Saturday Snippets and the Sealey Challenge

 It has been the kind of week where I will gather some fragments and see what emerges.

--Last night I dreamed of rivers, usually rivers that were swelling their banks, and overtaking me, fast moving currents that swept me away.  It doesn't take a trained psychotherapist to interpret that dream, does it?

--I want to remember the student who was so happy at the thought of a different colored wrist band.  She said her toddler was collecting them and wearing them and was so happy when she brought him a band of a different color.  I love the idea of the toddler finding joy in this wristband which often feels like drudgery.

--As I have been collecting paperwork that shows that people have been on campus, I thought about how we're willing to sacrifice our privacy this way.  And then I had to laugh at myself.  Most people are carrying phones that are much more invasive, in terms of tracking personal information.  We have been trained.

--Today is my school's virtual graduation.  It's being launched at a particular time, but it's all pre-recorded.  There will be no cars driving by to pick up diplomas, no live feed with administrators holding diplomas out to a screen.  It's not what anyone expected when students started their degree programs, but it's better than nothing. 

--I came across this article which was the most helpful so far in figuring out which symptoms might be COVID-19, since so many of the symptoms are very common--and in people like me, often triggered by reading the symptoms:  "Why, yes, I do have a headache."

But let me close with something happier:

--I have been enjoying the Sealey Challenge, where we try to read 1 whole book of poetry each and every day in August.  Some people post a picture of the book, while others post a selfie of themselves reading the book.  I don't really have a way to do a selfie easily, so I'm trying to create a photo that has some artistic tinge or that says something about the content of the book or ties into the history of the day.  For example, on August 6, the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, I decided on the book based on the day, and I made this photo: