Given that advisors are, by their very nature, social people. Even those of us who tend toward introversion appreciate connections with our students and our colleagues. We understand the importance of the isolation brought on by the COVID-19 quarantine, but we need to maintain contact with other humans.
This event is unprecedented. There hasn’t been a physical separation of individuals on this scale for almost a hundred years. What is going on around us, to our jobs and to our students, hasn’t ever happened, and will hopefully never happen again. And we have the technology to make it work well – and the knowledge to know that technology won’t fix every problem.
Our students are sometimes hysterical, and sometimes inspirational. We do our jobs because we want to help them be as successful as they can be, even when the world around them looks very different from how they expected it to be.
So let’s share some stories. Perhaps you’re struggling with the work/life balance, because it was easier to work from a location completely separated from the rest of your life, and now your children are climbing on your lap and trying to join your staff meetings. Perhaps you have a student whose story is worth sharing – either because others need to know some of the pitfalls, or because it is just an outstanding example of their personal fortitude. Perhaps you’re learning all of the good things that technology can bring, and all of the ways that it is truly better to communicate in person.
During the Plague in Italy, a group of individuals who were stuck together chose to tell each other stories. Their world was very small because of the limitations of their space, but these stories helped expand it through the images they were able to bring in from their prior experiences. Our own worlds are small right now – lets expand them by sharing our own tales with others. That way, we can both entertain each other, and remind ourselves that there is a world ready for us to rejoin it, once we can all do so safely.
Therefore, I propose that we, the members of ACADAOS, start our own COVID-19 virus tales blog. You can provide your story in whatever form you want (written, video, drawing), but please share. You can post as a comment attached to this message, or send me an email, and I will happily post it for you.
My hope is that we can continue to build community, even when we are separated, and have a little fun doing it.
If you have any questions, let me know! My email is spanos.4@osu.edu, and I’m also available virtually for conversation.
Joanna