Our AY 2022-23 pandemic plan

This is a brief overview of the layers of protection that we are applying at Abrome for the 2022-23 academic year. Abrome has been able to remain COVID free for the past three years of pandemic schooling.

The success we have had in protecting each other and local communities from the spread of COVID is something we are very proud of. We were only able to do that thanks to a collective commitment to community care, transparency, and candid and honest communication.

Community care means centering the needs of those who would be most impacted by our decisions and actions, and leveraging our privilege to support them. We must acknowledge three realities about the COVID pandemic (and likely Mpox, too):

1. COVID continues to fall heaviest on BIPOC communities, the immunocompromised, those without access to quality healthcare, essential workers, the unvaccinated, etc. All of our pandemic decisions must center those most impacted. Nothing we do impacts only those at Abrome.

2. All Facilitators and Learners go home to families, friends, and into other communities each day. If we were to spread COVID at Abrome, we’d spread it elsewhere, too.

3. There is no such thing as a harmless single case of COVID. Including cases that are “mild.” Each case has the potential to lead to long-term chronic health problems and disrupt quality of life, seed a superspreader event, and host a mutation that can become a new variant.

To limit the likelihood of infection and spread, we will use a multilayered approach to not bringing COVID into our education community, and not spreading COVID if it does find its way into the community. Please see our pandemic plan for greater detail.

Masking: Everyone will wear KF94s, KN95s, or N95s (or higher filtration masks or respirators) whenever we are indoors, and any time we are close to one another outdoors above the lowest risk level. All snacks and meals must be eaten outdoors.

Physical distancing: As cases rise we will reduce reduce density, cohort, and meet outdoors. Quarantine and isolation lasts 7 and 10 days, respectively, including a test out requirement. Abromies will receive remote support, and Facilitators receive paid sick time off.

Air quality: We will aggressively ventilate the space and monitor ventilation with CO2 monitors (800ppm max). Each room is also equipped with at least one HEPA purifier or Corsi-Rosenthal box, producing in excess of 12 air changes per hour (ACH) in filtration based on air volume.

Testing: Each morning every Learner and Facilitator completes a quick screening questionnaire before, each family submits a pooled household sample for LAMP surveillance testing, and we follow up with diagnostic testing based on results or stated concerns of exposure.

Vaccines: This year we also have a vaccination mandate except in very rare cases of medical necessity. Our definition of fully vaccinated includes being up-to-date on boosters.

Risk levels: We will use our updated COVID risk level system to determine when, where, and how we will gather. The five risk levels have cutoffs based on the average new cases per 100,000 and the test positivity rate, locally.

Gathering guidelines: Risk determines where we gather, how big our cells can be, whether we must mask (always indoors), when we will conduct LAMP testing (whenever in-person), and how close we can be from each other to include when eating (always outdoors).

Some say that we need kids back in schools even without sufficient measures to protect them from COVID infection because of learning loss, socialization, or other racist and classist assumptions. We believe such claims are not only false, they are ethically and morally repugnant.

Here is the Abrome pandemic plan for the coming academic year. Cannot wait to see you all on September 6th.

Covid: three pandemic years in—looking back

Most schools in central Texas reopen this week, and the overwhelming majority of them will have no meaningful COVID protections in place, much less a multilayered approach that would drastically reduce the risk of spread of COVID within their school communities. Needless to say, they will have no meaningful Monkeypox protections in place, either. 

At Abrome, we still have three weeks until the first day of our 2022-2023 academic year, and have yet to put out our finalized pandemic plan for the coming year. We expect to do so in the next ten days, and expect it to be similar to our plan for the past year. Our last academic year wrapped up only five and a half weeks ago, on Friday, July 9th, and we finished our third pandacademic year without a single known case of COVID in the space. The following day I posted a twitter thread that briefly touched upon the multilayered approach we took to stop the spread of the disease. In the hopes of encouraging school leaders, teachers, staff, parents, and students who believe there is nothing they can do to protect each other from COVID in the current political and social environment, I am including the full text of that thread, and where appropriate I expound on what we did and how these practices can be implemented in their schools. I will also address some of the criticisms that many people brought forth. Disclaimer: snark.

Our 2021-22 academic year just ended yesterday.

We just finished our 3rd year without a single case of COVID-19 in the space. That means not a single person was exposed “at school.” Doubly impressive given the transmissibility of the current variants.

How did we do it?

— Abrome (@AbromeEd) July 9, 2022

Our 2021-22 academic year just ended yesterday. 

We just finished our 3rd year without a single case of COVID-19 in the space. That means not a single person was exposed “at school.” Doubly impressive given the transmissibility of the current variants.

How did we do it?

First, we prioritized community care over white, upper middle class, reactionary insecurity. We recognized early on that COVID was falling heaviest on BIPOC communities, the immunocompromised, those without access to quality healthcare, etc. All our decisions centered them. 

[This really bothered a lot of folks. A quick check of those who complained showed they were disproportionately COVID deniers, anti-maskers, and anti-vaxxers. Yes, I know that those terms are politically charged and may be viewed as pejoratives but in this case it is simply a statement of reality. Surprisingly a select group of COVID minimizers, advocates of only vaccinating people, advocates of only mandating masks, and blue check influencers (official accounts with large audiences) glossed over this and later claimed that our practices that centered BIPOC communities somehow harmed Black students because they were not stuck in school. Note: learning loss is not a thing. And even if it was, it would not be a sufficient excuse to risk exposing kids to COVID, or their parens, guardians, or caregivers.]

Second, we acknowledged that nothing we do impacts only those at Abrome. All Facilitators (“teachers”) and young people (“students”) go home to families, friends, and into other communities each day. If we were to spread COVID at Abrome, we’d spread it elsewhere, too. 

