Monday, April 6, 2020

Different States of Sheltering in Place

I've heard reports that water sports fall under the shelter in place regulations in Maryland--no boating under the governor's regulations.

The governor of Maryland is stricter than the governor of Florida.  Most governors are stricter than the governor of my state.

My city of Hollywood has stricter shelter in place guidelines.  I've been taking a walk in the predawn hours most mornings, but under the strictest interpretation of the city's ordinance, I'm not supposed to be on the streets or sidewalks.

Yesterday afternoon, we went for a walk.  It's been months since we went for a Sunday walk.  There was a fierce police presence, but we weren't stopped.  There were several cars at the bridge across the Intracoastal to the beach, several parked at points at the marina, several others at one point in the road, and several others further west.  Some of the officers were out of their cars.  They were not practicing safe distancing.  Some wore masks; some didn't.

I speculated that they were doing some sort of drug bust--waiting for some intrepid mariners to come ashore.  My spouse thought they were just pulling overtime duty, but since so many of us are sheltering at home, there's less crime to take care of.

Today I will go to the office.  It's the first day of classes, and I will be surprised if we don't have some students show up in person.  To let them know about our distance approach to spring term, we've texted, we've e-mailed, we've phoned--but I'm still expecting a few students.  I'm also expecting some grumpiness.  I may or may not say, "We did everything we know how to do, except going to houses in person to deliver the message--and the Broward county ordinance is very clear about how we need not to do that."

Lots of us will be using the Go to Meeting platform to conduct our classes.  I tell myself that businesses around the world use this platform at the same time to conduct a variety of meetings, so my expectation of tech troubles is misplaced.  I hope to have my expectations dashed.

This morning, as I walked and thought about the day ahead, I had a vision of Cassandra at the workplace.  Some of her predictions have come true, although the means of delivery are different. 

Cassandra, Noah's wife--it's interesting how my brain is returning to these archetypes.  O.K. Noah's wife may not be an archetype.

I will come home to a dinner of homemade turkey soup with dumplings, and then I'll observe the evening classes via my computer.  These are very interesting times.

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