streamed to virtual students do in class students need to have media releases signed and what if they don't return them?72) Will classroom cameras need to be on all day even when lessons aren't being taught directly? What happens when there is inappropriate behavior in the classrooms? 73) Will teachers be able to meet with students in small groups?74) Will teachers be provided microphone systems so they can be heard both virtually and in person through their masks? 75) How do we support both virtual and face to face students?76) How do we do interventions or SRBI with virtual students while also supervising in person students? 77) Will families be asked to purchase and send supplies? Uniforms? This could be financially difficult for parents especially for such a short period of time and on short notice.   78) Are schools collecting chromebooks and who will be sanitizing them? 79) Will Paras still be able to move from classroom to classroom? How are they protected because this requires them to be exposed to many classes and students during coverage of lunch and recess?80) How do things like sharpening pencils work? Students usually do this but that would increase exposure and teachers don't have time to do this. Bussing:81) How are 36 kids(50% according to the plan) allowed on a bus when the city buses are only allowing 15?82) What about students who take the city bus? Will there be extra busses added so students can get to school?83) If we are only putting 15 in a classroom why would we put up to 36 on a bus?84) Who will enforce bus policies and face masks while the drivers are driving?85) Will high schools still be collecting cell phones?Quarantine/Sick rooms:86) Who is staffing this? Not all buildings have nurses so who is in charge of it then? Nurses typically spend a lot of time each day giving meds to students- who will be doing this if Nurses are taking care of sick children? Surely they can't do both.87) What happens if the sick room is full? In large schools there could be a number of kids with everyday colds and viruses. How will we be able to seperate them so they aren't exposed in the sick room? Or if they are all sent to the sick room how many can be there at a time?88) Is staff members are quarantined who will cover classrooms if there are no subs?Behaviors:89) How will students with behaviors be addressed? Many kids both in special ed and not in special ed need accomodations for movement, time outs in other rooms, breaks to leave the room. What will the procedures be for such instances and many more that occur on a daily basis? 90) If we are doing two hybrid groups how will it be enforced who comes on which days? What happens to students who come on the wrong day? This happens frequently with Kindergarten start dates at the beginning of the year. Masks:91) How will masks be enforced? What happens to students who refuse to wear them? 92) Will parents have to sign agreements that students will wear masks or will need to return to virtual like in other districts?Specials: 93) What will time with specialists look like? Some travel to different buildings, what will it look like for them? 94) Many specialists teach on carts traveling to classrooms, will that continue?95) How are specialists who teach in multiple buildings also supposed to juggle hybrid schedules? 96) If they are assigned to a building on Wednesday then those students would only get those specials virtually while others receive it F2F. Is that being addressed?97) Can art teachers share materials? How does passing out and collection of materials work?Special Ed:98) Will special Ed teachers be able to see children from multiple classrooms at one time? 99) If not how will they be able to meet minutes in IEPs when they have multiple classrooms and grades?100) What happens with sped teachers who share classrooms?101) What about SPED teachers who don't have classrooms and work with groups in the hallway or cubby? 102) How are SPED teachers who have to teach in close proximity sometimes feeding them or hand over hand assistance supposed to be socially distance and how are they being supported to protect themselves and student exposure?103) How will OT, PT, and itinerant teachers provide services to students in multiple different buildings while limiting exposure between buildings? 104) Are there see-through masks for deaf and hard of hearing students and staff? Are there enough to last the school year? What happens if they run out of them? Professional Development and teaching:105) Why have we gotten no information about any of the plans or procedures?106) When will we be trained about how to do hybrid and why hasn't this happened earlier in preparation for a possible return?107) Will our focus be solely on academics or on SEL and routines? The new routines after a year of being out of school will certainly take much longer to teach and practice then the district put in the plan. 108) The plan says no materials(manipulatives or shared materials) and no textbooks, are there enough chromebooks at school for students to use? Will they carry them back and forth to school? Have chromebooks been purchased to replace ones damaged in homes? Will classrooms have extra chromebooks for students to use when batteries die or they forget chargers?109) How do we effectively teach and engage students without textbooks and materials?110) What about Montessori classrooms where all of the instruction relies on materials, will students be able to use the materials? Parents want to know what these classrooms will look like because sitting in the classroom on computers is NOT Montessori. 111) How will the district support staff in finding and creating lessons to give hands on experiences while limiting exposure and sharing materials? If they are all going to be on computers all day then what is the point of returning?112) How will staff keep track of attendance and students working virtually while monitoring in class students? 113) What supports are being given to them?114) What will Kindergarten classrooms look like? They have snack, play with toys, use materials and manipulatives. How will those procedures and activities happen?As you can see there are many questions that have gone unanswered, these aren’t even all of them. If a full detailed plan had been released earlier than these things could have been addressed. Asking staff to return in less than a week and students in less than 3 weeks(one of which is Spring Break) is unacceptable with the lack of planning and professional development. Putting all of the professional development into one week while teachers are still teaching, planning, and setting up their classrooms to meet distancing guidelines is unimaginable. Even without an exact date for return we could have started to meet within our buildings to plan for school specific routines, professional development could have been offered to show us how to teach both hybrid and virtual together, and collaboration could have happened between schools, the district, and staff to plan for many scenarios left out of the plan. Instead, we have heard nothing nor seen a complete plan with details staff desperately need to know. The most important question:How are parents supposed to make an informed decision with so many unanswered questions that not even the teachers who have built relationships with them can answer?”

Laquita Pryor, Milwaukee Sign Language CHA

“Good evening.....my name is Laquita Pryor.I have been employed with the district for over 10 plus years now.I am also a proud mother of six kids that attended MPS.I believe that it would be in the student's,staff,and their families and community's well being and best interest to remain virtual until next school year.Why? One may ask.The COVID cases among school age kids under 18 years of age is on the rise.....which increases the chances of teachers,staff,and their family members either contracting or and dying from COVID.Waiting until the Fall would also allow for the schools to be properly cleaned and sanitized,PPE put in place and air purifiers and proper ventilization put in every room.This time frame would also allow for staff and other community members such as grandparents, parents,and other family members that may be more prone to contracting COVID become immunized against the virus.Thank you for your time..... “

Jodie Schauer, Hamilton H.S. Librarian

“Dear MPS School Board Members, As a teacher in MPS, the district's reopening plans are shameful. There are so many overlooked things to reopening safely, that this "plan" must be a joke. First of all, where is the hybrid schedule? So we go from fully virtual to all-in, like everything is ok and safe? It's not yet. Teachers aren't fully vaccinated, and neither is the community we're trying to protect. Our students live in multi-generational homes quite often. The districts plan is putting our community at risk, when there are the variants starting to circulate. Our buildings are often quite old, and don't even have air conditioning or working windows. The HEPA filters to each classroom will be useless. Our class sizes, especially in the high school, are around 40 per class. How in the world do they expect enough room and coverage to split those classes into 3 parts? The 15 students per class sounds wonderful, but it can't happen.   Any district that has reopened has an actual plan for contact tracing, which involves assigned seating everywhere, even the cafeteria. This plan offers nothing of the sort. Also, if teachers will have to teach in person and virtual at the same time, how will this actually happen? Our buildings often don't have the wifi bandwidth for full virtual instruction. Since the schedules won't be modified, are we really expecting our virtual students to look at a computer screen for the entire day without ANY interaction with their teacher and class?  This is unhealthy for our students. Also, how will teachers actually do this? There has been no training, and there is no equipment to make this happen beyond Chromebooks. Why weren't parents and guardians surveyed before this plan was designed? Many have said they will not return until it's safe. Let's talk about lunch. In elementary schools, it's possible for students to eat in the room. In high schools, this impossible. Lunch will be a potential super-spreader event every day. How will schools monitor bathroom use? Passing in the halls? I could go on and on with the holes left in this "plan". I hope that as a Board, you will stand up for our school community and require a better plan. One that takes into account reality. The current reopening plan is dangerous and insulting to you as a Board, MPS teachers and staff, and our community. Thank you for your attention to my concerns.”

Ben Ward, MTEA Executive Director

"MTEA has advocated for many of our safety measures and mitigation protocols through the various stages of this pandemic. Without compromising in our advocacy for the highest standards of safety, we have partnered with MPS, participating in regular discussions, in workgroups, labor-management committees, meet and confer and so forth. We also advocated for more support from the State and City governments for MPS.But let me be clear: suddenly MTEA was excluded from critical discussions over the past month about this so-called plan. MTEA somehow was uninvited to the health and safety protocols work group this month and this presentation was never discussed with MTEA in any venue before the day it was released to the public. This summary presentation creates a list of questions longer than it is. A presentation should summarize an ACTUAL PLAN. Administration used the word “rigor” to describe instruction, yet they didn’t impose that standard on their own work product. I am speaking tonight to convey the anxiety, frustration and anger of the members of MTEA, the workers who make this district run, at the lack of a solid, detailed plan that gives staff, students, and families the answers that they need. There is ample pressure to reopen but the real pressure that this Board has on it tonight is to reopen SAFELY during a pandemic that is NOT OVER before we can confidently welcome students back.The devil is in the details and by devil, I mean COVID. Our members will have, for the most part, had an opportunity to be vaccinated but our students and families have not for the most part. Children do catch and transmit COVID, at higher rates than previously thought, and any plan must ensure that MPS is not the cause of outbreaks and unnecessary illness.Directors Miller and O’Halloran’s motion is a push in the right direction, but families, students and staff deserve a real, written comprehensive plan based on actual student numbers that they can consult for answers with an adequate chance to implement it.”

Lukas Weirer, Obama SCTE Teacher

“Good Evening President Miller, Directors of the Board, I want to start by saying that I appreciate how difficult this decision will be to make. At this time I am not in favor of a return to physical buildings this academic year for many of the reasons that have already been discussed.  This is not easy for me, especially since I just heard one of my students mom’s testify about how much she loves our school, but also that we are not able to meet her children’s needs virtually. That is what makes your decision so difficult.

That said, I wanted to spend my time tonight speaking to whether we are personally ready, as a district of educators, to return to our buildings, to meet the many needs of our students.  I want to speak to the opportunity that we have as educators, when we return, to change our personal practices, to change our school and classroom cultures in a way that is student-centered and in a way that promotes equitable spaces for all of our children, but that was not part of the plan.  I want to be assured that if we come back, we will return fundamentally changed.  I want to be assured that we are collectively ready to do away with dehumanizing practices.  This will take work and it goes well beyond a check-in circle each morning.

If we are ready to radically transform how we teach our students, then and only then, should we consider a return to physical classrooms.  There can be no rush to get back to normal when we consider the harm that normal was causing some of our students, families and staff.  I am suggesting that we need a new normal, and that we cannot even consider coming back until we are ready to prioritize healing and growth, as opposed to attendance and test scores.  My question for the board is should we choose to go back to the physical classroom this year, are we doing it for the right reasons?  Are we doing it so we can say we covered more content, so we can meet some testing requirements, or so that we see an uptick in our attendance, or are we really doing this because we are ready to show-up better for our students, families and community.  I sincerely hope that by August and September when it is physically safe to return, we as educators in this district have made it mentally, emotionally, and intellectually safe for our students to return as well.  Thank You”

Mike VanPelt, Riverside H.S. Teacher

“President Miller, Members of the Committee, and MPS Administration:

Tonight you’ve heard (and will keep hearing) a continuing litany of issues regarding the Administration’s return plan this spring, both for and against.  I’m not going to re-hash those issues, you can breathe a partial sigh of relief, but I am going to address some plan shortcomings as specifically applied to the high schools’ return details.

First, what is the actual schedule - Monday’s plan only gives 3 hours of instruction time but high schools teach four hours on Mondays whether on a period schedule or block scheduling.  Later next week, teachers are supposed to be working on re-setting their rooms and curricula, but what happens to the students’ already-scheduled asynchronous learning sessions with their teachers?  We’re not supposed to be working with students during the afternoons according to the plan.  And are we supposed to continue with our other assigned professional responsibilities during asynchronous time next week?

As to resetting our curricula - if the students aren’t bringing anything including Chromebooks, does that mean Admin expects us to pivot completely off of a year’s worth of virtual curricula and return to paper and books - which by the way, the students also aren’t supposed to be given by the plan?  And, when we DO come back after Spring break, are we going to a full-day virtual schedule until the students return physically, or staying with the split synchronous/asynchronous schedule?  Again, not clear in the “plan.”

I’m a good soldier in a lot of ways - because I’m here to teach my kids.  To keep their mental health and learning and needs in mind while teaching them my subject as well as how to “do life.”  A big part of that training is how to plan ahead to be successful.  What kind of example are we setting as a district and as teachers if we can’t even articulate what they are going to be doing as students next week?

High school students will need their Chromebooks daily.  They’ll need teachers to complete their current curricula, as well as prepping the students for all the new return procedures and whatever kind of high stakes testing.  We need a plan for the high schools.  There isn’t enough of one right now to plan with.

I’ll leave you with one last thing: It’s Tornado Awareness Month.  How do we do social distancing during a tornado drill?

President Miller, Members of the Committee, and MPS Administration:

Tonight you’ve heard (and will keep hearing) a continuing litany of issues regarding the Administration’s return plan this spring, both for and against.  I’m not going to re-hash those issues, you can breathe a partial sigh of relief, but I am going to address some plan shortcomings as specifically applied to the high schools’ return details.

First, what is the actual schedule - Monday’s plan only gives 3 hours of instruction time but high schools teach four hours on Mondays whether on a period schedule or block scheduling.  Later next week, teachers are supposed to be working on re-setting their rooms and curricula, but what happens to the students’ already-scheduled asynchronous learning sessions with their teachers?  We’re not supposed to be working with students during the afternoons according to the plan.  And are we supposed to continue with our other assigned professional responsibilities during asynchronous time next week?

As to resetting our curricula - if the students aren’t bringing anything including Chromebooks, does that mean Admin expects us to pivot completely off of a year’s worth of virtual curricula and return to paper and books - which by the way, the students also aren’t supposed to be given by the plan?  And, when we DO come back after Spring break, are we going to a full-day virtual schedule until the students return physically, or staying with the split synchronous/asynchronous schedule?  Again, not clear in the “plan.”

I’m a good soldier in a lot of ways - because I’m here to teach my kids.  To keep their mental health and learning and needs in mind while teaching them my subject as well as how to “do life.”  A big part of that training is how to plan ahead to be successful.  What kind of example are we setting as a district and as teachers if we can’t even articulate what they are going to be doing as students next week?

High school students will need their Chromebooks daily.  They’ll need teachers to complete their current curricula, as well as prepping the students for all the new return procedures and whatever kind of high stakes testing.  We need a plan for the high schools.  There isn’t enough of one right now to plan with.

I’ll leave you with one last thing: It’s Tornado Awareness Month.  How do we do social distancing during a tornado drill?”

[photosincorporated]

Week 7: 10/26/2020

This is an above view of Skidmore Dining hall. The right side of the room is usually called the red side (mostly arts and music kids) while the left side is usually called the blue side (sports students). No matter the believed reason for this group separation it is existent and the people who sit on each side of the dining hall embody their social groups expectations.

Personal Experience

This week the focus was embodiment so I decided to focus on the idea of social chameleons. When I say social chameleons I am referring to the type of person that will change how they act, talk, carry themselves, etc. depending on the situation they find themselves in. While most people will do this to some extent (they will act one way with their friends and another with their parents or professors) there are also people that will do this to fit into different friend groups or as a way to easily assimilate to different cultures. These people are able to blend into different social and cultural groups with little effort because they are able to grasp what is important personality wise in each social group and will model themselves to this mold. Another way this can be done is by copying those around you.

This idea is interesting in the world of COVID because it makes it harder to fully grasp what a person is expecting and therefore makes it harder to correctly embody what is necessary for the given situation. For instance, when going for a job interview you might mimic the movements and positions of the person giving the interview because this will make them subconsciously feel at ease as it shows you are actively listening. However, through a phone call or even through zoom these actions are harder to see and even harder to copy in a noticeable way without seeming strange.

This week I interviewed my friend Emily. Emily and I are both seniors here at Skidmore but did not actually meet each other until we took a semester in London. This is because she is more of a sports oriented student while I am more music and arts focused. We discussed how these differences affected our views and the positive and negative effects of being a social chameleon.

Interview Questions and Answers

1. What was your reaction to COVID when it was first being announced in the media?

Honestly I didn’t believe it was real and I never thought it would reach me. Cases outside of the hot zones were so low it didn’t feel real until I returned home from being abroad. It was so downplayed in the UK it never occurred to me that it would spread the way it did. Also being abroad I didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want it to be real. 

2. How do you think being in quarantine affected you? Did you learn anything about yourself during this time?

I think being in quarantine really affected me. I spent a lot of time with myself and learning about who I am.  Then I opened/created a business selling face masks on Etsy, something I never imagined I would undertake and never mind succeed at. I definitely learned a lot. It wasn't all happy and perfect by any means but I am better for it. 

3. How are you reacting to/dealing with being on campus now and having to transition back into a more public, structured, and social lifestyle while we are still in the middle of a global pandemic?

By the time I came back to school a lot of home life had opened up. I was working 40+ hours a week so I did not have a lot of down time or free time. I have a lot of responsibilities on campus so other than the fact that all my classes are online my school life is generally the same. The transition was similar to ones I have experienced in the past. 

4. What do you think about the idea of social chameleons (people who change the way they act based on who is around)? How do you think this helps/hinders them?

I understand the purpose of changing how you act based on who is around and I think this is important to a point. It’s important to know how to change behavior based on situations and people (grandparents versus friends, teachers versus parents, etc.) but people who act completely different and maintain no sense of self make a lot of friends but no one truly knows them and maybe they don’t even know themselves. 

5. How do you think the social separation of groups on Skidmore campus affects how people act?

I think that the social separation on campus isolates different people from expanding their circle of friends as each group has its own stigma and this stigma often dictates action within these groups. Even the simple red side blue side in the dining hall demonstrates this. Typically athletes sit on the Blue side and artists, actors, and others sit on the red side. I know there is often overlap between the two and it’s not a written rule but it still occurs and the two polar opposites often never interact. I have heard of red side people being afraid of the blue side and blue side people who wouldn’t be caught dead on the red. This simple social grouping completely isolates some from branching out and realizing that no matter what people do or who they are it doesn’t mean they aren’t good people. It causes people to believe the stigma of certain groups and project it on others. If projected enough, or if you’re told enough that you are supposed to act one way it can cause you to act differently. If you go a little deeper you see certain teams that interact with primarily each other and not others or acting groups that don’t socialize with singers. Why? Possibly because of the stigma of these groups the way they typically “act”. I am on a sports team. I live with a singer, an actress, and a musician. I have heard all this said. The singer and actress are friends from a previous school and the actress’s friends at one point rejected the singer from their group. I met the musician abroad but besides that we never crossed paths and she was not friends with the other two either. I became friends with the singer through scoop not through on campus activities. It can be done. The groups can mix. But the social grouping on Skidmore campus does not facilitate this. People are so stuck in their groups it often changes the way they act.

#an101ennismcmillan

[junker-town]

How MLS plans to return this summer

We now have a good idea of what the season will look like.

It has now been nearly a week since Major League Soccer came to terms with the players’ union on a modified Collective Bargaining Agreement that cleared the way for returning to play in 2020. The games would be the first since the league put a halt on its 25th season on March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic with the 26 teams having played just two games apiece.

Despite that agreement, the league has yet to officially unveil its exact plan nor what the season might look like after. There have, however, been many reports surrounding those plans. While there are still a lot of unknowns, there’s at least enough out there that we have a good idea of what this season might look like.

What is the plan?

Keeping in mind that this has not been formally announced and is therefore subject to change, there’s been solid reporting suggesting that the basic framework has been set. The basics are these:

Teams would each play three games in what could broadly be called a “World Cup-style” group stage at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex near Orlando, Fla. Those three games would all count toward the regular-season standings.

At the end of the group-stage, teams would move on to a 16-team knockout tournament where they’d play as many as four more games. Those other games would NOT count toward the regular-season.

In addition to some sort of cash prize and the glory of being crowned champion of a trumped-up preseason tournament, the winner will also get a spot in Concacaf Champions League.

The longest any team is expected to be in Orlando is six weeks, with teams eliminated earlier in the tournament going home once they’re done.

Can I attend?

Not unless you are deemed essential personnel by one of the teams or the league. Although the games will all apparently be nationally televised, they won’t be open to in-person spectators.

When does it start?

The latest reports suggested the goal was to start on June 24. But that’s only about two weeks away and it appears as though the timeline may have changed after negotiations took a bit longer than was probably hoped. With the NBA also apparently planning to use the Disney resort complex, it’s unclear if it’s even available for the preferred time.

What caused the delay in negotiations?

