Days 130, 131, 132 of AY20-21: a day and two remotes

As we entered into the latter half of the middle week of cycle 9 of the pandacademic year we were uncertain as to how much time we would be able to spend with the Learners given pandemic fatigue, thunderstorms, and struggle with the heat and the humidity. When I showed up on April 28th I found that we again had a smaller than decent sized crew, with only three Learners present, so I went back to Abrome to focus on getting more Learners enrolled. For the Learners who did show up in my cell, Facilitator Lauren focused on giving them lots of individualized attention and play.

In addition to Facilitator Lauren, the smaller crew consisted of a 16-year-old, 8-year-old, and a 6-year-old. The younger Learners often spend a lot of time with each other, but they don’t spend much time with the teens, but they all tend to appreciate being in each other’s orbits. On this day they all played monarchs and viceroys (the insects, not the authoritarians), and cougar stalks deer. Perhaps having fewer teen Learners present made it easier for the 16-year-old to join in, although we have pulled teens into these games before.

In addition to the games was a great appreciation for local animals. For example, there was much admiration for the great blue heron who was hanging out near the cell, and of another snake that was situated at the base of a cypress tree. There was less joy at seeing two baby copperheads slithering across the trail under feet as the crew was walking toward the lake! That gave them all an opportunity to talk about safety and being mindful of wear we step.

At the lake the adolescent Learner eagerly jumped at the opportunity to spend time on the paddle board, where he would spend much of the day enjoying the tranquility of sitting on the surface of the lake.

But the other Learners also were sure to get their turns on the boat as well. As Facilitator Lauren and the 8-year-old floated up a stream they watched a snake slowly lower itself into the water and swim away, and they saw the blue heron snatch a fish out of the water and eat it! During the paddle board adventure the younger Learner noticed a can that was thrown (or dropped) in the water, so she asked to paddle over to it, where she picked it out of the water and then dropped it off in the trash when she returned to shore. What a wonderful way to help take care of the public spaces that we are able to frequent!

In addition to appreciating the fauna the Learners also appreciated the flora of Central Texas on the beautiful day. One of the Learners found that in addition to tasting delicious that mulberries serve as an excellent hair dye, while another Learner was fascinated by the gradient of colors of a blade of grass going from a deep green to a near white.

When everyone was finished with their time on the paddle board, and as Facilitator Lauren was at the bathroom, the teen Learner began to pack it up. When Facilitator Lauren returned she thanked him for packing it up. The 8-year-old Learner then remarked, “that was really helpful.”

As the day came to a close the cell gathered around and played a variety of quizzes together, such as identifying the names of video games or NASA missions. For the afternoon roundup they each shared one experience during that day that was uncomfortable, one that was joyful, and one that was inspiring. They then walked back to the pickup spot where the Learners got into their vehicles to go home. As the youngest one was getting into his car he turned to his mom and asked if he was “helpful.” They’re always watching, and they’re always listening.

At the other cell the Learners spent most of their day climbing around rock faces, throwing dirt on each other, playing games on a Learner’s phone, and just enjoying the scenery. It was a nice way to spend time together on what would turn out to be our last in-person day of the week.

Thursday weather

Morning meeting 29th

Then the thunderstorms rolled in. Or at least the forecast of thunderstorms which required us to cancel in-person meetups on Thursday. I don’t know if I’ve said it clearly enough, but I cannot stand remote days. They’re awful. I mean, they’re better than bringing people together during a pandemic where a single new infection can be devastating as it has the potential to lead to a super spreader event or a new mutation, but now that we are in an era where most people think that the pandemic is over the ideal is to be together as much as possible (read sarcasm). But lightning strikes are taken more seriously by most than a pandemic, so remote it (still) is.

Remote days don’t bring out the most joy and excitement in the Learners, and on this day it brought out only three Learners for the morning meeting. But I was able to engage those who did show up with some good prompts, in my opinion. First we discussed, “what social or economic issue do you think will have the biggest impact on your life?” Other than one young Learner who said he did not know (yet), the issues that we felt would have the biggest impact were climate change, pollution, a living wage, institutionalized violence, and inequality. Then we each talked about what we could do about it: modeling an ethical relationship with the natural world and supporting organizations that reconnect people ith nature, recycling (with a follow-on discussion of what recycling does and does not do), create structures to provide people with services for their needs, building relationships to address it as a movement, and no answer because the thought of inequality gave her a headache.

While we hold space for Learners by providing offerings or attending offerings, the idea of more Zoom or Discord meetups has not moved many Learners to show up for individual offerings. But on this day I did have a ‘rest of the year planning session’ offering which brought the three oldest Learners who were eager to share how we might be able to shift some of our pandemic measures.

Rest of the year planning session

Friday weather

Friday, unfortunately, was yet another inclement weather day as every hour but one carried the risk of thunderstorms. If only we had a huge campus with large indoor areas to move into during brief thunderstorms. But alas, those facilities are only available to public conventional schools and select private schools that feed off of a schooled society’s fears that without forcing kids to participate in a k-12 curriculum that the kids will end up as the big losers of a society that is predicated on most people being labeled as failures. Hmmmm…

The first thing I focused on on Friday was writing a blog post about some pretty politically charged school board races in the area that probably gives us a peek into what the 2022 midterm elections might look like. It took me a fair chunk of the day, but with the election upon us I felt it was important to share the concerns a Self-Directed Education community (whose members have shunned conventional schooling because public and private conventional schools do not meet their needs) had on public school board candidates who centered their campaigns on bigotry, exclusion, and harm.

