Day 90 of AY20-21: holding space during disaster

Day 90 of the pandacademic year would be the most concerning for Abrome. I woke up that morning understanding that the dangerously cold temperatures the night before, in addition to blackouts effecting much of Austin (and Texas), as well as the ice covered roads would put many people’s lives at risk, and may make getting people the support they need out of reach. The houses in Austin are not made for cold like this, and many people who live in Austin do not have practice managing this type of weather. Especially when their power goes out and their houses drop into the 40s, or 30s. Meeting in person would not be an option.

Remarkably, I had power and internet, so I was able to participate in the morning meeting. In addition to the three Facilitators who showed up, six Learners showed. A pretty great turnout given what was happening in the city. I quickly touched upon the agenda for the meeting, and then reviewed the Community Awareness Board. If there was ever a time for us to be present for one another this was it, so I highlighted our practices around being present, to include minimizing apps and putting down our phones during the meetings. One of the Learners was clearly looking at her phone during the meeting so I went over the practice again and she put it down. Next I opened up the meeting for announcements, and a Learner shared his desire to add a Roblox offering, so I opened up the calendar and we added it. That Learner was particular eager to talk that morning so I practiced patience and we were able to meet his needs while also meeting the needs of the group.

I mentioned that there were some people not on the call because they had no power or internet. I added that there were a lot of people suffering in Texas right now, to include some of our friends and family, and the thousands of houseless people, and I acknowledged that most of us were stuck at home and unable to help them. So I asked everyone, when we are stuck at home, how can we support those who are far away? The answers ranged from the serious to the not-so-serious: invite friends to house if they are out of power; letting them take their firewood; donating money to mutual aid groups; checking in on them, offering hacks, and conserving electricity; dragging cars out of ditches; checking up on friends and family by calling them or going to their house; sending a text or call to people you care about and just show them support; IDK; send them a message to make sure everyone is breathing correctly. I’m not certain if the less serious responses were an effort to manage with the heaviness of the situation, or if the scale of the situation was not apparent to the Learners. Nonetheless, we shared some nice suggestions.

After the morning meeting I had two one-to-one check-ins with adolescent Learners. Between both, we discussed boyfriend issues, family members getting vaccines, and plans to participate in workout offerings when we come back together again in-person. Then, because I had internet, I hosted the 7-minute workout (which we missed out on on Monday because of internet issues). It was a great way to get moving and enjoy each other’s company. At the end we gave each other virtual high fives and moved on with our day.

Facilitator Ariel stuck around in the Zoom room because he was hosting the coffee and read offering for the next hour. I always try to stick around for that, and with all the worries I was having I was particularly inclined to just let go and read for an hour on this day. In the coffee and read we typically drink coffee or tea, and read. There’s not much interaction until the very end when we discuss our books. Facilitator Ariel continues to work his way through Anarcho-Blackness by Marquis Bey for the collective he is a member of, and I continued to read Raising Good Humans by Hunter Clarke-Fields for my Thursday book group.

Facilitator Lauren was having power and internet challenges on Tuesday but was able to have some one-to-one check-ins with the same Learners I had check-ins with earlier in the day. Unfortunately, after the check-ins her power died, again, which meant her internet and heat were lost, as well. Unable to connect, she needed to cancel her yoga offering. In addition to Facilitator Lauren losing power, one Learner had her power being shut down periodically, while two other Learners were in a sustained state of powerlessness. By that evening both of their households would still be without power with temperatures dropping. Fortunately, their families were mindful about keeping everyone warm despite very low temperatures within their homes.

My lucky run with internet was coming to an end. Fortunately I was hosting my free write offering on Discord and not on Zoom. I was unable to host it the day before so I was pretty hopeful that someone would be able to join me on Tuesday. One older Learner did, and I told her that I would work on a blog post, but that I was really struggling with it because of internet issues. I asked what she was going to work on and she said she did not know. So we talked about options such as journaling or stream of consciousness. She decided to journal, I set the timer, and we each wrote for about 40 minutes. At the end of the session I checked in and we both made progress, though not as much as we would have liked. But considering what was going on in Texas, we were okay with that.

Facilitator Ariel hosted the afternoon roundup. By that time my internet was shot again, and I was using my phone to try to follow what was going on in the Zoom room. I did not hear much. The prompt Facilitator Ariel used was, did you witness or participate in any acts of kindness today? The responses once again ranged from the serious to the not-so-serious: being in conversations with people organizing to save the lives of the houseless; my roommate shoveled snow out of the driveway and then chose to shovel the street; I connected some family and friends so that they could give and receive something that they each needed; loved on dogs; no, played in snow with my family a bit; no; no, just been doing my own stuff; not roasting my friends.

After the meeting the Facilitators talked about how we were doing with regard to holding space for and supporting Learners and their families. We also decided to follow up with the families that we knew were without power, share tips on staying warm when the power is out with the community, and formally cancelling in-person meet ups for the rest of the week. It was a long and emotional day.

While it was a rough day for some of the Abrome Learners, and for millions of Texans, we did take time to appreciate the joy that some experienced thanks to the snow.