[Some OPEN SCHOOLS NOW people (who argue that we just have to get kids back in schools [as if they haven’t been back in schools] and who are overwhelmingly middle class and upper middle class white people) and COVID minimizers argued that kids were more likely to catch it at home than they were at school. True, because at home you are breathing in each other’s air over extended periods of time, without protection measures. And the parents are bringing the disease home most often from work (schools happen to be workplaces for teachers and staff) or other settings where people come together, usually indoors, usually without masking, and usually without other forms of protections—like schools. And it is a foolish argument against preventing spread at school because when a kid brings the disease home from school then everyone in their family becomes at risk of being infected. The disease does not magically not spread when a kid brings it home.]

Third, there is no such thing as a harmless single case of COVID that someone with “a healthy immune system” can overcome. Each case has the potential to seed a superspreader event. Each case has the potential to host a mutation that can become a new variant. 

So we focused on two things.

1) not bringing COVID into our education community.

2) not spreading COVID if it did find its way into the community. 

To not bring it in we started with going remote during periods of very high spread. This was easy in the spring of 2020 when all schools chose to do the same. It got much harder in 2021 & 2022 when society bought into the argument that kids and teachers should accept infection. 

[See screenshot of daily spread calculation instructions.]

We also had each family conduct a daily COVID screening. If someone showed up having not completed it we did it with them in-person before allowing them to enter the space / join the group. 

It worked. During every wave we had some students or staff get infected outside of Abrome, but because of our practices none brought it into the community (which would have then spread out beyond the community). 

[See screenshot of screening checklist. We will be updating the screening for the coming year.]

To not spread it if it snuck into the community we acknowledged that #COVIDisAirborne. We mandated masks whenever indoors. KF94, KN95, N95, or better. Zero indoor “mask breaks.” And folks had to go outdoors to eat.

Outdoors they had to wear masks when close to each other. 

And we went outdoors for the entirety of the 2020-2021 academic year! In the Texas heat! This year we had at least one cell of people outdoors pretty much each day except when we went remote during Delta and Omicron. During very high levels of spread, everyone went outdoors. 

[One OPEN SCHOOLS NOW and blue check influencer accused us of being remote most of the time, while wealthy schools “used their resources to keep kids safer in person.” Well, we are not a wealthy school, so we didn’t have those resources (assuming they meant money), and they conveniently glossed over the fact that we were not largely remote.]

We also filtered our indoor air. Each room was equipped with HEPA filtration systems or Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, each with a CADR that would deliver at least 6 ACH per room based on room volume, and 8 ACH in bathrooms. That also required calculating the volume of each room. See, maybe you will use need to know that math in the future!

“Sure, but you can only do that because you’re a well-funded private school!!”

Wrong. We are not a rich private school. Our sliding scale tuition give us only 40% of the tuition per student that the local public schools receive. We just prioritize community care! 

[And that tweet was prescient as that same OPEN SCHOOLS NOW and blue check influencer attacked our plan because "MAKING ACTUAL SCHOOLS SAFER REQUIRES INVESTMENT” while completely ignoring that we did on the cheap what schools with an annual budgets that ran into the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars refused to do anything to clean their air.] 

On top of filtering the air we ventilated the indoor space. We opened windows and created lots of cross flow. We used CO2 monitors as a proxy measure for ventilation. When the readings went above 650 we cranked the AC and opened the windows further, if it hit 800 we vacated. 

We implemented capacity limits indoors, for each room and for the total number who could be indoors at any given time.

We also broke our community up into smaller and smaller groups/cells as cases rose. And pushed them outdoors. It is safer outdoors. 

If someone would have inadvertently come into the space / group infected, the smaller cells limited the pool of people who could be exposed.

No one came in infected (as much luck as it was preventative policies) but even if they did the number they could infect was capped. 

[Some critics pointed out that we were lucky and that we could not attribute no one bringing COVID into Abrome or spreading it within the community to our practices. As if we did not acknowledge that luck most certainly played a part. But luck does often favor those who prepare.]

When the CDC catered to politicians and corporations and said that local spread should not be the driver of how we choose to meet, we ignored them. When the CDC said that we could drastically shorten quarantine and isolation periods, or not require testing out, we ignored them. 

[Sorry for also ignoring you, the OPEN SCHOOLS NOW blue check influencers who insist upon a one-size fits all solution that requires multi-billions of dollars of investment from the same government that is actively trying to convince us that we should just live with COVID.] 

Next year we will also have a vaccine mandate except in very rare cases of medical necessity (everyone in our community is vaccinated already). 

[This only got push back from anti-vaxxers. The vaccinate only crowd only took issue with everything else we wrote.]

The pandemic has really tested our community. Centering community care has put a big dent in our enrollment. But we understand our obligations toward our families, our community, and our society. 

And that was the thread.

The COVID minimizers, OPEN SCHOOLS NOW people, and blue check influencers also came out in force to attack us for being too small to take seriously.  Side note, the COVID minimizers, the vaccinate-only, the masking-only, and blue check influencers do seem to be causing much more harm than the COVID deniers these days. This was our response to them:

So the fact that we are a very small education community seems to really gall some people, convincing them to shout that our approach to Covid is irrelevant because of our size. Because if we don't have at least 100 enrolled there is nothing to learn from our efforts.

We are a Self-Directed Education community that rejects the practices and structures of schooling and instead focus on centering community care and honoring the autonomy of young people. We will never become a large school because we are not what most parents want. 👍

We consider ourselves to be a liberation project, acting prefiguratively to serve as a model for others to learn from and to replicate if it speaks to them. We strive to be an anti-oppressive space, and one of "a million experiments." Let those experiments propagate!

It is that mindset that allows us to center community care over white, upper middle class, reactionary insecurity. It is precisely because we are not a conventional school that we were able to focus on limiting the risk of exposure and spread through layered mitigations.

