@Luke,
@Tim Williams I feel for you guys - and thanks for letting us in on all the anguish and misery the social upheavals in your otherwise amazing country cause. We Central Europeans have often looked at the U.S. with disbelief and dismay in the last fifty or so years (you have to remember that I'm a historian); what it must feel like to actually live there in these especially trying times is hard to fathom. I appreciate it all the more to have so many of you keep us such good company. Civility and empathy are things we all have to re-learn and practice as much as possible - thanks for providing us with such strong incentives to that end.
For me, photography has always been an outlet of my visual creativity (I'm dismally bad at drawing and painting), and now it's a pillar of sanity as well. It's what I do to keep my wits about me ... However, to be honest, that pillar is nothing but a crutch at times - as much as we sympathise with each other in general, in many particular cases, it appears as if society had forgotten about so many needs and necessities the new online craze can't take care of.
We learned less than a week ago that we won't be allowed to see our students again this term. The young people are taking it very, very badly because they've, for the most part, tried to stick to the rules in order to make the lockdown pass as quickly as possible and set all their hopes on June. Now the country is opening up (very, maybe dangerously, quickly), but secondary schools have to remain closed. The only thing the students may enter the school grounds for is - tests; they're actually forbidden from turning up at all otherwise. This is so depressing - if there's one thing we don't need now, it's additional pressure and stress, yet that's the only thing we're allowed to create and carry out. I've already thought of how to remedy that impossibly aggravating situation for my class, but the fact that I need to do this on my own, private iniative is outrageous. Has anyone thought about the kids at all? What of their mental health, their happiness that they're entitled to and need much more of than we hardened old fools (I'm joking, feeling miserable ...)? They're not yet as disillusioned and cynical as we are, that's for sure - however, we're apparently doing everything to make them reach that state as fast as possible. Why do we in education not actively look for better solutions? Why do we, the general public, not change our behaviour to make us all safer? Why do we all not pour all our resources into doing the right things instead of the simple and obvious? Selfishness has always been short-sighted, but at the moment, it seems to turn everyone blind, deaf and dumb. Back to "normal"? I so hope not ... We can't afford to stay on the route we've taken a lot longer ...
Okay, I'll knock off the sombre tones now - because whatever's eating me, is eating us, it won't help us survive and making things better, gradually, slowly, but we have to try.
In the meantime, let's give each other some reason for joy by sharing - just images, but images at least ... Windows of opportunity, so to speak. Let's keep them open ...
M.