Friday afternoon roundup

With Facilitators Ariel and Lauren much more comfortable with their roles as Facilitators I now have the luxury of stepping away from the every day Facilitation at times to focus on other necessary activities, and it is greatly appreciated. The turnout for the morning meeting was really strong, and after the meeting the Facilitators just hung out and chatted with each other on Zoom. As always with remote days, there was little engagement in the meat of the day as most of the Learners went off in multiple directions (virtual or not), although Facilitator Ariel and a teen Learner did find time for some gaming. We ended the day with a four-Learner afternoon roundup and lots of hopes that we could spend much more time in-person the next week.

Days 126 & 127 of AY20-21: let's check in on the other cell

The 22nd and 23rd of April were days 126 and 127 of the pandacademic year. On the 22nd I was away from the in-person Abrome meetup as I was focused on administrative work, and on the 23rd I had planned to be in-person but we were forced to go remote due to thunderstorms. I will continue to combine days for my ‘daily’ updates when I am away from my cell, or when inclement weather hits (and this is thunderstorm season). In this case, both of the days fit that bill.

My day away from the cell was a good one. I caught up on a lot of overdue administrative issues, connected with the guardian of a recently enrolled Learner, and spoke to some families who are looking into a possible Abrome enrollment for their children.

In my absence, at my cell, there was lots of laughter shared between Facilitator Lauren and two of the adolescent Learners. They chose to lay down on the dock as if they were going to sleep while eagerly engaging in conversation with all. In their disagreements with another adolescent over what peppermints really are, they talked about the possibility of playing tag games the next day.

Facilitator Lauren also spent a lot of time with a younger Learner. They walked around various parts of the park looking at plants. They ate some ripe mulberries and some intense wild onions, and had a cockel burr battle. They also found another bouquet of flowers thrown in the bushes. I guess someone had a photo shoot in nature because it is so beautiful out here, and then they just toss what they don’t want onto the ground. At least flowers will fairly quickly decompose. Facilitator Lauren also played some racing games with the youngest Learner, going slow, forward, and backward.

At the other cell, Facilitator Ariel and the other Learners were confronted with a large vulture at the entrance to the greenbelt where they tried to enter. The vulture was menacing, for sure, but the group did not know if it would be unwise or unsafe to try to skirt around it. Fortunately they had computers in their pockets so they pulled them out and did some quick searches. Turns out that vultures are completely harmless and will happily step aside if you try to pass them. In this instance, it actually run down the trail away from the group as they tried to enter the greenbelt.

In the park, an adolescent Learner chose to take the other Learners back to the waterfall that he and Facilitator Ariel stumbled upon the day before. After admiring the tiny waterfall, they continued to explore this region of the greenbelt. During the exploration they found a cliff with some wonderful views. They stopped to admire the view, and one of the Learners chose to test her nerves by finding a large rock to perch upon overlooking the valley.

It was a cold day, and everyone but one showed up better prepared for the weather. Recognizing the ways in which they were not prepared for the day, they decided that it was the right time to build a shelter. After the crew navigated back down to the riverbed, the Learner began collecting logs and branches to construct the shelter, and soon the other Learners joined in. It turned into more a work of art than a shelter, but the weather had improved so the utility of the shelter was no longer a priority. They all looked upon their work and were satisfied. Before they parted ways at the end of the day, they found a bouquet of flowers. What are the chances that two different cells ten miles apart would both find a bouquet of flowers?

Every day by 7:00 a.m. we make our call on whether it will be a late drop-off, early pick-up, or a cancelled in-person day due to inclement weather. On this day, with thunderstorms scheduled for each our of our 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. day, it was an easy call to go remote.

Remote days continue to not be great, especially on unplanned inclement weather remote days. We only had four Learners show up for the morning meeting and the Check-in and Change-up, but that was enough for a quorum. We don’t have a formal quorum number but any fewer Learners would have meant kicking the Check-in and Change-up to the following Monday.

One of the Learners showed up late while Facilitator Lauren was facilitating the morning meeting, and another Learner typed the prompts into the chat. It was a practice we had months ago, but it was fabulous to see Learners continuing to honor those practices. It’s how we co-create culture. The Check-in and Change-up was a long one. The longest one we’ve had in months. But it was a really good one, with four awarenesses being added to our blank Community Awareness Board (since it was our first Friday of the cycle). One of the newer Learners in the community who had proposed an awareness sent me a private message in the chat asking if he could leave after we came up with practices for his awareness. I asked him to stick it out because it would not feel good to me for him to leave without supporting everyone else they way they supported him. He chose to stick it out, which continues to demonstrate some pretty big leaps and bounds he has been making in terms of his willingness to consider how his actions might impact others. We came up with some really good practices to work with this cycle, and I felt really great about the meeting. No one showed up to the offerings, and only three Learners dropped in on the afternoon roundup, but that’s the way it goes with remote days.

Day 108 of AY20-21: taking out the trash

The forecast for Wednesday, March 24th, included thunderstorms as late as the evening of Tuesday, March 23rd. But the thunderstorms were scheduled for the afternoon, and it seemed that thunderstorms kept clearing out of the forecast the closer we got to it. Which makes sense, since meteorologists need to work with probabilities based on current conditions. As a forecast becomes closer, uncertainty reduces, and while there may be a 30% of thunderstorms in five days, come the morning of, that 30% may now be 80% or 10%. On this day there was a small chance of afternoon thunderstorms, which meant we might have to cancel the day or plan for an early pickup. Having missed out on January and February thanks to Covid-19 spread and the Texas freeze, we really wanted to find a way to allow everyone to come together, so I sent the following email to Parents and Guardians at 6:50 a.m. (our start time is 10:00 a.m.):

Current weather forecasts say there is a chance of thunderstorms this afternoon. Based on the updated forecasts at noon, we may ask you to pick up your Learner/s at 1p. We will not contact you if there is no need for an early pickup. If you would not be able to pick up your Learner/s at 1p if there is a half day because of inclement weather, your Learner should stay home today.