Some say that what we do cannot work for everyone because we go outdoors and then go remote when there is uncontrolled community spread. Or because we start at 10a. Or because we charge tuition.

True.

We cannot be all things to all people. We don't try to be.

We are one experiment. Ideally there would be many schools taking Covid seriously so that there were many more options for families. Even amongst district public schools. But we don't get public funding, so blaming us for not being free and available 24/7 is weird.

They angrily argue that what we do cannot be scaled up to all public school systems.

Yes. And no.

Yes, public schools, just like conventional private schools, serve power and the status quo. Even where communities overwhelmingly demand safer schools, most schools cannot even mandate masking. Our approach cannot be easily scaled up because it doesn't serve power.

But no, what we do can be scaled up to all schools because the measures are readily accessible to all who have the courage to push back against politicians and corporations, even if they have to do so in a renegade fashion. Investment is not the problem, priorities are.

The most closeminded position of all is that because of our small size that nothing we do is relevant, or somehow scaling up is not possible. What do people think schools are? Are they not large buildings, that are broken down into grades and classrooms?

Everything we do could be scaled. Mandated masking, monitoring air quality, ventilation, CR boxes or HEPA filters in classrooms, cohorting, daily screenings, quarantines & isolation that is not truncated and requires a test out, going outdoors, going remote.

Are they really arguing that layered mitigation measures are not feasible? Or are they saying that schools with tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in annual budgets cannot afford it? Or are they just telling you to get vaccinated and look away?

We'll still be here.

Cover image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

First day of school for local kids (not at Abrome)

Today tens of thousands of students in Central Texas will be returning to school, joining the scores of thousands who returned to school yesterday.

While there is palpable excitement for many students who want to be around large groups of peers again, many other students feel like hostages, knowing full well that they are entering into buildings where their safety is not being taken seriously. This latter group understand that bringing large amounts of people together indoors for hours at a time greatly increases the risk of spread, even with masks. They understand that because their school populations are majority unvaccinated that the risk is amplified, and that some of them, their peers, or the teachers and staff are going to get seriously ill or die. They understand that people who get infected are going to bring the disease home to their families and their local neighborhoods. Yet they have been told they have no choice—schools will not push back the reopening dates, schools will not go remote, many schools won’t even enforce masking requirements. They are told that they must risk their safety and the safety of their community because the schooling machine requires their participation to operate. Some of them will recognize that they do not have participate. Some teachers and staff members will realize the same.

Solidarity to all the students, teachers, and staff who refuse to participate in indoor schooling at this time.

Our values shape our pandemic response

Abrome is an education option for young people and a liberation project. We believe in youth liberation and in the liberation of all peoples, and that our liberation is bound up together. In order to help co-create a better world, we must actively work against the many forms of injustice that exist within our society, to include the oppression of young people. Abrome is a safe space for young people to practice freedom in a community that values consent, practices consensus, and centers the needs of those most impacted by our decisions and actions. 

The wellbeing of the young people at Abrome is a precondition—we will not come together in-person if it puts Abrome Learners needlessly at risk. While we recognize that social interaction, particularly in Self-Directed Education settings, is greatly preferred over remote ones, we reject the privileged narrative that “school closures harm children.” That narrative ignores the many ways in which schooling causes harm to so many children. And so-called learning loss or lack of socialization does not hurt a young person nearly as much as losing someone in their family, household, or community to Covid-19, much less knowing that they were the source of infection. As of July 2021, the children who were hurt the most during the pandemic were the 119,000 who lost a primary caregiver to Covid-19, or the more than 140,000 who experienced the death of a primary or secondary caregiver, defined as co-residing grandparents or kin. Though children remain largely “unlikely to die from Covid-19,” death is not the only bad outcome. Infected adolescents and children continue to be hospitalized, admitted to the ICU, and intubated. They may also develop multi-system inflammatory syndrome or myocarditis. And many will suffer from Long Covid symptoms that can last for months, maybe even years, after they recover from Covid-19. Further, while many vaccinated adults have chosen to “return to normal” because they are largely immune to the worst outcomes of the disease, none of the young people under age 12 are eligible for vaccination, and some age 12 and up are unable to get vaccinated for various reasons. Ignoring the welfare of children should not be normal.

What we choose to do at Abrome does not stay within our immediate community. We are all interconnected. Even if we could ensure that none of the members of the Abrome community would be seriously affected by Covid-19, we would still view it as our responsibility to not carelessly risk spreading the disease to others. The elderly and those with underlying medical conditions are at the greatest risk of serious illness or death from Covid-19, and they have borne the brunt of the pandemic. Other groups that have been disproportionately affected include Hispanic, Black, and Indigenous people; low income people; and people in congregate settings (e.g., long-term care facilities, prisons, shelters, meat processing facilities). Those who fall into more than one of the aforementioned groups are particularly vulnerable. These groups, and other under-resourced, marginalized, and oppressed groups have also disproportionately suffered in terms of financial security and mental health during the pandemic. We cannot in good conscience enter into this new academic year without continuing to make the welfare of the most impacted central to our pandemic response.

At Abrome we often say that we are concerned about two worlds. There is the world that we live in, that we need to learn how to navigate. And there is the world that we want to live in, and we choose to live prefiguratively in order to help bring that world into being. The world we live in is eager to “return to normal,” letting those most at risk suffer the consequences. The world we want to live in is not risk free, but it rejects the notion of transferring risk from those with resources and power to those without. We acknowledge that each additional Covid-19 infection can lead to more infections, and each new infection has the potential to seed a superspreader event or a new variant of the virus. By greatly reducing the likelihood of infection or spread of the disease at Abrome, we will help minimize the harm to those in our communities and outside of them, and we will provide an example to others of what community care can look like. 

