Friday, October 9, 2020

Dispatches from Arm's Length, Part 11

 This past week has been to much of a whirlwind to ignore. The unwatchable "debate" between President Trump and former VP Joe Biden begat unintended free publicity for the Proud Boys, an anti-Semetic "next-gen" hate group. Soon after Trump weakly denounced the Proud Boys, his top aide Hope Hicks was diagnosed with COVID-19, then Trump and his wife both announced they had the coronavirus. An abbreviated hospital visit led to speculation that Trump either didn't really have COVID-19, but the more likely explanation is that Trump wasn't (and still isn't) taking the pandemic seriously.

While I'm happy to be working in a school again, it's at a questionable cost. Several school districts in the west suburbs that had been doing remote learning since mid-March caved to parents' demands, and began "hybrid" (IRL and remote simultaneously) learning. Most of the students I've encountered are happy to be out of the house, but with COVID numbers not tapering off, I fear a step backwards. The adjustments made for learning remotely have been clumsy, but I have faith my teaching peers will somehow make it work.

Every other late October/early November, I write a blog post imploring everyone reading this to take part in the democratic process and vote. This is my eight election cycle since I started this blog, and with each passing election the stakes continue to rise. This election, like 2016, is a no-brainer. Donald Trump has been an abject failure, if not close to complete ignobility as president, and does not deserve a second term. If you prefer to vote by mail, do so. If you're willing to risk voting in person, do so early. Everything is at stake here.

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