The original plan MLS proposed was a bit more involved and would have required players to quarantine in Florida for as long as 10 weeks. Considering only players and team personnel will be allowed at the facility, that was seen as a particularly onerous ask. At the same time, MLS owners wanted players to accept a pay cut that started out as high as 50% before settling on something closer to 7.5%. MLS players, it should be said, are not nearly as well compensated as their contemporaries in other major North American sports leagues nor the top leagues in Europe, so any reduction was considered significant.

How are they making sure everyone stays healthy?

That was another predictable sticking point in negotiations. At one point, a pretty detailed plan was leaked to a reporter, causing the league to threaten fines of up to $1 million if anyone got caught sharing information with the press. That plan, which may have changed, called for players to be tested before and after they arrived in Orlando and then tested again before each game. It would have required something like 50,000 tests in total.

What was the concern?

While that’s a lot of testing, there was a rather significant hole in the quarantine bubble that wasn’t being accounted for: hotel staff. Players expressed understandable concern about how safe they could be if hotel staff were still coming and going effectively as they pleased and maybe weren’t even being tested with anything like the same frequency. Even now, players haven’t gotten solid reassurances on those concerns.

How are players feeling about all this?

There are clearly some hard feelings, even if there seems to be a broad desire to starting playing games again. Players felt like the owners took an unnecessarily hard-line approach when they suddenly threatened a lockout toward the end of the negotiations, despite both sides showing a willingness to engage in back and forth. In addition to the testing concerns, there’s also some worries about going to Florida where coronavirus is still spreading at a concerning rate.

What happens after the tournament?

There’s at least a tentative plan to pick up the season at home stadiums at some point. That, of course, remains a big unknown. Part of why tournaments like this are proving so popular is that different markets have different levels of outbreaks and openness. For instance, the San Jose Earthquakes were only cleared to begin individual training last week while some teams have already started doing full-team training sessions.

What do fans think of the plan?

In Orlando, The Mane Land’s Michael Citro has observed a high degree of confidence in the plan working, at least by locals:

Fans are excited to get MLS back, despite not being able to attend. Even though the preference would be to enjoy the games at the local stadium as usual, this plan by Major League Soccer is being viewed as a positive overall. If anyplace can pull this off in a safe manner — and opinions are divided on that point, especially on the heels of a week with a sharp rise in coronavirus infections in Florida — it’s Orlando. The infrastructure sets up nicely for this type of tournament. The fields are in great condition, Disney World is an established, world-class event host, the ESPN infrastructure is in place for television, hotel space is ample, and the weather is generally compliant (if a bit hot and humid).

Others like Waking the Red’s Michael Singh is noticing a bit more measured response:

Eager to see their favorite players back on the pitch, fans North of the border, specifically in Toronto, were relieved to see MLS and the MLS Players Association reach an agreement to return to action. While there has been disappointment from some who were hoping to have clubs compete at home—and caution from others amid the COVID-19 pandemic—overall, Canadians, who have been very active on social media cheering on the likes of Alphonso Davies overseas, are excited to have their own local stars to cheer on once again.

Dirty South Soccer’s Joe Patrick sees some genuine excitement:

The most surprising thing that I’ve observed from Atlanta United fans is how hardened they are to the new reality facing the country as it battles the pandemic, and how that relates to Atlanta United’s immediate future. The day Don Garber announced MLS was suspending, one of the prevailing notions was that “at least it’ll help the injury situation at center back.” Even now, with the revelation that the regular season could be as short as ~17 games, Atlanta fans are heartened by the fact that the team’s six points accrued are carrying double the value they otherwise would. All these people care about is winning.

Sounder at Heart’s Mark Kastner, however, is a bit skeptical:

I don’t think it’s a great idea broadly or specifically. MLS’s plan seems so short-sighted and rooted in financial concerns rather than player or public safety. That there’s not even a concrete plan for whatever happens after this Orlando tournament is a giant red flag for me. Not to mention the tumultuous labor disagreement, when the owners threatened to lockout the players. All of it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. With the rest of the country hellbent on “reopening”, it’s hard to blame MLS for doing something like this. I can only hope they have proper testing equipment and players + staff can stay healthy.

Those concerns were echoed by Alicia Rodriguez of Angels on Parade:

I think the biggest contrast between MLS fans and other sports fans is a not insignificant proportion of season-ticket holders are really upset by the restart plan. With supporter group culture so big around the league and so much emphasis put on gameday atmosphere and community, not being able to participate in the matches like they normally would misses the point of the games, to an extent. For these fans, soccer is part of the experience, obviously, but tailgating/pregame rituals, drinking, seeing friends on a weekly basis and for some, chanting and standing for 90 minutes, is the actual experience. This is a time for compromise, to be sure, but I wonder if MLS fully understand the part about their league that makes them different in the U.S. and Canada won’t be replicated in Orlando, or maybe even for the rest of 2020.

[sllester]

Love and understanding in the time of coronavirus

An intensive care physician from Limerick has advised us to treat each other like pariahs in order to avoid spreading the coronavirus.  This may seem counter-intuitive at a time when a lot of people are confused, terrified and need, more than ever, human warmth. But look at her face, she’s not joking.  She’s not politely suggesting that you think about changing your behaviour the way Boris might tell you to refrain from going to the pub. She is saying: if you don’t practice social distancing people will die. In fact, she looks like she might kill you herself if you don’t comply.  But pariah is a confusing analogy here, because really what she’s also saying is: we are all connected and your actions have consequences beyond yourself. Care for others by not being close to them.

We live in an age of hyper individualism but it’s a fallacy that we ever believed we were individuals in the first place.

For the last few weeks I’ve been puzzling over why other people seemed to be far less affected by these warnings of a fast-approaching apocalypse.  I couldn’t figure out why there was little public outcry over the suggestion that over 60% of the population should catch this virus that we know little about (with a death rate estimated between 1% - 3%) on the offchance that we build up herd immunity to a virus that may in any case mutate. The herd immunity idea has since been retracted, and described instead as an unintended consequence, as opposed to a desired outcome. This shift in policy has been attributed to the results of a study from Imperial College, which showed that the original strategy would overwhelm the NHS many times over. Adaptive policymaking is to be expected when the science is shifty and uncertain and decisions are ultimately political, but the lack of transparency means that people in the UK genuinely don’t know if they should take it on the chin and get infected…or the complete opposite. When you need trust in a government above all else, that’s a pretty big problem.

As it happens, my anxiety around the potential knock on effects of coronavirus grew to such an extent that I naturally achieved a pariah-like status without even trying.  I’m not particularly worried about catching COVID-19 myself, but I’m terrified of unintentionally infecting people who have worse health than me, I’m worried about how our decimated public services will deal with the strain (even with the extra resources), and I’m haunted by the steepness of that exponential curve, fearing that we’ve done more to make it spike than to flatten it. I’m worried about the role state violence will inevitably play in keeping order. But more than any of those things, I feel a strange mix of terror and hope at the transformative potential to change the very way that we relate to the world and each other.  

People are coming together in amazing ways to navigate a new normal, but people are also divided, helpless and angry. We’re living in the wake of ten years of austerity and this crisis represents a decisive point – do we get better at understanding each other and changing our behaviour or do we refuse to think beyond ourselves?

“Selfish middle class bitch” shouts one woman in the street to another who is wearing a facemask “what do you think you’re doing?”. Assuming that this insult is aimed at her ‘selfish’ mask wearing – I wonder what makes the abusive woman assume she isn’t trying to protect others as much as she is protecting herself. She might be a healthworker or chronically ill or pregnant. She may be trying to protect her elderly friends and relatives. Please don’t shout at her, I want to say, but I keep my distance like the pariah I’ve become.

The regular homeless man who roams round our street looks on at the people kitted out in gloves and masks scurrying about with shopping bags in bemusement, a wry smile on his lips. Apparently, they are going to tell the contestants on Germany’s Big Brother, who have no access to news, about the coronavirus live on air. Will they go straight back into the house to quarantine? How will they know what reality is any more? How does anyone?

Meanwhile people send memes mocking those who are scared of food shortages, a recipe for a quarantini, or messages complaining about their kids not being allowed in nursery. I take a deep breath before responding to anything, consider the situation from all angles so as not to get upset that somebody’s take on it is different than mine at that precise moment.

I have a heated conversation with my Dad, who is 71, because he laughed off my suggestion that he might change his plans in order to mitigate the risk of catching or spreading the virus. Things go from bad to worse when he says he was pleased to hear Boris say he was led by the science. I get angry and say it’s meaningless. What is ‘the science’? At that point I couldn’t find anything to show what he was referring to, and this obfuscation leads me to speculate that he was planning a eugenics experiment inspired by Dominic Cummings. Children get infected to pass it on to grandparents and the ill. He chastises me for the Hitler comparisons, even though I didn’t mention his name directly, and we talk momentarily about the undesirables. “I’m not a fan of mass murder” my Dad says after a pause and the absurdity of the statement makes me laugh for the first time in what feels like weeks.

He asks how much we’ll need him over the coming months, and I tell him I have no idea, it’s difficult to quantify. I explain, wincingly, that I don’t want to put other vulnerable people at risk if he’s not going to change his behaviour. “If I’m expected to stay in my house for four months, you may as well give me an injection”, he concludes. My Dad may be stubborn but he’s not prone to dramatic outbursts. This made me sit up and listen.

So, in a weird reversal of my teenage years, I’m yelling at my Dad about not going out, and he’s telling me that he’d rather live life on the edge, ignore the public health advice and play tennis with his octogenarian friends. I realise on reflection, that while I’m worried about my Dad, I instinctively feel that he will be alright, but as my partner has a chronic illness and is on an arsenal of various opiates I am worried that he may be badly affected. An overwhelmed health service is unlikely to be able to deal with anomalies such as rare diseases should he need medical care. It’s all speculation of course, and my partners’ anxiety is mainly about protecting his parents, who I’m also very keen to keep safe too. So there is a web of connections and half-voiced concerns between all of us, and what I want for one of the people I love is not compatible with the free will and intentions of another person I love. One wants to bunker down and wait it out, and the other thinks this approach is laughable. In a way, in the case of such overwhelming uncertainty, both of them are right.

I save most of my emotional strength for the time I spend with my 3 year-old daughter, which is also the time that I should be working. My partner reminds me gently not to look at e-mails or the news when I’m playing with her. She gets upset when she doesn’t have my full attention and I’m grateful for the reminder. I’ve been obsessively streaming through commentary and evidence and opinion pieces, trying to form a balanced view of all this, to try and understand the rationale for certain decisions that have been made. It does me good to stop.

The more I talk to different people the more my views, which a week previously I’d been sure about, shift. I was convinced that we should be following China, South Korea and Singapore’s model: strictly enforced social distancing measures, contact tracing and an aim to suppress, rather than mitigate, the virus. This seemed logical to me, as somebody who lives with other people that I love. My Dad, who lives alone, saw quarantine more like a death sentence. I suppose solitary confinement is a punishment for a reason.

The next morning my wayward Dad jumps on the last plane (urgent travel only) to Germany to see his girlfriend. Once he’s settled there he calls on what’s app: “I’m embarrassed to say that I’m having a good time”. He puts me on his car insurance, says we can use his house which is up near Hampstead Heath and has a garden (=heaven) everybody is, in that moment, happy. We all need some fresh air.  We are physically distant but emotionally close. I ask him to send his address in Germany as I have a fear that the internet is going to stop working at some point. Can the internet disappear? Or would it just be temporarily suppressed?

The next day I call my 91-year old Nana anticipating she might be afraid after the announcements about the over 70s. Again, I am proven wrong. She appears even less bothered by all of this than my Dad. Maybe she thinks, at her advanced age, that she is in a different category altogether. She’s been working in her son’s DIY store that day, handling coins, riding on the bus. She’s been selling lots of toilet roll, she laughs.

 “It’s just a matter of luck, whether you get it or not” she says. In a way, she’s right. Many people won’t have the means to avoid it. But I tell her it’s a good idea to wash her hands all the same and to try and lie low for a while if she can. “I’ve had lots of phone calls lately” she says. The phone is making a comeback we agree. Yes, and there are dolphins in Venice’s canals and the birds seems to be singing louder than normal. And then she warns me that the phone will cut out because her phone battery only lasts for 25 minutes intervals. “We’ll just keep talking until it cuts out”, she says. And then it does.

We’ve all been rearranging our lives in light of a new virus, to accommodate something we don’t fully understand. A week ago, I was certain I had all the answers but that was because I had a very narrow view of the problem. It might seem obvious to do something from one perspective, but there are inevitably unintended consequences, both good and catastrophic. Every intervention (such as school closures) brings with it an array of unintended consequences (e.g vulnerable children not receiving free school meals; parents going insane from trying to work and look after their kids at the same time, rise in domestic violence).There isn’t such a thing as a single solution to something so complex, only a series of momentarily meaningful decisions made in the face of dizzying ambiguity. We are making it up as we go along, and we have to make sense of it together. Even when physically apart. 

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

The Misadventures of Prince Kim - chapter 33

Chloe redemption arc?? Heck yeah, Chloe redemption arc.

Also on AO3, as always

Late the next day both Aurore and Mireille were in a bad mood, somewhat having turned into rivals with each other, and as a result the weather outside was rather stormy. Kim had wanted to go for a run – no, he needed to go for a run! There was so much going on in his head that he had to sort out! But he wasn’t very keen on being struck by lightning, so instead he paced the corridors indoors, muttering to himself. He knew he probably should be doing homework. But he couldn’t do that right now.

Not when he felt so betrayed by what had just happened.

“What the hell what the hell what the hell???” he whispered as he strode down the corridor at top speed, ignoring the confused looks of people he passed by.

He still couldn’t believe it. After all this time, it was just hair dye…

There were plenty of things in the universe that couldn’t be explained by science. Things that Kim had never even thought to question. Like Master Fu’s mysterious oracle powers, being able to see into the future, other people having other weird powers like weather control or timeline-jumping, whatever weird effect Max had on Kim, the fact that water never seemed to boil while you were watching it.

And so Kim had always just assumed that Alix having pink hair was one of those unexplainable things. Perhaps some people were just born with pink hair. Maybe it was a weird shade of red, like how Marinette’s black hair sometimes seemed to look blue in certain lighting. He had always thought it was completely natural.

But no. It turned out to just be hair dye, of all things. Hair dye!

He still couldn’t let it go. All she had been doing was showing him and Max colour pictures of when she was little, after they asked to see if she had always been short for her age, and there it was. She had brown hair. Not pink, but brown.

To think that Kim had thought that maybe his friend was special in some way for having pink hair! Some kind of Chosen One, destined to go on awesome adventures! When in reality, she just dyed her hair pink because, in her own words, it “looks cooler like that”.

Well, at least that wasn’t a lie. Pink hair was pretty cool.

But still! She had brown hair! She had brown hair!

The pink hair was a lie!

Kim suddenly found himself facing the library doors. Huh, had he really walked here that fast? Maybe his mind subconsciously knew he needed to do homework and stop having an existential crisis over his best friend’s hair colour. Yeah, he was definitely overreacting and he knew it. His emotions had been all over the place since getting that letter from his grandmother.

Maybe he really should go in the library and get on with some work. Anyway, Max might be in there! Max was always in the library, doing nerdy research or whatever. It would be nice to see him again, even though they had already seen each other barely an hour ago. Max was just so comforting to be around, no matter what.

Kim walked into the library and had a quick look around, but the only other people in there were a few nobles who he didn’t know. They all looked a little nervous to see him. How did the nobles always know exactly who the members of royalty were, seriously? Did they have specific classes on how to recognize them or something? Because Kim wasn’t even wearing anything remotely royal at the moment – he hardly ever did!

In any case, he sat down at one of the tables and pulled a random book off the shelf. It would be good to actually do some research for once, just like Max. Okay… what was this book about? Historical Account of the Rise of the Agreste Empire, 1703-1899. What a coincidence. The Agreste Empire was causing, like, 95% of his problems right now. He opened to the beginning and began reading.

This book has been commissioned by His Imperial Majesty Emperor Gabriel the Miraculous, Divine Ruler of the Great and Most Wondrous Empire of Agreste and all its Territories, the Many Unified Kingdoms of Europe, the Vast and Distant Realms of the East and Asia, the Multitude of Atlantic Islands within the Great Western Ocean, the…

This was already boring. And anyway, if this book had been commissioned by Adrien’s dad himself, then wouldn’t it be really biased? Most of the world disapproved of the Agreste Empire but there was no way a book like this would bother to mention that.

Someone suddenly dumped a giant pile of homework on the table right next to him, making him jump. He turned to see Imperial Princess Chloé standing there. For once she wasn’t completely overdressed – it seemed that after the whole “Adrien Protection Squad” thing, she had cooled down a little when it came to fashion. She wasn’t even wearing a wig, though her hair was still done up elaborately. And her dress was finally narrow enough to be able to fit through normal size doors.

“May I sit here?” she asked, her voice as icy cool as always.

“If you want,” Kim replied. He had barely spoken to Chloé at all since the beginning of last year, when she had bluntly refused his courting gift and called him a peasant. He wasn’t sure why she wanted to sit next to him now, but whatever the reason, it probably wasn’t good.

Chloé sat on the chair beside him but made no move to start on her homework. Instead she cleared her throat and said, “I presume you are fully recovered from the flu?”

“Um, yeah… I wouldn’t be let out of quarantine otherwise…”

She cleared her throat again. “Of course I know that. I was merely concerned for your health.”

“Well I’m perfectly fine, thank you.” He looked back at the book in front of him, hoping she would stop talking now. Just the sound of her voice was bringing back bad memories.

“Have you given that brooch to anyone else?”

What? The brooch? He hadn’t been expecting her to ask about that, of all things.

“I gave it to Max,” he mumbled.

“Well I’m glad to hear it has a good home now.”

There was a long silence. Kim stared at the book, trying to pretend he was reading it. Chloé still sat by his side, fiddling with the beads on her dress, ignoring her homework entirely. It was oddly uncomfortable. Despite the fact that Chloé’s rejection had been over a year ago, Kim knew that somewhere deep inside, it still affected him a little. It had been the first time he had been rejected. And the worst.

The brooch… well at least he didn’t have to worry about it anymore. Max had it now. Maybe he could give it to someone he liked at some point. And as for Kim himself, well, he could just buy another present if he ever fell in love with someone again. Or just improvise a present, like the song he played on the day of the Cupid Festival for Alix. But perhaps not that cheesy next time…

His thoughts drifted back to Chloé again. Why was she just sitting here, not saying or doing anything? Was she planning on doing anything mean? According to Alix, Chloé was a lot nicer these days, especially after being one of the group protecting Adrien, but still? Surely there was no purpose to this?

Finally he turned to Chloé and said, “No offence but why are you here? What do you want?”

She took a deep breath and then, looking down at him rather haughtily, said, “I would like to make a formal apology to you.”

“Oh… um… for what?”

“What do you think?” She wrinkled up her nose. “For that time when I laughed at you and called you a peasant when you were trying to ask me out! It was rather improper of me, and you deserve much more respect than that. So yes – I am sorry.”

She was… she was actually apologizing to him for that? But it had been so long ago! He had just accepted that she was never going to bring that up with him again, and moved on. Yet now, she was actually apologizing to him for it?

Huh… that was… nice…

“Thank you,” he said, hoping he wasn’t blushing.

“You are very welcome. From now on I will attempt to deal with people much more politely. Though, for the record, I would still turn you down if you asked me out now.”

“Uh, yeah. That’s fine.” He probably wouldn’t ask her out again in a million years anyway, even though she was still pretty cute.

“Not for any personal reasons or anything. It’s just that I already have a sweetheart at the moment. Marchesa Lila and I have grown very close over the past month or so.”

“Yeah, she told me.”

“And even if she wasn’t my sweetheart,” Chloé continued, “I would still prefer to say no to you. Again, nothing personal. It’s just that I’ve recently come to terms with… well… I suppose my romantic preferences don’t exactly lie with men, if you know what I mean.”

“Oh, okay.”

“So I would still turn you down. But much more politely this time, I hope. I’ve learned that even those of lower ranks are worthy of respect. Even commoners. It’s not like it’s their fault they were born that way.”

“Mhm.” Kim wasn’t sure why she was still talking to him.

“And anyway,” she said, speaking faster now, “the ranks and everything, they’re all just made up, aren’t they? Adrien wouldn’t be having any of the problems he’s facing now if he was a commoner. And there wouldn’t be so much poverty in my empire if the laws didn’t make things harder for commoners to improve their place. It’s all just fake. And I can be courteous and polite to whoever I want, no matter their rank. And I can marry a marchesa if I want to, it doesn’t have to be some imperial prince just because some outdated laws say so! And–”

She stopped suddenly, taking a deep breath. The haughty expression dropped from her face, leaving her looking at him with something more like compassion. It was so unusual for her that it threw him off a little.

“And I can have whoever I want as my friends. Even princes of countries that I once thought were lowly backwaters. People like you, Kim.”

Wait… was she implying what he thought she was implying?

“Are you saying you want to be my friend?” he asked her, incredulous.