Do not let go of your time outdoors when the pandemic ends

When we went outdoors this year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we were not sure how the Learners would respond to the heat, the cold, the rain, the bugs, and the physical activity. Because we are a Self-Directed Education community that elevates free play as a wonderful use of time and a fabulous end in and of itself, we figured that the Abrome Learners would better adapt than those who were only given a 30-minute recess in elementary school, and no recess in middle or high school, and often being stuck indoors even when at home because of homework or studying. While it has certainly been a challenge for some, others have really thrived.

Over the past pandacademic year, we have become much more comfortable with discomfort, we have found ways to find joy when sweaty and dirty, and many of us have rediscovered the endless miracles of nature. It seems likely that many of us will have the opportunity to go back indoors in September as cases will hopefully continue to fall as more people get vaccinated and people continue to avoid needlessly congregating indoors in large groups. However, we hope that what we gained this year in going outdoors is not lost when we have the opportunity to be shielded from the elements or when digital entertainment is easier to access.

Our society has been systematically deprived of the regenerative power of nature, and next to only those who have been incarcerated, children are the biggest victims of the institutional walls that seal us off from nature. It is educational malpractice for adults to tell children that they should forgo all of the benefits of nature in order to thoroughly school (in school and at home) in order to prepare themselves for the false promises of a supposedly successful life. Children’s lives include the present as well as that future, and more time in nature enriches both.

When this pandemic ends, whenever you consider it to be over, please do not let go of your time outdoors. And most importantly, do not force the kids back indoors.

Day 113 of AY20-21: stumbling upon play

On Wednesday, March 31st, I started my day off by dropping by the cell that I was not in to drop off some items with Facilitator Lauren. While I was there one of the parents of one of the Learners showed up, which gave me an opportunity to have a conversation with them about frustration over some of our Covid-19 protocols. We recognize that we are one of the few exceptions to the rule when it comes to education communities and Covid-19. The rule seems to be to pretend it is not a threat once inside of the walls of a school, or on school buses, and pretend that students can’t take the disease home and into their neighborhoods. Our commitment to protecting each other and those outside our community have meant that we are entirely outdoors all year, even when it is cold or hot, and we are vigilant about quarantining, and we are vigilant about masking when around others. We had a good conversation about how to reconcile priorities within households that do not fully align with the priorities of the Abrome community, and the necessity for candor and open communication. It was a good conversation, but it made me late for the link up with the Flying Squad.

When I showed up to the Flying Squad, I was thrilled to see a Learner who had been quarantining had finally returned. Unfortunately, two Learners stayed home for separate reasons, but I figured the smaller crew would allow for more connection between me and the Learner who had just returned. For the morning meeting I volunteered to set the gameshifting board (sans the board), and I said folks could position themselves however they wanted as long as they stayed out of the roadway, and that we would speak in the order of the day of our birthday: 4, 8, 10, 11, 13, 20.

Facilitator Ariel then asked everyone what their intentions for the day and the week were, and then he asked, “what’s one way you can share space today?” He asked that question because it had become a concern how we are so into ourselves and each other that we do not realize how much space we are taking up that might take away space from others. For example, sometimes when the Learners are walking down a sidewalk they bunch up so they can all be together, leading them to unknowingly push others off the sidewalk. Of the responses, some seemed more effective than others. I’ll let you decide which ones might work best: give trees 6 feet; if someone is being left out, ask if they want to join; if we’re somewhere where someone comes over, don’t intimidate them; stay right, no more than two wide on trails; make myself smaller; use welcoming language.

When we started to walk off I noticed Ariel walking with a stiff leg. I asked if he was okay and he said he should be fine when it warms up with further walking. As I watched him struggle to walk, I raised the awareness to all, and asked to talk about it with Facilitator Ariel and the Learners. He admitted that he was in pain but that in the past the knee loosens up when it gets warm, and he said he wanted to push forward. Shortly thereafter, he hit toe while walking and he needed to stop. It was clear that he needed to go home, so I asked him to please go home and rest. The Learners agreed.

We then moved further down Barton Springs Road toward the food trucks where a Learner wanted to grab some lunch for later. I imagined we might be there a while, and that turned out to be the case. I was pleased to see how the older Learners went out of their way to pull an 8-year-old Learner into their circle at the food court. We were there long enough that I was able to break my 16 hour fast and eat my lunch at 12:00 p.m., with time to spare to help the younger Learner go over the menus of each of the food trucks. I also found time to drop my phone and crack the screen. That was an expensive lunch break. At some point I asked the Learners if we could move on, as I did not want to spend the entire day at the food trucks.

We did not make it far before we came upon a small convenience store that some of the Learners like to get snacks at. On this day, I forgot my battery pack so one of the Learners let me borrow theirs, but I needed to buy a cord at the corner store. The cord cost about the same as the organic candy that the Learner purchased. We decided that we would keep walking down Barton Springs Road until we got to the Long Center where we could potentially set up near the small pond.

When we got to the Long Center we found the fence around the playground that we had eyed up before had been taken down. And oh my, it was amazing! The layout of the playground was fabulous, with numerous places for young people to get lost in play without feeling like they were surrounded by a bunch of others. There were structures that challenged Learners of all ages to take risks and to come up with their own games.

The Abrome Learners launched themselves into the various swings, tunnels, climbing contraptions, and slides. One of the climbing structures was pretty daunting, and really stands out in terms of allowing kids to take on risk in a society that has insisted that children’s zones are engineered to eliminate risk. Kudos to the City of Austin for being an exception, in this case. The Learners made their way up the climbing structure, some slowly, some quickly. But at the top they all posed for a picture, proud of their ascent, and thrilled to have done it with others.

With all that fun came some struggle. It was difficult for one excited Learner to keep his mask on around others, and reminding him repeatedly wasn’t feeling good for me and it wasn’t working for him. So I asked him to sit down with me to slow down a bit until he could remember to honor our safety boundaries (one of our practices). He was not wanting to stop, but the break allowed him to gain control over himself and when he went back to play with others he had no problem keeping his mask on. He made great friends with a young learner who showed up with his sibling and his mother. I asked the mom about his schooling situation, and it seemed like they were just trying to find ways to get by. I wanted to tell them to look at Abrome but it was clear that finding alternatives to school was not high on their priority list, so I smiled, and let it pass.

