Not exactly at large, for now

You may have been wondering why the blog has been silent for the last several weeks. There are reasons. This is the kind of blog post I hate most – the “why I haven’t posted anything for a while” post – but in the interest of disclosure, I’m writing this so you won’t think this project is abandoned.

It’s already been an interesting time here as it is. That goes with the profession I’m in. But the current health situation only made made it more interesting. We had just come back from Spring Break, and it was perhaps Wednesday when we started to get the feeling that the dominoes would topple in our direction. Sure enough, early on Friday afternoon we got the word: we would be online-only for the next two weeks, with further word to come later.

What happened next was intense. Well, for a lot of us. I had already started planning for online-only instruction and just had to take the last remaining steps. The higher-ups sent word down of a required three-day in-service session that would commence the following Monday, where we would get instruction on what to do – most of which, for me, would be redundant. I also didn’t like the idea of being in three days of all-day meetings around 60 or 70 other people, and voiced my misgivings to the higher-ups.

Fortunately, by the time Monday came around, the higher-ups had decided to follow new guidance from the health authorities. Those of us who knew our way around online learning were excused after the general sessions the first day. I retreated to my office, began putting my lessons into the course management system, and was ready for business when instruction resumed later that week. We have since been notified that we’re online-only the rest of the semester, which was no big surprise, but I was ready for that. My institution has handled this big shift very well, especially with how quickly it all happened, but we’ve done it.

I would like to say that it’s all been smooth sailing, and that it has left me copious time to work on Garroway. Well, guess again. There have been hiccups, and in some ways this has been more labor-intensive as I work to keep the students focused on what remains. There’s also the need to be available to the students during the day, which means I keep an ear out for the e-mail alerts and such, and when I’m on guard like that it’s hard to focus. There’s also the occasional moments of melancholy; I think about all the little signposts of springtime that I look forward to each year, and they’re hard to enjoy on a deserted campus. I’m especially gutted for my seniors, who were looking forward to that march across the stage in a few weeks as they got their degrees, and now that’s gone. But in hard times, you do what you must.

As for things at home, our outside interactions at present are limited to my weekly run to the store. We are taking social distancing to its extreme, perhaps, but we’re doing our part. It helps that I am an introvert who is married to an introvert. But with two cats, a good (if not great) Internet connection, and a house in the middle of a forest with plenty of wildlife to watch, it is a pleasant way to spend a quarantine period. (Sometimes it’s even blissful, as it is on days when Turner Classic Movies – for my money, the greatest cable channel in history – gets really good.)

And thankfully, our health – so far – is good. What bothers us here isn’t the current plague, but the tremendous amounts of pollen that waft through the air at present. I’m hoping we will get a good rain shower to take the edge off, at least for a bit. It’s misery to see bright, warm sunshine tempt you, only to know you’ll pay for it with tingling eyes and an itchy nose later.

What does all this mean, longer term? Well, I had hoped to get some travel done in the coming weeks and months to conduct some interviews and on-site archival work. Those plans have changed. I am working on ways to conduct my interviews remotely, but that will take time to sort out.

The good thing, however, is that I still have a mountain of material I haven’t made use of in the manuscript (or, for that matter, on this blog). I haven’t had time to go through it all – too busy with trying to stockpile it, I haven’t taken the time to figure out just where it fits in the Dave Garroway story. So it may be that the forced hiatus in travel could pay a few dividends. We’ll see, at least.

In the meantime, nothing is more important than staying healthy, and each of us doing our part to help stamp out this crud. Be well out there and I’ll see you soon with some new material.