More concerning to me was that some of the Learners have not been drinking enough water. This has always been a concern for us, so we asked every Learner to bring a water bottle with them every day so they would always have water nearby. At the Abrome facility I got a standup, 5-filter water purification system and dispenser so that there was never an excuse for not drinking enough water. Even with that making drinking water easy, Learners would often get so lost in other activities that they would fail to stay hydrated. This is certainly one area where conventional schools may have an advantage, because there students are often be permitted to leave a painful class if they go get a drink at the water fountain. During this pandacademic year we are entirely outdoors, so we are doubly challenged because the elements can make it more difficult on the Learners (hot weather requires more water, and cold weather makes drinking enough water less desirable) and we can’t carry much water with us. Each Facilitator brings at least two-gallons of water per day in their vehicle, but sometimes getting back to the vehicle is challenging. So last Wednesday I asked if we could get everyone to give drink half of their bottle of water by the end of the morning meeting so that they could top it off before we headed out for the day.

We expected Wednesday to be a great day. We were still three Learners down due to quarantine, which sucked, but we had made plans to act upon a young Learner’s interest in addressing all the litter in Austin. I brought gloves and garbage bags to make the pickup easier on us. After the morning meeting we talked about how we would spend our day and when we would make time for the pickup. I suggested maybe early in the day before it got too hot and before we were too tired, especially because folks were already tired from the two days before, while others suggested we do a cleanup after the afternoon roundup. But the city employs folks who clean up trash at the park that we hold our meeting, while other parts of the city do not. Eventually they decided that they were going to pick up trash on the way back to the pickup point at the end of the day.

But they also decided they did not want to walk very far this day. Instead, they wanted to go across the street to Zilker Park and play in the large fields and on the rock outcropping in the middle of the park. When we got there the Learners immediately got to playing in various ways. We worked our way to the outcropping and I hung my bag from a tree and sat down with the intention of writing down some notes. One Learner found a pack of cards that had been left there, asked to borrow my stick of glue, and worked to repair the box for future use.

A younger Learner climbed up, over, around, and through the rock outcropping, and eventually decided that he was going to make a home out of a cave. He began to gather branches, grasses, and other materials he found to decorate his space. I looked over at another Learner who was sitting and eating some chips. I asked him what he planned to do while we were there and he said there was nothing to do. He’s one of our newest Learners and is still deschooling. I offered up some of my books to read, some art supplies to work with, and offered to throw the football with him. He passed on all of it, and I recognized that it was a good time for him to sit with himself.

Later, an adolescent Learner chose to join in the play of the younger Learner and they climbed up into some of the trees, and I offered to pass the football to them in the tree to see if they could catch it without falling (they were not very high and I did not throw the ball very hard).

The weather was really beautiful, it was overcast and pretty so there was no direct sun on our backs, but the warmth of the air meant we were not chilly in any way. We could feel the nice, warm, springtime mist on our faces.

Facilitator Ariel asked the Learner who did not believe the had anything to do if he was willing to throw the football around. He passed on the opportunity, but the others Learners said yes. I also joined in, and we played a variety of spontaneous games such as try to tackle Facilitator Ariel, try to avoid being tacked by Facilitator Ariel, let Facilitator Ariel kick the ball as far as possible and see who can recover it first while everyone else tackles each other en route to the ball, etc. The laughter and joy emanating from the other Learners pulled the Learner who was standing on the sidelines into the games. There was lots of running, some jammed fingers, and a couple of scrapes from biting it on the turf.

I briefly checked the weather apps on my phone and confirmed that the thunderstorms had cleared out of the forecast for the afternoon, so there was no need for me to let the Learners’ families know that they needed to come pick them up. I was thrilled we were not going to be stuck with a half day.

Afterward the Learners were interested in resting. Facilitator Ariel offered to set up the hammock and one of the Learners assisted him in setting it up. This gave me the opportunity to sit down and eat some lunch, and afterward I broke out Usual Cruelty and continued to slow read the first essay of the book. An essay, that by the time I finished it, I felt was the most perfect essay written about what the criminal injustice system is.

What good is the hammock if folks can’t relax in it. One of the Learners was really eager to enjoy it and asked Facilitator Ariel if he could hang out in it, and Facilitator Ariel said he could. There was some conversation about the Learner getting his own so they could set up multiple hammocks in the future, and so that he would not need to wait his turn. The Learner said he might ask his parents to buy him one, and Facilitator Ariel asked if instead he might consider saving up the money to buy his own.

While we were sitting around an older guy wandered into the area where we were and observed us for a minute. He seemed interested in what these two guys and these young people were doing, hanging out, playing, laughing, and talking in a care free way on a school day. One of the Learners shied away from him, perhaps having learned from dominant culture that strangers, especially men, seemingly poor folks, or houseless people (we had no reason to believe that he was poor or houseless) were a potential threat. Facilitator Ariel saw the Learner’s apprehension so Facilitator Ariel spoke out to him to ask him how he was doing. He said he was okay, but that his brother just died and he was dealing with that. Facilitator Ariel and the man then had a conversation about life, family, Austin, and eventually schooling.