At the afternoon roundup I asked the Learners for their highlight of the day, and requested that none of them repeat what someone else said. The Learners’ highlights were the slide, the park, scaling the climbing structure and hanging out at the top, and soccer. My stated highlight was when a Learner allowed me to borrow his battery pack. But then I looked at the Abrome Slack and noticed that Facilitator Ariel thanked me for “advocating for my needs and safety.” That was the highlight of my day.

The other cell had a pretty fabulous day, as well:

Walking Hunter

Chilling on the dock

Chilling in the wikiup

Gathering flowers

Dinosaur tracks?

Day 112 of AY20-21: listening to Learners

Tuesday, March 30th would be day 7 of cycle 8 for the Flying Squad, and day 112 of the pandacademic year. It would also be the first day we had two more Learners return from quarantine, which promised to make our day even better! As of day 112, we only had one Learner still out for quarantine and he was expected to return on Wednesday.

As they Learners began to show up they got right into hanging out with each other and connecting in ways that are difficult to do online. The Learners and Facilitator Ariel were busy practicing snapping their fingers, and teaching one another how to snap fingers, as I reminded folks that we needed to drink water.

At 10:00 a.m., we circled up for our morning meeting. Each meeting the Facilitators come with prompts, and sometimes we strike out with the prompts. On this day, Facilitator Ariel asked, what’s something non-food related that brought you joy this cycle? And how can we share that joy with others? Sometimes we ask these questions to spur great conversation, to provide us an opportunity to set intentions or to reflect, or as a way to center the needs of others. Sometimes they are just playful. The Learners were not really having the prompts on this day though, as the responses were pretty curt: sleep, filling trash bags, drinking water, drinking water, staying home (!), watching a guy play a ukulele and guitar, and laying in a hammock. The ways in which they could share that joy with others was even more curt, as three Learners said they couldn’t think of a way to share. We ended the meeting hoping that the day would be a bit more creative.

In attempt to avoid coming across food trucks early in the day, which tend to derail the intentions of some Learners, we decided to go in the opposite direction for a change. Walking south instead of east we found a trail that would have potentially taken us all the way to the Barton Creek Greenbelt (maybe not). We ended up taking a small detour down a poison ivy lined animal path that came out in a dry river bed. We could not pass up the opportunity to play on the rocks and then get a killer picture that would become our next album cover. When we were finished we walked down a back road away from Barton Springs Pool, up a hill, and onto a disc golf course.

One of the Learners was really struggling on the walk, not because of the walking but because of allergies. His eyes were puffed up and he kept rubbing his eyes. We contacted his family, and they decided that they would come pick him up. In addition to that Learner, Facilitator Ariel and another Learner were really struggling with the high pollen count in the air that morning. But before he went home we got to play some soccer! I had picked up a soccer ball the night before, and plan to bring the ball with me on a regular basis moving forward. The Learner who planned to go home found time to introduce me to the intense sport of animal style soccer before he left. All the Learners eventually joined in on kicking the soccer ball around, except for one, but he found time to throw the football around.

After the Learner who was suffering from allergies left, I became a one-person audience for a Learner who wanted to share everything he knew about the video game Among Us. He told me about the new map that was coming out, what changes to the game would come with the new map, the different ways that characters could die in the movie, and then he got frustrated as I asked questions that were perhaps too obvious to him. I’m not particularly moved by video games, but I felt it was important on this day to entertain the conversation for the Learner.

Having taken the new route away from the drop off point allowed us as a group to avoid ruminating on food, which was a welcome break for the Facilitators. I also got to talk quite a bit with one of the Learners who had just come off of quarantine. I probably spoke with her more that afternoon than I had in the previous month combined. Her lunch got crushed in her bag earlier in the day so she decided that she would try out one of the food trucks that some of the other Learners could not stop talking about. But she was the only one willing to make the walk to the food trucks that afternoon, so it was just us walking, which allowed me to give her my full attention. It’s really easy for us as Facilitators (or educators or parents or even just as friends) to get so wrapped up in all the work we need to do that we forget to make time to just listen to people. And oftentimes the people who need to be listened to the most are the ones with the least power in our society. This includes kids.

While it was a fun day, for the old men of the squad, it was not the easiest day. My calf began cramping (drink water!!) and Facilitator Ariel’s knee started bothering him. We both made it through the day, though, and we finished up with a more engaging afternoon roundup. We reflected on our day via the rose-bud-thorn prompt, and then discussed ways in which we could improve upon the thorns in the future. After the Learners left, I jumped on our daily Facilitator roundup call with Facilitators Lauren and Ariel, and we identified what went well, what challenges we had and what areas for improvement there were, and action items for each of us. Facilitator Lauren said she had a really good day that included hiking, waterfalls, and ducks. Then we all said good bye to each other for the night, and I made my way to the lake for my monthly jump in the lake.

Day 111 of AY20-21: lots of social justice conversations

I’m going to try to catch up on the daily blog posts between now and the end of cycle 9, which runs from April 19th to May 11th. I fell behind as things had gotten quite busy with the latest info session and more people becoming interested in going through the admissions process at Abrome, and the age-old problem of thinking that if you’re already behind you can just throw another delayed blog post to the pile.