“It would be ideal to have cordial relations with my fellow future world leaders. So yes. I would like to be your friend.”

Chloé wanted to be his friend? This was the last thing he had been expecting! He didn’t even know how he felt about it. Part of him just assumed that Chloé was lying about all this, and that she’d go back to being mean again in a few days.

But then again… hadn’t Kim himself been a jerk once upon a time? He’d managed to change and make new friends. Now Chloé was going through the same thing. He knew how it felt.

Hoping he wouldn’t regret this, he held out his hand. “Alright then, we can be friends.”

“Really?” Her face lit up. She gave Kim’s hand a firm handshake. “Thank you, Kim! I won’t let you down, I promise. My days of being unkind are behind me now. Things will be better from now on.”

“Awesome.”

“Anyway, now that’s sorted…” She finally opened one of the textbooks in front of her. “How about we do our homework together, as a symbol of our new friendship?”

Well, why not. He needed to get his homework done anyway. “Sure.”

An hour later, leaving the library again, he couldn’t help feeling somewhat… proud. Chloé had apologized to him and made friends with him, and even been a helpful homework pal? Now that he really thought about it, that was pretty cool of her! He was proud of his new friend. Hopefully she would make a great ruler someday and bring more balance to the rather messy Bourgeois Empire. At least she was starting not to share the same classist prejudices of her father.

Walking around the corner of the corridor far faster than he probably should, Kim suddenly bumped straight into someone.

“Oh, sorry…” he muttered, standing back to take a look at who it was. Probably some noble or something.

“You again!”

Drat, that was no noble – that was Grand Duke Ivan! He did not look pleased. He never was pleased to see Kim.

But wasn’t that Kim’s fault? He had always been rather irritating towards Ivan on purpose when they were younger, finding it funny to annoy him, always mocking him for stupid stuff, never taking him seriously…

“Get out of my way,” Ivan snapped, shoving Kim aside and starting to walk off.

“Ivan, wait!” Kim called after him, an idea forming in his mind. A rather Chloé-like idea.

“What do you want?!” Ivan turned and stood with his arms folded, the expression on his face looking like a synonym for death somehow. Kim gulped, trying not to feel too nervous.

“I just, uh… want to make a formal apology!”

“A formal apology, huh?!”

“Okay, okay, an informal apology! Whatever! An apology. Um.” He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. “Ivan, I have totally been a jerk to you. A lot. And I want to say sorry, and that I won’t do it again. And you’re not a wimp. You’re a cool guy and Mylène is very lucky to have you.”

Ivan’s eye twitched slightly. “Is this some kind of joke?”

“No! No, I swear I’m not joking. I really mean it.”

For a few seconds Ivan just stood there in silence, his expression unchanging. Then he sighed and said, “Apology temporarily accepted – as long as you don’t start being a jerk again.”

“I won’t.”

“Yep, you’d better not.” He began walking off again.

“And also! Uh…” Kim shuffled rather nervously on his feet. “You wanna be friends or something?”

“Don’t push it, Kim,” Ivan said, though Kim could have sworn he saw the tiniest of smiles on his face for a second. “If you want my friendship, you have to earn it.”

“Then I will totally be doing that.”

“Good.”

Ivan walked away for good this time. Kim released a breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding. It felt good to have gotten that out of the way.

And then his mind went straight back to the thing he had been trying to distract himself from the whole time.

“I still can’t believe the pink hair is a lie…”

Off in her own room, the “pink”-haired pharaoh herself was on the phone to her brother, telling him all about everything that had been happening lately.

“…and for some reason he freaked out loads, which is stupid since he bleaches the top of his hair too! Me and Max were just laughing so much…”

“Did you consider why he’s freaking out so much?” Jalil asked.

“Uh, ‘cause he has no sense of proportion?”

“True, but also because he’s under a lot of pressure right now. Finding out his grandfather is dead and he’s next up for the throne was a big change for him. So now even small changes are affecting him. Such as his friend’s hair colour not being what he thought it was.”

“Jalil, are you like… psychoanalysing Kim?”

“Maybe.”

“Then can you psychoanalyse my weird alternate timeline twin too?” Alix asked, knowing perfectly well that said twin was listening in at this very moment. “She’s a really weird annoying jerk.”

“Sounds to me like house arrest really got to her,” Jail said. “But it’s so unfair that your powers are strong enough to let you talk to her! I’ve been experimenting with my own timeline powers recently but all I can ever see is vague stuff! I know in the timeline you died, I started a civil war for the throne against dad, which is… pretty weird…”

“That is so cool. I think you’re probably gonna do it in the Escape Timeline too ��� the one with my timeline twin. Do you know what she’s planning to do? She’s gonna just abdicate the throne and leave school like some kind of coward–”

“I’m not a coward!” the timeline twin snapped. Alix just grinned, ignoring her entirely.

“–and leave the throne to you, but since dad sent you away to Antarctica or something in the holidays while she was grounded, he’ll just take the throne for himself, and then you’ll come back and get mad at him, and start a civil war! So that’s the succession crisis Fu was talking about!”

“Sounds stressful,” Jalil said.

“And then you know what else? Since Adrien can’t go home either, she and him are totally just gonna elope–”

“Ew, I’m not gonna elope! I’ll just leave school with him and protect him until he gets a venomous pet of his own, then–”

“Yep, they’re totally eloping,” Alix continued, grinning even more. “And I am definitely not just saying that to annoy her, since I know she’s listening. At least in this timeline, the awesome cool timeline, I’m going to stay pharaoh and be an awesome ruler. And Adrien’s got Marinette and Nino to help him out. And I’m not somehow enough of an idiot to accidentally get engaged to Kim and cause this mess in the first place.”

“How did that even happen?” Jalil asked.

“I honestly don’t know.”

“Well from what I know of the traditional royalty laws in our country, I think there are certain conditions that result in automatic betrothal, though I’m not sure what they are. You know, those annoying old rules that don’t make any sense? Like the one saying that the youngest kid gets to be pharaoh when they’re 15? One of those rules.”

“Maybe it was murder,” Alix mused. “Maybe the timeline twin murdered someone, and now as punishment, she got betrothed to Kim even after she broke up with him…”

“After she what?!”

Whoops, she had forgotten to tell Jalil about that part. “Oh yeah. She dated him for like a week. And I think she’s trying to block it out because I can’t access any of it. To be honest I’m not sure I want to.”

“Hmm… Well now I’m fairly certain it wasn’t murder that resulted in her forced betrothal…”

“Then what was it? Surely just dating someone doesn’t mean you have to marry them, even in those stupid old rules!”

“I think it was something else…”

“But what?”

“Never mind,” Jalil said quickly. “At least he didn’t end up with you in this timeline. I think that was partially my fault. When I asked him about it in the spring holidays he admitted he liked you, and I was… a bit unsupportive…”

“He told you he liked me? Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious. What did you even say to him?”

“I said that you two would be a terrible match. A disaster waiting to happen.”

Alix just laughed. “Well, according to the other timelines, you weren’t wrong!”

“I do think, though, that him and Max… well…”

“Yeah, I think so too. But I don’t think he’s into Max. Well, maybe? I don’t know. Maybe they’re just really close friends. It’s not like I can tell the difference.”

“Keep an eye on him.”

“I will. I think he needs some support right now.”

“And I think you do too.”

“Uh – what?”

“The timeline stuff. You’ve basically experienced yourself dying. And pretty nastily, too. Just… don’t let it get to you.”

She didn’t say anything. It was true that the venom death had somewhat been haunting her. But she had just been trying to think about it from a detached point of view – that wasn’t her, it was just someone else from another timeline, another dimension, another universe…

It was still scary, though.

And she could feel the timeline twin looking at her, an annoyingly smug expression on her face.

“Finally taking things seriously now, are we?”

Ugh. She was so annoying.

“I’ll be fine,” Alix said to Jalil, ignoring the timeline twin again. “Trust me.”

“Good. Anyway, I’ve got a lot of work to get on with, and I guess you probably have too. I’ll speak to you again soon. Keep me up to date.”

“Yeah, of course. See you soon, nerd.”

“You too, dork.”

She hung up, not wanting to, knowing that the stupid timeline twin was going to use the silence as an excuse to start talking again. It was best to go do something else for a while to shut her up.

“So do you honestly think that y–”

“Sorry, can’t talk, busy going to go hang out with my friends, bye!”

She picked up the snake and hurried out of the room.

#i think my new favourite sentence may be 'jalil are you psychoanalysing kim?' #anyway this fic is a mess now i'm sorry but i love chloe and wanted more of her in this thing so i did #random stuff #royalty au #the misadventures of prince kim #miraculous ladybug #le chien kim #chloe bourgeois #ivan bruel #(yeah he's back too... finally) #alix kubdel #jalil kubdel #aww poor max isn't in this one... i cry #aish writes

[simonconsultancypage]

Guest Post: Directors Beware: More Perils from COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic poses a host of threats and challenges for every organization. The outbreak also presents a number of serious challenges for boards of directors as well. In the following guest post, Paul Ferrillo, a partner in the McDermott, Will & Emery law firm, considers the challenges that boards are facing and the litigation threats that may arise as a result. I would like to thank Paul for allowing me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Paul’s article.

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  We are writing this article from home this week, principally because NYC is essentially “closed.” No NCAA events. No Madison Square Garden events. Schools are closed and probably for a long time. Museums closed. Stores closing or laying off employees. People getting sick left and right, and dying with far too great a frequency. Our world right now is badly out of alignment.

We have been through this sort of chaos before, and unfortunately “the bad guys” seem to also view the chaos as an opportunity to prey on the innocent. In the last week there have been several significant developments affecting corporations and their directors and officers. Lots of litigation and a bunch of cyber-attacks, both in the private sector and the US government. The old expression “and the hits keep on playing” is truly reflective of things today.

Of course none of us were ready for a pandemic or its potential impact, including litigation effects. Cyber attackers are always a problem, but faking and infecting the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 chart with malware? Totally not cool as people are panicking and looking for updated information constantly on the progression of the virus. See Live Coronavirus Map Used to Spread Malware.

This article is meant to be the primer for directors and officers. What are we seeing? What’s next? And what maybe you can do to help yourself and your company stem the potential tide of litigation. Lastly, we finish with some insurance advice.

Securities Litigation

COVID-19 affects everything. Every business. Every airline. Everybody. The problem for public companies is disclosures, both press releases and periodic filings. Statements are made. Guidance gets published. And then bad things happen.

At least 150 companies have warned investors that earnings will not be good; many have publicly withdrawn guidance. Indeed, two major companies pulled their guidance stating that “the coronavirus pandemic disrupts global trade patterns and economic activity.” For reference, read this article and this article.

