Monday was day one of week three of the third cycle, or day 41 of the 20-21 academic year. Facilitator Lauren and I started our day early and chilly at a park in south Austin, masked up, and physically distanced so that we could meet with a potential Facilitator that we are really excited about. I had already met with the potential Facilitator online, but this was our first chance to meet in-person. We talked about our philosophy of education, the way that we try to be with the Learners, the culture we are trying to build, and our focus on consent, anti-oppression, and liberation. The potential Facilitator talked about their history, how they navigate different settings, and their focus on building community. It was a great meeting and a great way to start our day.
While I went in the day hopeful to be adding people to the Abrome community in the near future (a Facilitator and two prospective Learners), I was also weighed down by the possibility of people leaving the community, as well. In particular, losing people around some of our more stringent Covid-19 protocols. These protocols allow us to more safely be together during pandemic, except in cases where we go fully remote because everyone should be staying at home, but they can also be challenging for families and Learners who want more flexibility in how they may show up at Abrome or how they might interact with people outside of Abrome. This concern was coupled with quickly rising numbers of infections in our region, in the state, and across the United States. The protocols we have implemented help protect our community from Covid-19, but because most of society is not approaching the pandemic the way we are, including conventional schools, I was expecting that we would be forced to go partially remote by Thanksgiving, and fully remote sometime in December.
This mix of hope for the growth of our community with discouragement for the potential departures from the community, and the toll the pandemic is having on broader society left me uncertain about how the day would unfold for me and our cell. When we started our day we had a smaller crew than usual, with three Learners being absent for the day. Because we are operating in small groups during the pandemic the absence of just a couple of Learners can have a negative impact on the level of excitement of the people who show up. And on Monday morning that excitement deficit was palpable, and came through in the one line intentions the Learners wrote down: don’t freeze, hang out with [Learners who were absent], don’t die, not walk up the hill. I put on my best face in the hopes that I could lift their mood.
After the morning meeting the crew decided to walk to the lake. It was a normal walk to the lake, like any other day, but about halfway there one of the older Learners demanded that we all take notice of the stream that was aggressively flowing in the wrong direction. It was fascinating and we began to talk about the reasons why water would be rushing the opposite way. One theory was that the dam upstream had burst and a catastrophe was afoot. Another theory was that they were just releasing water from the dam upstream and that was pushing water upstream. I quickly checked twitter just to verify.
The stillness of the lake was beautiful; a bit eerie
When we go too the lake we just enjoyed the views. The lake water was higher than we had seen it all year, and it was remarkably still. It was tranquil. Every Learner just took it in. The temperature was quickly rising from the cold of the morning to what would turn out to be a very warm November day. It was a good day to be in nature, and not the worst day to have some time for solitude. I set up my chair and sat down and let the Learners know that I was available for them, if they wanted it.
Taking a nap
One Learner chose to spend his time in my orbit, not really talking to me, but just being around me. Another Learner pulled out her comics to work on. The two older Learners approached me and asked if they could borrow knives so they could whittle away on some sticks while chatting with each other. I gave them the knives, and they rotated between looking for sticks on the ground to carve, looking for pecans to eat, and sitting down and carving the sticks or eating the pecans while in conversation. The younger Learner took advantage of the sun and the warming temperatures to take a nap.
Appreciating nature with two feet in the water
With the absence of the two Learners she had hoped to hang out with, the Learner who chose to work on her comics took breaks every once in a while to notice and experience the changes that were taking place in nature as we moved through autumn, and to enjoy the uniqueness of the lake that day. At one point she took of her shoes and stood on the beach just staring across the water at the shoreline. While it was disappointing for her to not be able to spend time with her friends, it seemed that being without them opened up an opportunity for her to notice and take in the beauty of her surroundings.
One of the two sixteen-year-old Learners brought his bike for the first time, which allowed him and the other sixteen-year-old to take turns riding it, to examine the operation of it, and to connect over it.
Although I made myself available for the Learners, the older Learners chose to hang out with each other while the younger Learners chose time by themselves. Although the younger Learners did remain fairly close to me. I pulled out my Rubik’s cube and continued to toy with it, as I had almost memorized the algorithms to solve it, but I was not quite there.
The six-year-old Learner who felt he had nothing to do without his friend showing up, and who chose napping in the sun over interacting with anyone, eventually shifted his attention to a patch of dirt nearby. I saw him drawing in it with his finger, and then wiping it clean, and then drawing in it again. I walked over to see what he was doing and I noticed that he was practicing writing some words that he knew.
At the end of the day the Learner who was working on her comics and enjoying nature for most of the day offered to lead the afternoon roundup. Then we had a pleasant walk back to the pickup point and everyone seemed to be in a better mood than they started the day with. As for me, I was pleased with how the day evolved. I also used the day to refocus my thoughts on the potential of adding a Facilitator and adding new Learners than I was over the possibility that we might lose some community members due to our Covid protocols, which I considered out of my control at that point. As the Abrome day came to an end I made a note to reply to each one of emails from the prospective community members that were sitting in my mailbox.