Monday would have normally been the first of our two remote days at the end of the cycle that allows us to have a nine day break from meeting in-person between cycles, but since we are still in risk stage level five in Central Texas it was just another remote day in a fully remote cycle for us at Abrome.
Each morning we review the practices from the Community Awareness Board that we are working on, and then we often say which practice we are going to focus on that day. One of the Facilitators had noticed that many Learners were repeating the same practice each day and were not working on other practices, so they suggested that everyone identify a focus that they needed to focus more on. This exercise worked out pretty well as it brought more intentionality into the meeting.
Next we answered how we could create connection with someone at Abrome during the week: talk to ppl on Discord; participate in the Among Us or comic book reading offerings; check Discord more often; catapults offering; being present on Discord and the family workshop; Among Us; connect with Lauren for a one-to-one check-in; join meetings; teach Ariel how to play Minecraft; showing up to meetings; Discord; Among Us.
After the morning meeting I had some time to slowly set up for the 7-minute workout where the usual crew worked out and then briefly hung out. Then I moved into the free write offering where a Learner was waiting for me. She continued working on her book while I worked on a blog post, but then I got distracted by the upcoming family workshop and did a final check of the slides. As with the final hour before any type of scheduled presentation the time quickly passed. I checked in with the Learner to see how she did with her writing and she said that she was feeling really good about her writing.
Family workshop
I then transitioned back to Zoom to welcome the family members who would be joining the family workshop. Once per month we host a two-hour family workshop where we come together with Abrome parents and guardians to think about, discuss, and identify actionable steps that we can all take to help support young people in their journey toward greater freedom and liberation. We had been holding the workshops on the weekends or on weekday evenings, but some of the families were struggling to attend at those times, so this was the first time we scheduled the workshop in the middle of the day. We told the Learners they were free to join us or free to set up their own offerings, but that we would be fully engaged with the workshop between the hours of 12 and 2 p.m.
Family workshop
On this day we talked about aligning practices at home and at Abrome. In addition to the three Facilitators, the guardians or parents of six families showed up, and a Learner showed up. One parent of a newer Learner indicated that he was committed to making Abrome work for his kid. During the conversation about culture co-creation, a parent asked if awarenesses had to be negative in nature. It was a great workshop. We are so fortunate that the families at Abrome recognize the importance of both autonomy for children and the necessity of psychologically safe communities. It was a two hour workshop, and I was pretty exhausted by the end of it.
Comic book offering
Facilitator Ariel had a comic book offering immediately following the workshop where an adolescent Learner showed up. Facilitator Ariel is a fan of comic books and decided to create the offering as a way to support a Learner he had talked with the prior week at length about their mutual interest in comic books. But that Learner did not show. Facilitator Ariel asked the Learner who did show what type of comic book she would like him to read, and they started to look through the options. She said she wanted to read one with a strong female lead, which greatly limited the possibilities and that led to a conversation of women in comic books and the portrayals of women in comic books. In addition to Facilitator Ariel reading the comic book, conversation between the two moved through various other social justice issues.
Facilitator Lauren has been hosting a yoga offering from her living room each week while we are meeting remotely. These short, mid-day yoga breaks have been really fun and energizing, and on this day she decided to take a time elapse video of it to encourage other Learners to join sometime. At the family workshop I shared a deschooling resources link that Facilitator Ariel dove into leaving him to miss out on the yoga offering.
Afternoon roundup
In large part due to the two-hour family workshop, the day flew by. Eleven total joined for the afternoon roundup. We reviewed how we did on the practice that we more mindfully focused on for the day, and then we jumped into a great prompt that Lauren shared: Describe a way in which you were generous toward someone, recently, and how did it make them feel? And if you do not know, how did it make you feel? Several Learners were not ready to answer the prompt but the answers that were shared shed some light on how folks are interacting with each other during the pandemic: I went hiking with a friend and she found a huge piece of driftwood that she wanted to keep, but it was too heavy for her to carry so I helped carry it out; I have filled a bag with stuffed animals I am going to give to Goodwill; I did not get someone a birthday card on time so I found a great card that I was able to give them a week later; I took cheese and bread to friend; I was nice to a friend and we both felt good about it; I tried to build up relationship with my non-live-in parent (but it did not work); started talking to my grandma and she’s happy about it; in a game I was supposed to publicly execute someone but I didn’t because I thought he was innocent. Yikes to that last one—I guess being generous to someone in a game is a bit different than being generous in real life.