Monday, March 29th would be our last day before people started coming back from quarantine in the specialty cell that I was in with Facilitator Ariel, the Flying Squad. I wanted to start the week strong with the few who were not in quarantine, so I asked the group what was interfering with our ability to focus on social justice. The answers included that our drop off point was too far west, that some were uninterested, that some were distracted by food, and that some were too focused on spending money. On this day we committed to supporting a Learner’s focus on houselessness, a big issue in Austin right now as there is a campaign to criminalize the houseless. We agreed to walk to a mural of Wonder Woman in downtown Austin that was across the street from an encampment, so that the Learner could hand out cliff bars and water to the houseless and engage with them about some of the challenges that they are facing. We agreed that we would stop by some food trucks to appease the fixation that some Learners had on buying food (that they cannot easily get at home).

One of the Learners who had been wearing hiking boots had been struggling as of late, and we were thrilled to see that he got a new pair of sneakers, which he later reported made his walking experience much more comfortable. With better shoes we were all comfortable taking a different path in search of new experiences. As we walked there was lots of conversation about social justice oriented concerns. Two of the Learners had made comments about how they were uncomfortable around the houseless, so Facilitator Ariel asked them to talk about their fears. This led them to discussing what type of prejudices are common in society, and how such prejudices can infect us.

Meanwhile, on the walk I got to speak with the Learner who was on a mission to learn more about how she could impact the issue of houselessness. She admitted that she did not know how to talk to houseless folks, and worried that she would not be able to talk to them in a way that made them feel comfortable. I suggested that she talk to them as she would anyone that she was meeting on the street for the first time, and then we talked about strategies to do so. Fortunately she brought food and drinks that she could offer folks which would serve as a potential segue into a conversation between two people who are curious about one another. I also brought up my concerns about coming across as someone who is probing people for information, with the assumption that they can solve their problems. Specifically, we talked about the notion of white saviorism, and how that could potentially play into such interactions. The Learner was quite nervous, but eager to consider ways of being that would prevent her from unknowingly doing harm.

When we got to the Wonder Woman mural we took a break to drink water while the Learner who was leading the way prepared to engage with the folks at the encampment. I was really impressed with the way that the Learner acknowledged her fear, and then made her way into the encampment offering support and looking for conversation. Unfortunately for her, it was the middle of the day and hot, so a lot of folks were not available to speak with her. Nonetheless, she engaged with some houseless folks. The two other Learners who had admitted to being uncomfortable around the houseless observed her efforts, and it was nice to see their perceptions challenged.

Then we walked across the Congress Street bridge where we came up on one of the large office buildings, where I noticed a bunch of studs that were placed on the marble that ran along long rows of raised plant beds. I asked the Learners if they knew why the studs were added to the marble, assuming that it was to prevent houseless folks from laying down, which would have been quite topical given the mission for the day. A Learner guessed that it was to prevent skateboarders from using it, and I replied, “actually …” and went into an explanation of what hostile architecture (or anti-homeless architecture) is. Facilitator Ariel then interjected and said that actually that particular type of stud is meant to prevent skateboarders from using it, and then we talked about the differences between anti-skateboard architecture and hostile architecture. It was a really good moment for me to model to a Learner that it was okay to be wrong, and to learn from it.

As we continued to walk, one of the Learners asked me if I was excited about the Godzilla vs. Kong movie that was coming out. I told him I was uninterested in watching any King Kong movies as they were rooted in anti-Black racism. This caught the Learner off-guard, and he explained that his desire to watch the movie had nothing to do with racism, and then he began to talk about how great the movie was going to be. I acknowledged that his interest in the movie was not rooted in racism, but that the movie was, and that I was willing to talk to him about why they are racist. But that I was not interested in talking to him about his arguments for why he would watch the movie in spite of their racist history. He then took the conversation to Facilitator Ariel, who likewise told him that he was not interested in talking about the movie. The day was shaping up to be one that really challenged this Learner’s beliefs.

We continued to walk in support of a Learner’s mission to engage with the houseless, and we focused on walking toward the Arch near 7th and Red River. As we were walking an individual began walking with us, trying to engage with us. One Learner asked, ‘why was the homeless guy trying to talk to us,’ and we asked him why he assume the person was houseless. This led to another conversation about prejudices and assumptions.

After we stopped so the Learner could hand out some more water and cliff bars, we decided that it was time for the Learner and Facilitator Ariel to get some long overdue lunch. We made our way back to Congress so that we could stop at a convenience store where they could grab food. When we arrived, however, there were a handful of Austin Police Officers standing around. All the Learners wanted to go in, so I offered to watch over their bags at some tables reserved for customers of the store. Facilitator Ariel recognizing that I would be out there around APD cops asked me if I would be alright, which one of the Learners picked up on. Facilitator Ariel then explained to her why he asked that given my past experiences with the Austin Police Department, and the need for us all to be watching out for one another.

After Facilitator Ariel and the Learner got some food, and another Learner got himself some seaweed and a drink, we settled in to eat our lunches. I ate a sandwich that I had packed in my bag, while another Learner ate from a bag of chips that he had brought along. It was restful sitting there and eating and talking with one another in the shade, and we were in no hurry to get going. When we finally finished and as we were packing up, Facilitator Ariel got a call from a friend who wanted him to know that they were at the sight of a protest where people were getting arrested. We were only two and a half blocks away, so we decided to walk in that direction.

When we arrived at protest site at 4th and Congress, where Garrett Foster, a supporter of Black Lives Matter, was killed the past summer, we noticed that police had shut down the street and surrounded the group of protesters who were yelling at them. We later found that the police had come up on the protest and threatened to arrest the protesters, to include Garrett’s finance, Whitney, a Black woman and quadriplegic who was with Garrett when he was killed the prior summer. Two white women then positioned themselves between the police and Whitney, which led to the police arresting one of the women, shoving the other woman out of the road, and dumping Whitney out of her wheelchair into the gutter. Understandably, the protesters were outraged by the actions of the police, and from a safe distance I was able to talk to the Learners about what had happened and why the police were so antagonistic toward these protesters in particular.