At this point, a young Learner who sometimes struggles with remembering to wear his mask around others walked up into the area where the two were talking. Noticing that this was a new person he immediately put on his mask, and then waved to the man. The man smiled, appreciating the acknowledgement. When he was finished speaking to Facilitator Ariel he walked my way and I expressed my sympathies. We then had a conversation about what schooling is and what education is not, that some of the Learners took note of. Even if they didn’t catch the content of the conversations that Facilitator Ariel and I had with the man, they all recognized that we were willing to have a conversation with the man, and that maybe dominant culture can sometimes get us to focus on the wrong things.

After spending a good amount of time in the park, the Learners decided that now it was time to head out to some food trucks for a late lunch. At the food trucks Facilitator Ariel talked with a Learner who is interested on getting a job and saving money. The Learner said that they were too young to work, and Facilitator Ariel talked about what the real constraints on working was. The Learner said they might be interested in working at a food truck for their first job, and was interested in one of the trucks on the lot. Facilitator Ariel encouraged the Learner to start a conversation with the person in the food truck so they could see if there was any opportunity for them. The Learner was anxious, and was not willing to start the conversation. Facilitator Ariel asked if he could start the conversation, so the Learner could see how to strike up a conversation that would include an ask. The Learner said that would be great.

Soon it would be time for the afternoon roundup, and the day was winding down. I reminded everyone that we said we wanted to do a trash pickup and that we would need to get going pretty soon if we wanted to do justice to the effort. Facilitator Ariel and one of the Learners agreed, but two said that they changed their mind and were no longer interested. This was an interesting response because the Learners who were no longer interested included the one who introduced the concern of litter, and the other was concerned about the environment. I felt that the lower energy at the end of the day might be the challenge, but I kept my mouth shut. After having a conversation about intentions and the fact that the cell was explicitly designed to be a social justice oriented Flying Squad, they decided that they would participate in the pickup. We pulled out three large, heavy duty garbage bags and everyone put on disposable gloves.

We made our way back down a major road where there was a good amount of trash, but it was when we got to the hike and bike trail that we hit the garbage jackpot. In the brush along the trail, and eventually along the lake, there was lots of garbage laying around to include candy wrappers, junk food containers, beer cans and cases, and discarded or lost clothing. It was a challenging task thanks much to the temperature and humidity, and the poison ivy everywhere, but there seemed to be somewhat of a desire to collect more garbage than the others. We made a great haul, and when we got back we took a photo and then stuffed the garbage bags into garbage bins. We all felt decent to great about helping to clean up a tiny part of the city, and a couple of us felt good about the physical exertion of the effort. It was nice that random people kept thanking us for cleaning up while on their walks and runs. What a great ending to a great day.

Meanwhile, at the other cell there was lots of walking and talking, looking at flowers, watching turtles, pretending to be squirrels and burying pecans. Unfortunately there was an incident where the Learners left their bags to go refill water and when they returned they saw a man going through their bags. Fortunately, Facilitator Lauren approached the man and told him to leave and the guy did not take anything. They could not be certain if he was trying to help or if he was trying to take, but the crew was not thrilled that the man had been touching their stuff, and worse, that he was unmasked and did not give them the space that they wanted. Afterward, Facilitator Lauren spoke to them about ways that they can proactively advocate for themselves in the future if they come into contact with someone who does not honor their need for space and security, and how they want to feel when they came back the next day. They discussed talking through scenarios, and then some of the Learners took some personal time to paint or just sit. The Learners all rallied despite the frustration of the incident, and the day ended well even if the day itself was not great.

Day 94 of AY20-21: a planned remote day!

This week started out fabulously on Sunday as the weather broke 70 degrees. Some of Austin was still reeling from the deep freeze and subsequent black outs and burst pipes that came with it, but most of Austin soaked up the sun and moved on. Except for those who were seriously harmed by the cold or who suffered water damage, there was little to recover from as there would be if the disaster was caused by a tornado or flooding. Without visual evidence of the harm suffered all around us I feel that some of the lessons will quickly be lost, particularly the ways in which government entities and NGOs were not there for the people, but how neighbors engaging in mutual aid were. Nonetheless, I was really excited for a week (hopefully) free of disaster.

Unfortunately for the Learners and Facilitators, we were still going to be remote on Monday and Tuesday, our last two days of cycle six. We were remote for all of cycle five (January) because of the latest Covid-19 wave, and for the first week and a half of cycle six. Then we were remote because of inclement weather and the deep freeze for the next week and a half. The reason we are remote for the last two days of the cycle is because they are planned remote days as per our contingency planning document that allow us to have at least nine days between cycles so that Learners can observe for symptoms before coming back together in new cells to limit the potential spread if someone in our community were to become infected. And even though we had not been in-person all cycle (all calendar year), if we came together on Monday and Tuesday it would not allow us to have that necessary separation from one another. I asked Learners and their families to make firm commitments to be in-person or remote by Tuesday so that we could set the cells for the next cycle during our Professional Development Day on Wednesday.

That morning I also read a wonderful article, “Why Did We Ever Send Sick Kids to School?” It discusses the impact of rewards around attendance and the punitive ways that schools have enforced compulsory attendance that directly harm both children and families, but also the ways that it harms everyone in terms of public health. They also pivoted to talking about how this focus on attendance at school also distorts “American culture, which places a high value on productivity, pushing yourself, and “soldiering through” illness in nearly every line of work." It was an excellent article. But there was one glaring error in the article. It said, "schools place a premium on attendance because it is associated with academic performance." That is not accurate. Schools place a premium on attendance because it is associated with seat time revenue.

