Morning meeting
Monday would be the first day of cycle six but it would not be the first remote day to start off a cycle during this pandacademic year. Just like last cycle, Austin is in risk stage level five for Covid-19 so we will be meeting entirely remote until the risk stage level drops back down to four. Facilitator Lauren opened the cycle via the morning meeting with a review of last cycle’s awarenesses and practices, and then opened up the meeting for announcements. Next we all shared what our intentions were for the cycle: prepare myself to go back outdoors, make most of remote time for connection, committed outreach time each day, animation I want to get done, breathe, focus on minimizing apps, get very good at video game, fix my sleep cycle, be prepared if we can be back in person, figure self out, pop up to meetings. Several Learners did not answer the prompt but hopefully hearing others share their intentions will help them think about their own.
High fives after the 7-minute workout
Next we quickly went day by day through the week for the Set-the-Week meeting. Each of the Facilitators had offerings they were sharing, but a couple of Learners also included their own, to include a Learner who invited everyone to join her for a 75-minute workout later that day, on Wednesday, and on Friday. After the meeting the usual crew immediately went into the much shorter 7-minute workout which was not that easy after a five-day break since the last workout. Each of the attendees at that workout said they planned to go to the 75-minute workout that afternoon, so I wished them luck and gave them all a virtual high five.
After the morning workout both Facilitator Ariel and I had competing offerings. He invited Learners to just drop in and hang out at a breakfast chat, while I hosted a free write. One of the older Learners dropped in on the breakfast chat, while the adolescent who often joins me dropped in for the free write and made some great progress on her book. I admitted that I was a bit distracted and did not make as much progress as I had hoped. Perhaps it was because I had finished another blog post earlier that morning and I was just a bit tired.
At 12 p.m. another Learner hosted his Among Us offering but on this particular day he did not seem to get folks to join him, or at least they did not join him in the Discord voice channel. Likewise for Facilitator Lauren, no one showed up at her yoga offering. Each Learner and Facilitator seemed to be off doing their own thing as has become the norm during our remote experience.
Rocking the 75-minute workout
With a lack of attendance at the other offerings of the day, particularly from Learners, I did not expect many folks to show up for the 75-minute workout. But what I had forgotten was that the Learner hosting the 75-minute workout had asked for commitments from people who would show up, and everyone who committed showed up.
Mostly thumbs up on the 75-minute workout
I was not able to make the workout as I had a conflict that afternoon, and will all week, but I got feedback that it was more difficult than the 7 minute workout, which made sense as it is a magnitude of order longer. I heard of some sore abs and glutes, and I told the Learner that I would try to rework my schedule next week so I could join in. Everyone who showed up gave the workout a thumbs up. Well everybody but one.
Yarrow harvest
Facilitator Lauren trekked outside during the day to harvest some yarrow for her plant medicine offering on Friday. She also posted a picture of the harvest on Instagram, the third IG post of the day for us. Facilitator Ariel posted a picture of the Facilitators at socially distanced and masked up at our professional development day at a park in Wimberley, TX, while I posted a picture of the new Murder of Crows game we just got in the mail from Brooklyn Flying Squad. Go check out our Instagram account to follow along with us as we navigate through this pandemic and a world that does not recognize the rights of children.
Afternoon roundup
The afternoon roundup consisted of a small crew. Facilitator Ariel had us all reflect on our practices and then he pulled up the calendar so that we could see the offerings that were planned for later in the week. Using popcorn to respond, each of us then said what offerings we were interested in for the week: comic book reading, The Giving Tree reading (with alternative ending) Facilitator Lauren’s mystery plant offering, 7-minute workout, [Learner’s] 75-minute workout, yarrow salve offering, breakfast chat, medicine offering, Facilitator Lauren’s plant offering, goofy drawings, “I don’t have one,” free write, [Learner’s] 75-minute workout, Minecraft, “I might try [Learner’s] 75-minute workout,” Facilitator Lauren’s plant ointment thingy, none, [Learner’s] 75-minute workout. It seems the two most anticipated offerings are Facilitator Lauren’s plant medicine offering (said five different ways) and the three 75-minute workouts organized by one of the Learners. We will see how turnout turns out.