As the police relocated away from the protesters, and as the protest died down, we began to walk back toward the pick-up point at Zilker Park. During the walk one of the younger Learners expressed how concerned he was for Facilitator Ariel during the incident, and how he wanted him to avoid the police so that he would not be arrested. Facilitator Ariel explained to the Learner that as a Black man he does not get the luxury of just avoiding the police in Austin, but that he would do his best to not engage with them. It was a heavy day for the Learners, as we had several extended conversations about houselessness, racism, and police brutality.

Because of the unexpected stop at the protest site, we really needed to move. While one of the Learners no longer needed to stop at the food truck because he ate at the convenience store, one of the Learners still hadn’t been able to get any food, and that was his main objective for the day. Facilitator Ariel agreed to jog with him to P. Terry’s while the rest of us would go straight to the pickup point. Our path took us by Trader Joe’s, where the Learner had previously gotten boxes of organic jelly beans, and asked if we could stop in to buy some more. I reminded him that he agreed to go straight back, and that he agreed to keep walking. We made such good time that we were able to spin around some bars along the river, and got back to the pick up point with time to spare.

Once Facilitator Ariel and the other Learner joined us we settled in for a great afternoon roundup. We noted that each of us had walked 6.2-7.2 miles that day, and we were able to really dive into some social justice topics. All in all, it was a really great day for us as a Flying Squad.

Meanwhile, at the other cell:

Day 110 of AY20-21: stumbling into learning

March 28th was Day 110 of the pandacademic year, and it was the final day of our first week of cycle 8. We had a good week up to that point, although Learners being out due to quarantines and the fixation on seeking out destinations that we could spend money on food instead of engaging in social justice oriented activities was frustrating. But those struggles were outweighed by the positives of being together in the city again, with plenty of sun and good weather, lots of walking, and a some really great conversations.

The day was supposed to be a biking day for some, but the Learners who were going to bring bikes forgot to bring them, so Facilitator Ariel threw his bike in Antonio’s vehicle and we went into the morning meeting. A Learner and Facilitator Ariel both threw out prompts for the morning meeting. For the first prompt we each described a fruit without saying what its name was, while the rest of us tried to guess what it was. The fruits were green apple, grape, banana, tomato, and honeydew. What was really great about that prompt/game was that each of us successfully guessed one of the fruits.

Because it was Friday we went into our Check-in and Change-up meetings after the morning meeting. Three folks raised a total of six awarenesses in the Check-in, and during the Change-up we selected five that we wanted to focus on for the coming week. We keep the number of awarenesses that we put on the Community Awareness Board limited to five so that we can keep each one top of mind as we work toward shifting our culture, because if we had too many awarenesses we would become overwhelmed. The awarenesses included people ruminating on food/treats; dehydration; mindfulness about ourselves, nature, and the environment; taking into account the needs of others; and making assumptions about what others know. For each of the five awarenesses we came up with two or three practices that we would try out for a week to see if we could address the awarenesses we raised.

After the morning meeting we set off. We agreed to hit some food places on our way to the little green spot next to a pond that we found the day prior. I agreed to stop at a food truck so a younger Learner could get some Thai ice cream while the rest of the crew went to a corner store (coffee) and a fast food place (milkshake). When I got to the food truck with the younger Learner we found that it was closed, and according to the sign they would be closed for an hour. The Learner took it in stride and asked to go to a food truck that sold gelato, but we found that closed, as well. The Learner really wanted ice cream so I looked for nearby places that sold ice cream and we finally found one on South Lamar, but it was a 15 minute walk and uphill. He said that he wanted to do that, so I checked in with the others and asked them if it was okay to meet them at the park after we went to the ice cream shop. They said that would be fine, and we trekked to the shop.

When we arrived at the shop we took our time going through the options and debating how many scoops and toppings would feel good. As he was deciding I was surprised to see the rest of the crew come on scene. They set up in a sally port next to the shop, and began to eat lunch or snacks. When the ice cream was delivered I broke out my lunch to eat. Then we all began talking about a wide variety of topics, and we made time to take a bunch of pictures in front of the two murals painted on each side of the sally port.

Once the pictures were taken and everyone’s stomachs were filled we decided to make our way to our destination, but in looking at the map we thought we would see if we could find our way across a small stream and train tracks into the greenbelt so that we could avoid the sound and exhaust of cars during our walk. We were thrilled that no fences were in our way as we carefully walked across the place where the water flows and then across the place where the trains roll. We checked to make sure that no trains were coming and took a quick shot of the crew on the tracks. It could have been an album cover it was so good.

After crossing over the tracks we made our way down into the greenbelt where we followed a variety of trails that led us to West Bouldin Creek. Along our walk we saw a tree that had split and fallen but got caught up by branches to form perpendicular angles. The most amazing thing about the tree was that it was still alive, and the branches of the tree were budding. We guessed that it was a quite recent break, and most likely happened during the deep freeze that Austin experienced in mid-February. The weight of the ice that coated the trees brought down many trees in the area. It was a beautiful area that we walked through, and it would be worth coming back to in the future.

Also in the greenbelt we stumbled upon some tents. One of the Learners wanted to walk toward the tents to see what was happening, but Facilitator Ariel talked to the Learners about the importance of not making a lot of noise and steering clear of the tents for purposes of privacy for the people who were living there. That led to a discussion of public and private spaces, and the different expectations we might hold for others relative to ourselves. When Facilitator Ariel asked if the Learner would feel comfortable if someone was walking through their home looking in their rooms or making a lot of noise the Learner conceded that he would not feel comfortable.

When we finally got to the park we settled in, content in being full and having had had a nice walk through a beautiful green space hidden within the city. Some of the Learners spent time down by the water playing on the edge, watching the turtles scurry away, and watching the ducks float by. One of the Learners took off his shoes and walked in far enough for the water to go halfway up his shins. When he came back out of the water to hang with the rest of the crew we noticed something attached to his leg. It was a leech! Super cool for all, gross for some.