Those companies that have attempted to minimize the potential effects of COVID-19 have suffered. One cruise line was recently sued for securities fraud. In the press release, the company said that “despite the current known impact” from the coronavirus outbreak, as of the week ending February 14, 2020, “the Company’s booked position remained ahead of prior year and at higher prices on a comparable basis.” The press release also stated that the company “has an exemplary track record of demonstrating its resilience in challenging environments” and that the company has “proactively implemented several preventive measures to reduce potential exposure and transmission of COVID-19.” Obviously, as COVID-19 spread across the US, and because of other cruise line “failures,” plaintiffs claim the statements made by the company were false and misleading. Potentially damaging emails from customer service agents will help plaintiffs’ scienter allegations.

We expect more of these lawsuits where companies appear to remain confident about their general prospects or the sufficiency of their supply chain, see CEOs: Do Not Misstate Your Coronavirus Supply Chain Difficulties, in the face of dismal news about the economy and the global impacts of COVID-19. Another company was recently sued for promising an actual vaccine. As it turned out, the Company later disclosed that it had only developed a “precursor” to a vaccine. That disclosure caused a huge stock drop and a securities fraud lawsuit to be filed against a firm that promised coronavirus vaccine.

The SEC is in the mix here too monitoring the effects of the virus on business, and providing guidance to issuers on disclosure issues. Chair Jay Clayton recently noted in a public statement:

We recognize that such effects [of COVID-19] may be difficult to assess or predict with meaningful precision both generally and as an industry- or issuer-specific basis. This is an uncertain issue where actual effects will depend on many factors beyond the control and knowledge of issuers. However, how issuers plan for that uncertainty and how they choose to respond to events as they unfold can nevertheless be material to an investment decision. 

See Proposed Amendments to Modernize and Enhance Financial Disclosures; Other Ongoing Disclosure Modernization Initiatives; Impact of the Coronavirus; Environmental and Climate-Related Disclosure.

As COVID 19 and its effects march across the US, there will certainly be more securities disclosure developments for businesses to consider.

Our best advice: if you know you are going to be adversely affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19, say so as soon as you know the facts just like the other 150 companies have already reported the business effects of the virus on their company. Otherwise, plaintiffs may attempt to exploit stock drops related to COVID-19 similar to other forms of event driven litigation (see Avoiding Event Driven Litigation through Good Cybersecurity Governance) by framing them as the materialization of a known but previously undisclosed risk that the company was under a duty to warn about. Even if plaintiffs cannot argue that a company failed to predict the impact of COVID-19 in actuality, they could also argue that a company’s past disclosures failed to adequately warn of the risks from other virus or epidemic like events.

More corporate litigation

With any sort of propagated illness or virus, you can expect there will be some sort of personal injury litigation, especially with a pretty standard three-year statute of limitations. Of course, COVID-19 does not disappoint.  Several passengers of the Golden Princess have brought suit against the parent company alleging that the company dropped its duties overboard by allowing a sick passenger to board the ship, which later resulted in other passengers getting sick, with the rest being forced to quarantine. Other corporate litigation around alleged failures to keep workers and employee safe are also expected. Of course, we have yet to see how business insurance policies will respond to these sorts of pandemic-related claims and lawsuits. If your business hasn’t already been affected adversely by COVID-19, it would be a good time to check your insurance coverage.

Cybercriminals are taking advantage of COVID-19

Already we have seen attempted breaches (not yet fully defined as of now) on the US Government’s Department of Health and Human Services potentially seeking healthcare and infection rate information. Though apparently nothing was stolen, it is a good lesson that healthcare PHI or PII remains a high value target for both nation-states and cyber criminals. It is also a prime asset for attackers to try to lock up the data in a ransomware attack. See Suspicious cyber activity targeting HHS tied to coronavirus response, sources say.

Aside from the government attack, there have been several other campaigns launched to attempt to steal both corporate and personal information using the virus as a “hook”:

Attackers have “adopted” the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 infection rate map and laced it with suspicious malware, waiting for an anxious person looking for information to click on the map. Read more here.

Multiple instances where ransomware attacks were generated by fake statements regarding the spread of coronavirus in other countries. One recent report noted, “One of the most recent coronavirus hoaxes to come to light is an Android app available at coronavirusapp[.]site. It claims to provide access to a map that provides real-time virus-tracking and information, including heat map visuals and statistics. In fact, a researcher from Domain Tools said, the app is laced with ransomware.” Read the article here. There has even been one ransomware attack against a Czech Republic hospital treating COVID-19 infected patients, readt the article here.

Multiple COVID-19 phishing scams are out there seeking to steal your information. Some of the more severe (and tricky):

Sites that are seeking charitable donations for COVID-19 patients

Sites that are imitating the World Health Organization, or other ministries of health around the globe offering updates on the virus (these are likely nation-state instigated)

Emails allegedly coming from colleges and universities offering students information on how the virus is affecting classes and student housing

Here is what you can do to potentially avoid these cyber scams

The US Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), confirms that malicious actors are using COVID-19 as a pretext to send emails with attachments or links to fraudulent websites to trick victims into downloading malware, revealing sensitive information or donating to fraudulent charities or causes.

Companies should consider sending a security reminder or bulletin to personnel to remain vigilant against potential cyber-attacks and scams by:

Not clicking on links or opening attachments contained in unsolicited emails

Using trusted sources, such as hospitals and government websites, to obtain up-to-date, fact-based information about COVID-19

Not providing personal or financial information when responding to online solicitations

Consider whether or not a managed service provider might help you in this time of dwindling employee resources. If your IT employees get sick, who will be watching the network? An MSP would provide a great back up to any organization’s cybersecurity incident response plan.

Employees, like others, may be susceptible to targeted phishing, fraud and other cybercriminal actions based on their interest or concern about COVID-19. While messaging used to entice individuals to click malicious links may be COVID-19 related, methods to execute these attacks will remain largely the same. Companies may effectively use this attention to COVID-19 for security awareness by alerting employees, contractors or others to these risks.

To drive the point home, companies may consider conducting a phishing simulation with a faux phishing email related to COVID-19. Companies could use the results of the phishing simulation to provide supplemental training to those employees who fell victim to the simulated phish.

To minimize the success rate of potential attacks of this sort, companies should consider providing consistent updates about COVID-19 and creating an internal resource center that employees and others can use to receive current and accurate information.These may include a trusted email address, known trusted subject line or known trusted websites (CDC, CISA or otherwise) that can be checked for up-to-date COVID-19 information.

For more information on how to avoid these sorts of attacks see Privacy, HIPAA, Security and GDPR – COVID 19 considerations. See also our recent webinar on key cybersecurity and privacy considerations related to COVID-19.

  A Brave New (and Remote) World

Each of the above scams is potentially exacerbated by the nature of today’s March 2020 workforce. Being home can be great. But it’s also different and in some sense busier, with kids out of school. Dogs incessantly barking at Amazon and Fed Ex trucks don’t help either. The same security adages always hold true regardless.

Rule 1:  Don’t click on the link or attached document

Rule 2:  Update and patch your computers to the latest update

Rule 3:  #backitup daily if you can

Rule 4:  See rule 1.

What COVID-19 is teaching us is that good health hygiene (like washing your hands frequently) works very well. So does good cyber hygiene.

Stay safe and healthy!

  Guest Post: Directors Beware: More Perils from COVID-19 published first on http://simonconsultancypage.tumblr.com/

[ecotone99]

Apple on the road [TH] [UR]

CH1

Daylight. Freedom, or a chance at it. He pushed through the double doors leading out onto the street, fingerless gloves leaving handprints on the grimy glass. He tripped, his combat boots not properly laced up in his haste to escape. He turned his head and flicked his matted hair out of his eyeline, looking frantically behind him for any signs of pursuit. There appeared to be none, but he knew better than to relax. He could hear them screaming, harsh guttural cries from the upper floor windows. Desperate and hungry, they knew that had just lost a feast, that they’ll have to trap some other poor unfortunate sou. He’d been blessed that they didn’t have the strength to tie proper knots in their malnourished state. The experience he’d gained before the fall meant that he was better fed than most of the ones who were left. And so he was healthier, he had no shakes that rattled the emaciated bones of the other survivors.

Which is why the creatures had taken him. Ever since the unprotected shops had been cleared out, and the spoils used up, people had become more desperate. There had been a lull, almost a return to some semblance of normal society about six weeks after.

That had vanished as the supplies ran out. Jay’s years in the Army reserve had served him well. His time working in the bars and restaurants around Dublin before humanity fell meant he knew where to find supplies, even now. He was able to stay strong and sharp. While this was a good thing for obvious reasons, it also made him a target for gangs like those he had just escaped, seeing as the cannibals nearly cut him on the spot, and only kept him alive so that he would be fresh for longer.

He ducked into the alley he had tried to hide in the night before. His rucksack was where he had stashed it behind the overflowing recycling bin. The bins were one of the first warning signs for Jay, the big flashing neon that read get ready.

The end is nigh.

When the people start getting sick on as big a scale as it was, they stop turning up for work. Jay never worked in an office, but did realise that no-one would notice if no one turned up to their office jobs. Not for a while anyway. The first things to go was the general upkeep, the stuff that's never noticed by the 9-5ers who drove everywhere and spent little time in alleyways. In fact the only time they spent in the lower locations of society was to empty their bladders or stomachs, depending on what stage of the night it was. Every day Jay had seen the early morning cleaners descending on the streets around temple bar and harcourt street, sweeping the broken bottles from the night before. Then, one day they weren't there and the broken glass got crunched underfoot by the dress shoes and high heels of the office workers, who joked that it must have been a crazy night. Then, the bins started to fill…

When people stopped showing up to work en masse, the government naturally became concerned. No workforce meant no work, which meant no commerce, no revenue to fill their fat coffers. October the 15th 2025 was the day with the highest recorded number of sick days in the history of the Republic, almost all reporting moderate flu-like symptoms that confined them to bed. October the 25th was the lowest… not a single person called in sick, because there was not a single person in work that day to answer a phone. The ten days in between were filled with confusion, growing steadily to fear and outright panic as the looting began. The people who braved the hostile atmosphere and tried to go to work found the petrol pumps empty, the bus drivers absent, the train stations silent and unmanned.

The country ground to a halt as martial law was declared due to the national emergency, people being advised to stay indoors and avoid excessive contact with any family members who showed signs of infection. The government issued a national broadcast to the effect that this debilitating virus would be short lived, that 80% of the population would recover fully within a week and those still affected would be administered an anti-virus that was currently being developed.