Morning meeting

Back to Abrome. Being remote we came together for our morning meeting at 10:00 a.m., as usual. Facilitator Lauren was facilitating. For game shifting she said that we would go in alphabetical order by first name. While it seemed like a fun way to pass off from one person to the next, it worked out terribly as for whatever reason most Learners were not eager to figure out who they would speak after, leading to very long pauses in the meeting. Because we had a strong turnout for the meeting this really stretched out the length of the meeting leading to it going over the 15-minute target for the facilitator of the meeting.

Facilitator Lauren said, “springtime is not until March 20th, and even then it can still be very cold. After experiencing the Texas freeze, share one or two ways that you will prepare to be comfortable during a cold Abrome day [since we will be meeting outdoors].” Most of the answers were similar: bring warm drinks; buy more leggings, make sure I always have water and food, and an extra pair of socks; no cotton [cotton kills], dress in layers, wear a hat; wear more clothes; just wear warm clothes and bring a blanket; wear gloves; “wear shorts, I always do” [this is not recommended], wear huge black or tan snow / hiking pants; arson [bad joke], bring a jacket; wear a jacket and gloves if really cold; wear a jacket; wear warm clothes; bring a jacket. We were hoping to get a broader diversity of responses, but at least everyone seems to understand that how we dress is just as important as how bad the weather is.

After the morning meeting I had two back-to-back one-to-one check-ins scheduled as the lack of internet the prior week forced me to cancel many of them. I had a nice long conversation for the first check-in with a Learner that has been remote now for four cycles. I talked about us going back in-person and how the next cycle was our only two-week cycle of the year and how much I hoped that he would consider joining us. After that he brought up the issue of body cameras for law enforcement, and then we discussed whether or not it was a net positive or negative for police to have body cameras. He spoke positively about accountability and being able to better understand situations, and I spoke about my personal experience of having police and prosecutors refuse to release footage when it shows police doing harm, and the failure of the police and prosecutors to use those videos to punish or prosecute the police, but how they will eagerly use the video against victims of police brutality. It was a lively discussion but we both made room for the other person to share their viewpoints. Because the other Learner did not show up for his one-to-one I was able to extend out the first check-in for an extra 15 minutes.

At 10:45 a.m. we got back into our daily 7-minute workout routine after only being able to do it twice the prior week. All but one showed up from the usual crew, and we all really felt the workout while at the same time being very grateful for having the opportunity to do it again. We gave each other high fives and then departed.

Next up was Facilitator Ariel’s breakfast chat that only Facilitator Lauren showed up for. They enjoyed being able to spend time chatting with each other and I’m really enjoying seeing their personal friendship flourish at Abrome. I have been part of too many communities (e.g., military, investment banking, activist groups) where there is animosity and dislike between people and that has such a caustic, corrosive effect on the culture of a community. Meanwhile, I was on a call with a Learner at their request. During the call they asked for some clarification on their responsibility to others and articulated some clear boundaries they wanted honored. I was surprised to hear what they had to say, but so grateful for them having the trust in me and the community to be able to share their concerns. I hope that we can continue to build trust so that Learners always feel able to self-advocate and set boundaries.

With a rare window of availability in time, and with the roads free of ice, I was able to make a long overdue trip to the bank in the middle of the day to deposit some tuition checks I had been holding onto since the beginning of the month. Meanwhile, Facilitator Lauren hosted her art and fart offering which we really did anticipate being popular among a subset of Learners. It never really took off. But Facilitator Ariel did drop in. Then I had my free write offering which no one showed up for but that I used for some dedicated writing time. We have been hosting these offerings to hold space for Learners during this unfortunate remote period during this pandacademic year, so we get the value of it, but it is still disappointing when Learners do not take up the offerings. But we are a Self-Directed Education community and we value their autonomy and consent, so we do not demand it, either. Meanwhile, we are getting good turnout in morning and afternoon meetings, and most check-ins, so clearly they are valuing connection. But it’s pretty overwhelming from our perspective—we cannot wait to be back in-person again.

Book reading offering

Former Facilitator Jennifer sent me a message two weeks ago encouraging me to read How to Talk to an Autistic Kid by Daniel Stefanski. I did, and then I decided to host an offering where I would read it to anyone who showed up. I originally scheduled it for last week but rescheduled it twice thanks to the freeze. At 2:30 p.m., I read the book to the two Facilitators and one young Learner who showed up for the offering. A couple of times during the reading we stopped to discuss an experience that was shared by Stefanski, an actually autistic kid. We talked about the ways that some of his experiences related to our experiences, and we talked about things we have observed, particularly in schoolish settings in the past.

Facilitator Ariel started the afternoon roundup at 3:30 p.m. with a review of the Community Awareness Board, and then opened up the meeting to announcements. Next he asked everyone to close their eyes and think of a happy memory. Then he asked what color was most prominent, and the associated memory if they wanted to share it. Interestingly, there were a lot of earthy responses.

• browns: running in the mud, climbing trees, and the color of my mom’s arms

• orange/brown: a loved one gifted her a book that she wanted for a long time and it had a hard orange/brown cover with ridged pages

• cardinal red: when I was deployed to Iraq I got my broken admissions binder to Stanford weeks late in a very beat up package, and inside the cardinal red binder was a note from the dean of admissions saying I got accepted to the MBA program, meaning that I had a plan for after the military which I could not leave quickly enough

• blue: the color of the swimming pool I swam in on my 11th birthday

• yellowish color of drywall: the color of the wall from a time I was playing Minecraft with a friend on his mom’s computer in his mom’s room

• blue and green: being outside with family

• green: an animation color

• black and white: because of the colors of the bird Carolina chickadee

• green: frog

• green: I like being in the woods, and the time I went canoeing in an old metal canoe on a green watered lake

After the afternoon roundup all the Learners bolted and the Facilitators recapped and discussed the events of the day in our daily after action review meeting. We also talked about the professional development that we had planned for Wednesday, and agreed on a public park that we could come together to hold it at, masked and distanced, of course. It was a long day and we were ready to log off for the day, so we said goodbye. I then spent my evening taking Cuddle Buddies Ivan and Ingrid on a very long walk, delivering a workbook on decolonizing non-violent communication to a local activist, and reading.

Day 93 of AY20-21: the final day of a long week

I slept in until 6:00 a.m. on Friday because the early morning wake ups are not as helpful when the internet is down. Plus, the added sleep was needed by my body as it tries to process all of the trauma that was all around us in Central Texas during the week.

That morning my phone was able to work fairly well as a hotspot and I had enough internet to read some online articles. I read some education related articles, which is never a super great way to start the day because of how frustrating it is to hear education folks talking about how to manipulate kids into performing for the system, instead of using the system as a vehicle to maximize the quality of life for the child. Oftentimes the focus of these articles is not even on the children, it is on the adults, but with the same end of performance in mind.

One such article talked about the importance of schools reducing stress and burnout on teachers, and not placing the responsibility of well-being on the teachers who are subjected to the structures and practices of schooling. It said, “Instead of “make space to restore your balance” or “find time to exercise more,” schools need to acknowledge their role in the problem and put in place the structures, practices, and time for self-care, reflection, and general well-being among educators, school staff, and the leaders themselves.” And yes, absolutely, who can disagree with that?

They even provided seven ideas for schools to start with:

1. Survey Teachers—And Listen to Them

2. Give Teachers an (Actual) Break

3. Stop Watching the Clock

4. Create Shared Agreements

5. Plan for Regular and Informal Check-Ins

6. Schedule Planning Time for Teachers

7. Model and Support Wellness

That is certainly a great place to start. But what about the kids? How could this list be altered to serve children? What if we tried to make sense of the list by replacing the word "teachers" with "students", and adjusting the rest of it so that it was relevant to young people? Let’s start with the quoted sentence above, first: “Instead of “[mindfulness]” schools need to acknowledge their role in the problem and put in place the structures, practices, and time for self-care, reflection, and general well-being among [students].”

And here are seven ideas on how to get started:

1. Survey [students]—And Listen to Them

2. Give [students] an (Actual) Break

3. Stop [forcing attendance]

4. Create [consensual] Agreements

5. Plan for Regular and Informal Check-Ins

6. Allow for unlimited free play

7. Model and Support Wellness

It is not very difficult to serve the needs of children … if you let go of schooling.

Then I began to work on the blog post for day 92 so that I did not fall behind on my goal of one blogpost per day during this pandacademic year. While I was doing that I received a Slack message from Facilitator Ariel concerning some anxiety he was feeling over not being present enough at Abrome during the week as he was supporting mutual aid efforts in the area. I jumped on a quick call to assure him that what he was doing was vitally important, and that he was modeling exactly the type of behavior that is so critical for young people to see—people helping people. It’s not like sitting around constantly checking to see if internet is working, like me, was exactly being present at Abrome.

In the morning meeting Facilitator Ariel led with deep breaths as a grounding practice, then shared the agenda, and very quickly reviewed the Community Awareness Board. Each of us then shared something we had been grateful for during the challenging week: having good service at house, all of you at Abrome, and my Subaru; grateful for everyone at Abrome—life has been rough and you help me get through it; spectrum person who turned on the internet; same as [what the prior Learner / his sibling said]; a friend in Atlanta checked in on me and shared some really helpful information; "I rather keep it to myself”; I have power and electricity; mutual support among family and community; being in power grid where power stays on; dogs.

Next up was the weekly Check-in and Change-up meetings where we co-create culture with one another. Everyone stuck around for the Check-in which was appreciated. One of the older Learners raised an awareness of people talking over others in meetings. No one else raised any awarenesses so Facilitator Lauren adjourned the meeting and then started the Change-up meeting, which two Learners stuck around for. While we only had two prior awarenesses on the Community Awareness Board and were only considering one new one, we really dug in to understand what our needs were and how to articulate them. The older Learner in particular was very engaged in the process. It was a good meeting that we can hopefully leverage over our last two days of the cycle (Monday and Tuesday).

Modified high five

Having only completed one 7-minute workout during the week, I was intent on trying to make on Friday. Unfortunately, because I was still without reliable internet I was going to have to try to do it off of my phone. Facilitator Lauren helped me test to see if I could simultaneously run Zoom and the workout app off of my phone, and I found that I could, but that any attendees would not be able to hear the app. I decided that I would just narrate the workout and do the countdowns for the attendees. It turned out to be just the two of us, and it turned out to be an energizing and tiring workout. We did not miss our chance to give each other high fives after the workout, as usual, but I had to adapt my high five considering I had no video.