There was some time on the hammock, three of us broke out books to read (two Facilitators and a Learner), and a Learner and I threw the football around. Sadly, due to a lack of communication and poor setup the ball ended up in the lake, and slowly drifted away. In many places along the water there was growth that was deep enough and thick enough to prevent the ball from coming to shore while also preventing us from being able to go in and get it. We thought it was a lost cause.

I then followed a Learner back to the top of a hill that was created to provide a beautiful view of the area. Yesterday we found a large stone map of Texas on there, with a collection of cities or towns and their distance from Austin. On this day, I looked up the population of each of the towns, and then pointed out which larger cities and towns were omitted from the map. While we were up there we watched as a Learner worked the football out of the lake so that we could play with it some more in the future. It was an excellent recovery that allowed us to leave the first week of cycle eight on a high note.

At the other cell there was also a Check-in and Change-up, discussions about what to do when we come into contact with people who do not honor our boundaries, some walking, soccer playing, drone flying, and head-banging to metal music. Also ducks.

Day 109 of AY20-21: a slower day

My commitment to blog about each day of this pandacademic year has taken a real hit lately. Today I am finally getting around to writing about day 109, which was Thursday, March 25th. I hope to catch up soon. It’s just been a pretty busy time recently for me with supporting Learners and families within Abrome, responding to prospective families, and supporting folks doing the good work of liberation outside of Abrome. Plus, the pandemic has certainly wore me down as it has many others. This has been exacerbated by my observation of how people and organizations have thrown in the towel and surrendered to chance instead of prioritizing the health and welfare of others. But we shall fight on.

There is less to talk than usual for Abrome’s day 109, as it was the lowest attendance day we have had in quite a while. One, the cell that was meeting near the lake had to take a remote day, and the Flying Squad cell only had two Learners show up. This was in part because three Learners were still quarantining from the break, and another Learner had planned to take this day off. But slow days are not enough to slow us down.

For the morning meeting the youngest Learner wanted to lead the meeting, and with so few present we were much more flexible with how we would approach the meeting and the day, and we all felt that we could table some of the discussion topics we would have otherwise addressed that morning. For prompts the Learner asked us for our favorite type of sports vehicle, and our favorite type of grass. What we found is that there is not much excitement around sports vehicles in the group, and that bamboo is the favorite type of grass for half of the Abrome crew, as well as giant pandas.

Next we talked about our plans for the day. Both Facilitators expressed a desire to walk a bit and to enjoy some open space and set up the hammock to relax a bit, so we decided to head toward the Long Center to see what that might offer us. Unsurprisingly, the Learners were focused on where they would be able to get food that they were often not able to get at home, and we made plans to stop at a fast food joint and a food truck on our way back to the pickup point at the end of the day.

The weather was glorious, as Facilitator Ariel said, so the walk along the river was particularly nice. Even better, a Learner that had been wearing pants every day decided to follow our advice and wear shorts, which meant that he was able to enjoy the warmer weather instead of having to deal with it. We were thrilled to stumble upon a nice little green patch next to a pond and decided that this was where we were going to set up for a good portion of the day. But first, we took turns running to the bathroom while others watched the backpacks, and then Facilitator Ariel set up the hammock. The hammock was a big hit with the Learners, with each wanting to spend time in it. The hammock also gave us an opportunity to talk about boundaries—the need to ask permission to use someone else’s stuff, masking when close to each other, and when to step back and not engage with someone when they are doing something else (such as answering a phone call).

Facilitator Ariel told a parent of one of the Learners that morning that today might be a good day for light sabers, so one of the Learners brought his light saber, as did Facilitator Ariel. Eventually the light sabers came out and there was a violent battle between the Learners. Fortunately there were no serious injuries had, other than arms that got sliced off and severed arteries.

As we requested a slower day without so many Learners there was also a lot of time sitting and being by ourselves. One Learner found himself down by the pond staring at the birds in the lake, with the skyline of downtown in the distance. Meanwhile, another Learner found himself up a tree and balancing himself well out on a branch that would probably not hold a Learner of a larger size.

We had some challenges on the day, as well. One Learner broke some branches off of a tree and that led to us talking about the Abrome principles: take care of yourself, take care of others, and take care of the space. We talked about whether or not it was appropriate to break branches off of a living tree for the sake of breaking branches, versus having a need for it. Separately, I engaged with a Learner on his need to provide commentary and critique the actions of the other Learner. It seemed that the Learner was trying to establish himself as older and more mature and therefore needing to point out the differences between him and the younger Learner. This allowed us to talk about development and whether or not we should be judging others on age, maturity, or other issues. Finally, there was still a fixation on food for much of the day, even though we committed to going to the food destinations they requested at the end of the day.

But the Facilitators were steadfast in sticking with the original plan, and not going back so early for food that we were left just sitting around waiting for the day to end. With a chunk of time reserved for staying in place, one of the Learners went into discovery mode, and began cloverleafing around our patch of green in the city. Soon he decided to run up a small hill where he found a great view of the city and a representative view of Texas, with select cities all over it. It was a pretty great installation into the city for the public to enjoy, and it would be great if we could find ways to add some context to it so that it included names and history that is not confined to present day Texas.

Having been able to take in the space on this slower day, we packed up and began our trek back to the pickup spot with plans to stop at the food joints along the way. First we hit P. Terry’s where the Learners fell prey to the draw of tasty but not the healthiest of options. Having spent a good amount of money and time there, we then continued our trek to the Thai ice cream food truck we had hit on Monday. This time, though, the Learner who chose to splurge a bit at P. Terry’s did not have the money necessary to get ice cream. It was a great lesson on the limits of money. Meanwhile I keep modeling bringing all my food each day, as a healthier and less expensive alternative to always wanting to prepare food and treats.