That was Day Ten...

By Day Fifteen, they issued another broadcast, advising the use of protective masks that were being sent to each home when burning the bodies of whichever family member who had succumbed and to quarantine those who lingered.

By Day Thirty, there were few left to heed these announcements.

Jay was one of the remaining. The ending of civilisation had happened so long ago he could remember only vague snippets of who he was before the fall.

So much that was commonplace in a functioning society had been cast aside, he struggled to remember his actual name any more. He just knew it had started with a “J”

All the survivors clung to parts of their life before, but discarded others.

Most people went by nicknames now, names derived from physical features or skills they had.

Jay’s friend Fixer had earned his moniker from being able to fix people’s bones, but his skills didn’t extend to fevers and Jay had paid him a visit once to find Fixer staring up at him through sightless eyes, a sickness had taken him during the night.

Jay had mourned for his friend, closing fixers eyes and mopping the coughed up blood from his lips as best he could and then left, taking his friends most valuable possessions before he did, leaving his body for the scavengers.

Ch2

During his two years living in the city centre, Jason Young had become pretty good at avoiding the dregs of inner-city society, the drunks, the hobos, the crazies, the junkies. Everyone who lives in a major city for any length of time will learn the same skill. The young man had certainly encountered a lot of them.It was probably said something about him, he mused sardonically. Certainly his habit of attracting the crazy ones was mirrored in his love life. On this particular morning, he was heading home from a rather awkward rendezvous with an ex. His foul mood was not improved by the weather, nor by the alcohol induced headache. At this stage, he was oblivious to the many prone forms littering the pavements of Dublin, some fortunate enough to be

wrapped in old sodden sleeping bags, others making do with newspapers or simply huddling together;some four or five in one cold doorway.

It was just part of the 2019 landscape.

He was mostly immune to the pangs of pity that he had once felt when seeing someone so down on their luck. In a twisted way, he was grateful to the homeless.

They were a reminder. A reminder to work, to pay taxes, to keep a lid on the drinking.

To not become like them.

Jason made regular promises to himself that he would quit his job and pursue his dream of becoming a songwriter. But every time he left the tourist bar he worked in, exhausted, drenched in sweat and stinking of beer and gravy, his route home would take him past some of the worst parts of the city. The ha’penny bridge, one of the most recognisable landmarks of Dublin would never be free of those pitiful forms, clutching battered paper coffee cups. (any spare change, bud?) He passed these every day, and every day he went to work.

He stopped off in a Londis to pick up breakfast. A chicken fillet roll would have to do. No mayo, extra bacon please. On an impulse, he picked up a Lucosade sport on his way to the till. Maybe the glucose would help with the hangover. The total came to €7.25 and Jason fished the coins out of his wallet. It took a while for him to sort through all the change and count out the correct amount, but he didn’t want to risk using his card. Last night had been a costly affair. Especially considering where he eventually spent the night.

He headed south.

He was facing a long walk home in last night's clothes. Although it was february, and so still dark, he decided to take a shortcut home.

He turned right off the main thoroughfare onto brewers lane. Not the most inviting of lanes at the best of times, brewers lane had a hard-earned reputation for separating unsuspecting people from their hard earn money, with a little help from local thugs. It was dark, it was I littered with empty beer cans, it stank. Nonetheless, it was either that or an extra twenty five minutes walk home. Jason decided to risk it. As habit formed by big-city living dictated, he had a cautious look down the alley before venturing in. All seemed good and safe. He was only a few steps down when a hobo emerged ragged from a shadowy doorway and started flailing about himself with what looked like an empty wine bottle. Prudently, Jason swiftly retraced his steps and was soon passing one of Dublins landmarks, the spire on his (slightly longer) way home. O’connell street was busy for a monday morning and he was forced to sidestep more than one oblivious texter, head buried in the latest iphone, thumbs a blur. He came to a halt in the throng.

The traffic on the road made the traffic on the pavement wait, cars speeding by with no room to dodge between them. It was probably for the best that Jason didn’t have a chance to duck between cars. In his hungover state, he’d probably end up being scraped off the tarmac. As he walked past the Molly malone statue, burnished brass breasts shining in the weak spring sun, a sense of something going on entered his alcohol-fogged brain. Sluggishly, he took the turn down onto south William street and headed towards Rathmines. Or at least he tried to… A garda officer in a high-vis jacket, similarly shining in the morning sun, stopped him with an outstretched hand like the bouncer at the club the night before.

“Ye can’t go this way, son. The roads closed off. Nutjob on the roof”

Light grey eyes rolled skyward under a rainproof blue cap.

Jason raised his head, with a squint he could just about make out a figure standing atop the georgian building that housed the clothing shop of choice of young upper-middle class dubliners. Filled with a morbid curiosity, Jason pushed his way through the crowd to the edge of the cordon established by the Gardai with yellow tape. He craned his neck, wincing as the newly emerged sun set off the slumbering headache with a vengeance. The encroaching sirens added fuel to the eager snapchatters, overlarge phones in the air like lighters at an old school concert.

The crowd felt tense with a sort of anticipation. It felt like a movie theatre watching the AWKWARD/SCARY SCENE IN A MOVIE WHERE THEY WANT TO LOOK AWAY BUT CAN'T]

Jason looked up under furrowed brows, the thick brown hair barely obscuring the pitiful view, soon to be trending on the various social media platforms. The lone figure stood unsteadily on the edge of the georgian building, the tattered rug thrown over his shoulders flapping in the spring breeze. His worn, windbitten face turned away from the men in high vis jackets reaching out to help him. His streaming eyes seeing something else. He swayed and the crowd let out a collective “ooohhhh” drawing back slightly but not turning away. Jason’s protesting stomach, already embattled let out a groan and he started to make his way out of the crowd, back towards the molly malone statue. His pace gradually got quicker and quicker, til he was almost jogging away from the scene. Hungover or no, he knew he didn’t want to see the potential fatal outcome of the situation. He wondered how the people pressed up against the Garda cordon could think the risk was worth it. They seemed more concerned with getting some online notoriety than having the image of a falling man seared into their memory, like grim, grainy images from that day in early september all those years ago.

Another groan rose from the crowd, due to what Jason neither knew nor wanted to find out. He reached the bus-stop and leaned gratefully against the thin red lump of hard plastic that passed for a seat below the exposed bus shelter. He had always wondered about the pitiful lack of comfort a bus-stop actually provided, as a child questioning his father during one of their many cold waits. He was gruffly told the lack of shelter was to stop homeless people sleeping there. This was one of Jason’s first memories of his father, the grizzled grey man who always seemed ready to reveal the harsher side of life to his only son. Such was his way. The reason they were waiting in the cold air for an hourly, hour-long bus journey to see Jason’s granmother was partly why his father was the way he was, Jason had come to realise as he got older. Forced out of his job, inventor’s ideas stolen by companies too big to touch, Thomas could no longer afford a car. The old but proud DiHatsu had an ignoble end, Jason remembered, as the car essentially broke in half when the tow truck tried to winch it onto the truck’s flatbed . The repo man had scratched his balding head with a grubby paw and called for a second truck to collect the pieces left behind. After that, the family had moved to a dingy, rented terraced house where they learned to rely on public transport. As Jason had grown up, moved out and entered the workforce himself he began to understand how something like that could make a man grow bitter and cold towards the world. At that younger age, he was just happy he didn’t have to sleep in a bus shelter, on a seat designed to deter the kind of people who were most in need of it. Older now, a functional adult in his own right. he had grown so used to public transport that he eschewed the car in its favour. One thing he had certainly noticed was how the actual cover offered by bus shelters seemed to shrink with each new design introduced.

He was certainly noticing it now, wearing last night's shirt and a light jacket that was intended for taxi journeys and cloak room stowage, not keeping him warm on a chill february morning.

He shifted on the hard plastic seat and rubbed a hand across his face, pushing against his shut eyes making fireworks dance gleefully across his vision. His hands still stank of last night’s energy drinks, causing him to grit his teeth against the post-session vomiting that his stomach had been threatening since he woke in his Ex’s bedroom.

Jason shook his head wearily when Danielle’s face rose to the forefront of his consciousness.

The real-time bus planner told him a 15B was due in four minutes, the red digital display similar to the one on his bedroom alarm clock, the one he should really be looking at right now.

He recoiled in distaste as the middle-aged woman who had just sat beside him succumbed to a fit of coughing, hacking rasps that cut into his sore head.

The bus peeked cautiously around the corner of Dame street, as though gauging the traffic to see if it would be worth continuing on.

Slowly, it inched its way towards Jason and his sick companion; finally groaning to a halt and allowing him an unobstructed view of a sour faced busdriver as the doors opened.

As he gratefully sank into a seat on the bus, he was nearly pitched headfirst into the old woman in the seat in front as the bus jerked to a halt suddenly.

The reason was clear fairly soon, a wailing siren heralding the speeding ambulance that made the passengers on the bus wince as the screeching alarm pierced their eardrums for a long second before fading as the white van sped off ahead.

Jason sighed and sat down, keeping one hand on the rail in front of him for support. He settled in for the journey...

Ch 3

Lungs heaving, Jay cautiously peered around the corner of the industrial-sized rubbish bin. The wheels on the bin creaked in protest as his considerable bulk added its weight to overflowing black plastic. He winced, but he seemed to have no pursuers that would hear. The alley seemed clear but Jay knew better than to relax. The rubbish underfoot could easily conceal a trap laid by the ravenous. Too many of his friends had succumbed to the poisonous shards they laid out, waiting for the thin soles of a survivor's shoe to pierce. All they had to do then was wait for their victim to slow and sicken. They knew all too well that the remaining survivors dared not go near the few remaining medic centres, rumoured to be nothing short of death camps where the now totalitarian regime experimented on the patient's, trying any desperate means to develop a cure.

Jay had spent many a cold night’s vigil over a dying friend, the extra layers he gave them doing little to stave off the chill that had set in their bones. Once the poison set in, the only thing that kept the cold at bay, at least for a little while was more poison. This came in many forms to the desperate survivors, but was mainly harsh spirits, bottles of vodka or wine looted from the abandoned shops and dark, empty nightclubs.

In the morning, the sun warmed the pavements but his friends remained cold, not to move again. Every time this happened, he swore he’d stay on his own from then on. Leaving the stiff thing that was once his companion in this cruel new world for the dogs and crows took a toll on him, knowing the best course of action would be to wrap the body and deposit it in the river Liffey. The first time he did that, the hazmat suits nearly caught him before he fled into the alleys he knew best.