As the day inched forward I spent much of my time doomscrolling on my phone. While doomscrolling is typically not a great way to spend time, I had too much on my mind to do anything as productive as writing, or to do anything as enjoyable as reading. Besides, we were on the tail end of a humanitarian disaster in Austin. Not a Katrina level disaster, but enough of a disaster that hundreds of thousands of people in Austin realized that our best hope was to help each other, as those in positions of leadership are anywhere from ambivalent to antagonistic to the needs of the people. The good news is that the ice was melting, people were getting their power back, and most of the housed and the houseless survived the Texas freeze. But we were not in the clear quite yet, as many had been stranded with insufficient food and supplies for the week. Additionally, most of the city had no water. Thankfully there were people on the ground helping others.

Meanwhile, Facilitator Ariel was busy driving all over town picking up and delivering supplies. The biggest haul of the day was when they got word that Whole Foods was about to throw out a bunch of food, so he and some others rushed over to see if they could take the food to immediately distribute to those in need. Fortunately, everyone at Whole Foods was in agreement that the food should be offered up to the mutual aid effort.

Another unexpected benefit of the freeze is that I think all the Abrome Learners and their families will have a good appreciation for what it means to be prepared to meet in-person in cold weather now. But the Learners who were without power for days may feel that they now have an immunity to the cold, although I don’t think that will be the case.

On Discord, one of the Learners pointed out that it has been 10 years since the “Friday” song by Rebecca Black was released. I looked for an update about that and stumbled upon a video that pointed out that she was so relentlessly bullied at school after her video went viral that her mom pulled her from school so that she could homeschool. Great move, mom! I later found out that she had just released a remix and shared that on Discord, as well. That was about the extent of my interaction with the Learners outside of the meetings on Friday. I had a Discord hangout offering and a free write offering on the schedule for that day, but no Learners showed up for them.

Facilitator Lauren was able to connect with two adolescent Learners during the day. The two who had been without power for much of the week. Both meetings were positive and energetic, with one of the check-in ins running a half hour long. During that meeting the Learner was more interested in talking about the pandemic and whether or not we would be able to have a normal, pandemic-free fall. Facilitator Lauren also had a movement and music offering that an older Learner showed up for where they shared music with each other.

By the afternoon I was in position to host the afternoon roundup. I shared the agenda, reviewed the new awareness and the updated practices on the Community Awareness Board, and then opened the meeting for announcements. For the prompts I asked people to please raise their hand either on video or with the Zoom emoji. The prompt was, what is one or two things you learned this week that could help you help others during the next crisis? I asked for the Learners to take the prompt seriously so that we could all learn from each other. We took time to reflect and then shared: get to know your neighbors, build mutual aid networks; conserve electricity and water, be mindful of how my actions impact others, put more effort and energy into helping other people prep; I learned we should be prepared no matter what because we never know, trying to help others; get extra firewood to share; check for updates to share info, limit electricity; be prepared — get a flashlight, be on standby, have water and food; getting to know your neighbors; conserve electricity; I have friends who have trailers and stuff so I can use them to help others; didn’t learn anything. Well, hopefully the person who did not learn anything learned something from the other Learners.

And that was the day. And that was the week. A particularly exhausting week in a particularly exhausting month of the pandacademic year. We survived, and many of us left the week with a much greater appreciation of community and of finding ways to support others.

Day 92 of AY20-21: getting through another day during the Texas freeze

Thursday was day 92 of our pandacademic year and what felt like day 30 of the Texas freeze. We said we were going to be remote two nights prior, and without access to internet and therefore unable to do much of the work that I typically do before the Abrome day starts, and because I was feeling extremely tired, I had planned to sleep in an extra two hours on Thursday. But before I went to sleep I did check on the situation in Austin and it did not look pretty.

One of the most concerning issues was that even though many homes were thankfully starting to get power back, they were now running out of water for a variety of reasons (i.e., their pipes were frozen, their pipes burst, water mains burst). And while the state was able to keep hospitals powered up by cutting power to homes, they could not do the same with water.

Multiple hospitals in Austin lost water on Wednesday evening. There are obviously major implications to a hospital losing water including limitations on being able to stop the spread of infections through hand washing and being unable to dispose of human waste. On top of that, one of the hospitals lost heat. While what we are facing in Texas is no Katrina level type of humanitarian disaster, it is a disaster nonetheless, and this news was super concerning.

I was then sent a picture of a private text message about how bad things really were. The hospitals that were already dealing with people being brought in on the verge of freezing to death, from traffic accidents from the iced over roads, and the ever present reality of Covid-19, now had to deal with overflowing toilets and flooded operating rooms.

On top of that, then Austin issued a citywide boil water notice. So now the water was unsafe to consume, if you even had running water. Oh, but many people had no electricity or cell coverage so how were they to know there was a boil water notice? And people with power likely had no way to boil the water. The city also told people to be prepared to not have access to water, potable or not, for days, maybe even deep into next week. It’s been a lot for so many to deal with.

While there has been much pain and suffering in Central Texas there did seem to be hope on the horizon. The weather was going to get better during the day, and each day through the weekend. The power situation was looking like it would improve for most over the coming 24 hours, and that would make the water situation a bit more bearable and less dangerous. The roads would get better by the day. And perhaps most fortuitously, with the forced quarantine of hundreds of thousands of people the levels of Covid-19 infection will hopefully drop substantially on the tail end of this.

Facilitator Lauren with power and internet at home!