Now, he knew to leave the body, that it would be gone by the time he could bring himself to return to the place again.

Every time he told himself, and yet every time without fail he found himself seeking out any survivors as yet untouched by the Sickness or the insanity that came with that horrible plague.

It was harder every time, with the Hazmats of the new regime sweeping the city day and night for suitable candidates for their drug trials, and the cannibals for their next meal.

But seek he did, because there was comfort in life, hope that one day someone would actually cure the world of its current evils.

He didn’t feel much comfort that day, having just escaped the clutches of one such group of cannibals, this particular gathering holing themselves up in an old psychiatric hospital. They even covered their scarred, emaciated bodies in the old hospital gowns they found in the wardrobes.

For the few remaining, life became a constant cycle of pursuit by the fluorescent bio suits of the failed government or harrassment, threat and sometimes real danger from the fallen survivors, the ones whose brains were affected by the plague to the point where it was only a matter of time before they were taken by the bio suits in one of their sweeps for test subjects, or by the increasingly more common cannibal gang, for a feast.

The government had roamed the now empty streets, sweeping for those healthy enough to press into service or the weak ones they would do trials on.

Lost in thought, he nearly didnt notice the govenrment goons clad in reflective suits until it wass too late, their harsh voices muffled by their masks as they chased him.

He pushed his way into an abandoned building, the dummies sporting dated fashion looming at him out of the shadows. He stumbled over piles of unworn clothes and found himself at the base of a set of stairs. Voices behind him told him he hadn’t lost his pursuers and he started climbing.

CH4

The pillow below Jason’s head defied his need for sleep, rebelliously swaying from side to side as the hangover claimed him, body and spirit.

He groaned, cursing his workmates for suggesting post-work drinks. He promised himself he would avoid nights like those for some time, but knowing deep down it was an empty pledge.

All it would take would be one more stressful overworked day full of drunken idiots and hungry children baying for drink or food.

He anticipated, even in his current state that he’d be tempted back to the late night bar next week. He only hoped he wouldn’t see Danielle there.

As he thought of her, his phone buzzed.

Somehow, he knew it would be her and he wearily pushed himself up onto one elbow, grasping for the offending piece of technology.

He squinted, the bright screen making it hard to make out the message.

He gave up and sunk back beneath the covers.

Whatever drama she wanted to stir up could wait until he felt vaguely human again.

He sighed, closing his eyes and willing sleep take him.

What felt like a moment later they snapped open, indignant.

Jason’s least favourite roommate and dubstep afficanado; Chris had obviously returned from his holiday festival in Spain.

He was heralding his triumphant return with wall-pounding bass that drilled through Jason’s fragile skull.

“Fuck sake.”

Jason heaved himself upright, a momentous effort.

The text message was still waiting for him, the little notification light flashing insistently.

It wasn’t from his ex-girlfriend, but was troubling enough anyway.

It was from his manager Damian, who had put a message into the group chat.

Apparently, Damian had received a call from the alarm company who monitored the security at the bar. Someone had broken in and stole some bottles of spirits and thrashed the cold room where food was stored.

After the daily chaos that took place in his bar, Jason was no longer surprised by anything that happenned there.

Thankfully, he had switched off his internet to conserve battery before he viewed the message, as Damian was asking everyone to come in and help clean up.

He carefully exited the group chat, ensuring the message would stay “unread” and swung his legs onto the bedroom floor.

Today was his only day off, and he was determined to enjoy it hungover though he was.

The sounds that could barely be described as music increased in intensity, threatening to knock the mold off the thin walls typical of cheap dublin accommodation.

After a brief shower and an even briefer breakfast, Jason left.

He was careful to shoot a venomous look at his roommate before he did, and slammed the front door as hard as he could.

Years of customer service had thought him to take joy in small victories.

The harsh light of the outside world made him don knockoff designer sunglasses, bought after more haggling than they were worth from a shady man in a Lisbon subway station.

He revelled in the feel of his own clothes, the crispy black work shirts always dehumanising were often jokingly referred to as prison overalls when out of earshot of the managers.

He found his second wind, weaving through the throng with the confidence of someone who held the general public in quite low regard.

He was well used to pushing his way through crowds, usually protectively clutching valuable bottles of spirits to restock the bar.

A man leaned out of the melee of people, facing him expectantly with the intention of stopping him.

Jason’s eyes narrowed, the hostile unapproachable look well-practised by any city dweller firmly upon his face as he prepared to walk past this man, who no doubt wanted to stop him to ask for money.

Dublin was rank with beggars and scam-artists, although there was little art involved in harassing innocent tourists for whatever change they had.

The man’s innocent smile dropped somewhat as Jason brushed past him with a shake of the head.

It occurred to him too late that the man maybe just wanted directions.

He looked back but the tourist was already being pointed in the right direction by a less suspicious Dubliner.

With a mental shrug, Jason continued on.

He turned onto a quieter street, escaping the madness of the overpacked thoroughfare of central Dublin.

He stopped outside his friend’s apartment block on Gardiner street, letting Siobhan know he was outside. He shuffled his feet as he waited, taking care not to tread in the rubbish piled beside the bin. A seagull pecked at one of the bags, suggesting it was the culprit responsible for the mess.

A head poked out a second floor window, evidently wet hair telling him before she even spoke that he’d have to wait a while before she’d be ready.

“Come up! I’m nearly ready.”

He snorted at that, knowing how long she could take and pushed the door as it buzzed.

The sound startled the big sea bird and it took flight.

Half an hour later, they came back down the stairs and out onto the street.

Jason noticed almost immediately a shiny red apple sitting pretty on the road, about a foot from the curb.

It stood out from the rubbish around it, perfectly unspoilt and somehow untouched by the seagull. In his job, he saw perfectly good food being thrown out every day. Something about this apple bothered him, the knowledge that it had been thrown away by some careless person with too much. There was nothing wrong with it, but it would go to waste because it had touched the floor. It was food for the seagulls now.

“What are you looking at?” teased Siobhan “I’m surprised you can see anything with those shitty sunglasses”

His attention taken from the fruit, he indignantly replied. “Excuse me darling, these are designer”

Their banter continued down the street as they made their way towards the local coffee shop, the apple remaining where it was.

CH5

Jay’s viewpoint

He held his breath as best he could, the numbing drugs they were trying to pump into him through the mask making his eyelids heavy.

The van thundered on, swerving between the abandoned cars on the road.

His captor swayed with the van, but those terrifying red eyes never leaving Jay as he fought sleep. If he slept there would be a chance he’d never wake up, but if he remained conscious he could look for an opportunity to escape. The terrifying figure leaned sideways and muttered something to the driver, the reflective suit crackling with static and playing tricks with Jay’s eyes.

The drugs must have been potent indeed, as the captor’s face faded from terrible and alien to almost normal and human, and back again.

Jay blinked, shaking his head and moaning.

The thing reached out to him, clamping him to the bench with an impossibly strong hand.

They screeched to a halt, and a babble of conversation told Jay they had reached their terrible destination. The dreaded Morgue, where the dictators practised their torture.

The survivors had spoken of this place in hushed tones, and each of them had known someone who was dragged into the Morgue, never to be seen again.

Jay had met one man who said there was a furnace at the back that burned night and day, crisping the bones of those who met their terrible ends at the hands of the Morgue’s twisted scientists.

He lay still, heart pounding in spite of the sedative they were feeding him.

He knew if he allowed himself to be wheeled through those doors, there’d be no hope for him.

He played dead, rolling his eyes back into his skull and letting his body go limp.

He sensed rather than felt rough hands unbuckling his restraints.

They thought he was drugged enough to walk willingly to his death.

Not so!

As soon as he was free, his eyes shot open and he struck hard, feeling bone crack as his captor stumbled backward.

He sprang upright and bolted from the van. His stuff was still with thr driver, but he could find more.

His life was worth more than any item and so he ran, bare feet pounding the cold pavement.

He heard shouts behind him but didn’t dare look back.

After a while he slowed, legs shivering from the effort.

He was sure he hadn’t been pursued and leant gratefully up against a wall.

His flight had served to remind him how hungry he was.

His stomach rumbled in protest and it struck him that he hadn’t eaten since before his earlier escape from the cannibal hotel.

His legs suddenly giving out, the adrenaline that had fueled him up to this point was gone and he slid to the damp, cracked concrete.

The drugs they had given him were taking hold and he sat there for what seemed like an age, shadows passing him by like the ghosts of his departed friends.

He was paralysed, only able to let out a whimper of fear as one ghost stopped in front of him.

It leered down at him, screeching.

If it had a question of him, Jay didn’t know.

The shadow retreated and seemed to reach behind itself.

In what could have been it’s hand glistened a coin, bright as the sun.

The coin glowed, blinding Jay.

He heard it bounce off the ground beside him, each time it hit the ground was like an earthquake. It was impossibly heavy and shifted gravity as he shut his eyes tight and willed the shadow to go away.

After another deafening screech it did, and it seemed the token had given him the strength to stand.

He opened an eye, his vision returning to normal. The shadows were gone but the coin remained.

With the loss of his backpack, he felt compelled to keep it.

The weight of it in his pocket was reassuring, he found.

Even though the concept of money had died out with humanity, he decided it had some value to him. He would use it as a good luck charm.

It seemed to be working its magic already, as he spied what could be food in front of him.

CH6

Full of caffeine and cake, Jason and Siobhan headed back to her apartment.

They stopped outside the graffitied door to her apartment block.

He noticed the apple had been harried by something, looking less than perfect now but still somehow maintaining its dignity, if fruit could be dignified.

There was a pregnant pause, broken by Shiobhan.

“Well…” she was somewhat shy “do you want to come up?”

“For more coffee?” he cheekily replied, grinning his wolfish grin.

She laughed, a delightful sound.

“Shut up, you messer” and grabbed his hand, leading him up the stairs.

Later, he pushed his way out onto the dark street.

Something moved in the shadows by the bin, making him suddenly cautious.

CH 7

The hunger making him clumsy, Jay staggered towards his salvation. His eyes were locked on the food, and he was too hungry to care if this was a trap.

An apple waited for him, even with its battered appearance it was perfect to him.

He reached out, stumbling.

He tripped and fell outstretched hand inches from the food he was too weak to grasp.

Jay heard something to his left.

He was too tired and hungry to be scared.

If this was to be his time, then so be it.

He was tired of running.

He looked up and saw clearly a human, a survivor with concern in his dark eyes.

CH8

Jason looked down at the homeless man, shivering on the pavement at his feet.

Self preservation be dammed, he reached out a hand.

“Are you alright mate?”

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