Facilitator Lauren led the morning meeting. 11 people showed up, including 8 Learners, a pretty remarkable showing considering all that was going on this week. Facilitator Lauren first led a grounding practice that consisted of deep breaths. Then she set game shifting to jump in (meaning when one wanted to talk they should just talk), reviewed our practices on the Community Awareness Board, and then shared the prompt. Everyone then responded with the one thing they would have gotten if they could go back to the days before the storm: a heated blanket; water and firewood, or a 2” lift on car; firewood; food for my lizard; cereal; pizza; more research into what outdoor gear could be used indoors; warmer weather or a scarf; IDK, playing with friends; nothing (my only problem has been internet; n/a (in Colorado).

After the morning meeting I was pretty much out of contact with the Learners for much of the day. I had no internet and even my cell reception was terrible, so Facilitator Lauren removed my offerings and check-ins from the calendar. I spent much of the day reading, thinking, and communicating with others over text.

Loading up supplies

Meanwhile, Facilitator Ariel moved into his one-to-one check-in with an older Learner, and then took off for the day. He again spent his day working with Austin Mutual Aid collecting and distributing much needed supplies to folks all over the city. The mutual aid work that he and the others in Austin were doing this week, as well as in other cities impacted by the disaster, was life-saving.

More supplies

Facilitator Lauren, at home with power and internet, helped keep everyone connected during the day. This included connecting with the Learners’ families that she had not connected with the day before.

Facilitator Lauren also had check-ins with two adolescent Learners who are excited for all of this disaster stuff to be over with (depending on the definition of disaster that could be a long time). In the afternoon she hosted a yoga offering, which one other Learner dropped in for.

Delivering supplies with Austin Mutual Aid

During the day I received a call from a classmate of mine from Stanford. He shared news of the tragic death of another classmate of ours who was also my classmate at West Point. I had not spoken to the deceased classmate in several years, and the news brought a lot of feelings up for me. In the midst of the crisis that millions of people were dealing with in Texas, I was reminded of the sharp pain that each casualty caused on the lives of those around them. I also thought deeply about the reasons we choose to stay close to some people and move away from others, and the role that personal values, appeals to power, and personal priorities can play in that. Even though this classmate was physical close to me, he was also a million miles away.

Nice turnout for the afternoon roundup

The end of the day came fast. I was in a better internet situation for the afternoon roundup than I was the morning meeting, but not in a good enough situation to turn my video on. With my internet situation and with Facilitator Ariel in the streets helping people, Facilitator Lauren took charge of the afternoon roundup. She started with the count off practice that I used for the afternoon roundup on Wednesday. It would be harder on this day as we again had eight Learners show up (ten people total including the two Facilitators). We got it on our third try, with my number being lucky number nine. Facilitator Lauren then reviewed the Community Awareness Board, and set our communication style with popcorn. Then each of us shared one thing that we can do during the evening to enjoy ourselves despite what’s been happening around us: work on cleaning my room; play video games; I have power now so I can bake acorn squash bread; play Minecraft; read books; getting Nerds (the candy); spend time with boyfriend on face time; play games with friends; breathe; breathe, too.

What a day.

Day 91 of AY20-21: holding space in a failed state

Day 91 of the pandacedemic year was not exactly a day in the park. The night prior the Facilitators decided to call off in-person meet ups for the rest of the week. There was just too much going on for us to seriously entertain the idea of bringing people together with multiple Abrome families having no power and heat, or frozen water pipes. On top of that, the roads were iced over across much of the county, and the weather forecasts suggested that they would ice over each night meaning that even if we did not have families struggling with the blackouts that it would still be unsafe to come together. This is on top of the trauma of knowing that scores of thousands of people in Austin were at serious risk of losing their homes or their lives.

That evening I sent an email letting families know we would definitely be remote for the rest of the week, along with some advice for how to survive the cold if they had no power, and some potential ways they could support mutual aid efforts on the ground.

On Wednesday morning the roads were indeed iced over. I took the Cuddle Buddies out for a walk and they confirmed that it would indeed be extremely foolish for Abrome to encourage anyone to take to the roads to meet up in a park.

It was depressing getting reports on all of the suffering that folks were facing in Austin and throughout the state. The suffering people were facing went well beyond discomfort. It was also disappointing and sad to see so many people across the country mocking the suffering in Texas merely because of who the elected politicians are. I get mocking the politicians or political parties, but to mock the suffering was disgusting.

“Our students have now lost an additional three, and it could be five, days of learning,” said Grenita Lathan, the interim superintendent in Houston. “And we were already behind.”

People are literally freezing to death and this is what a superintendent chooses to put out?

— Abrome (@AbromeEd) February 17, 2021

And while I am never surprised at conventional schools’ focus on “achievement” at the expense of child welfare, and in this pandacademic year in particular their disregard for the mental health of their students, I was greatly disheartened to read about what the superintendent in Houston had to say about the Texas freeze that has paralyzed the state. She said, “Our students have now lost an additional three, and it could be five, days of learning. And we were already behind.” Instead of empathizing with the suffering that her students are dealing with, or concerning herself with how to support them, her focus was on the mythical notion of learning loss. Unfortunately, in a system that is predicated on creating losers to anoint the winners, a lack of regard for the suffering of children may be necessary to rise the ranks.

Morning meeting

Once again I was not able to support the morning meeting due to internet issues, and Facilitator Lauren needed to focus on supporting older family members suffering through the Texas freeze, so Facilitator Ariel led morning meeting. It was pretty wonderful to see five Learners showing up, to include one who had been without power since the early morning hours of Monday! She told us that her dad was able to hook up the wifi to generator for 15 minutes. Being mindful of the time, Facilitator Ariel dove in, reviewed the Community Awareness Board, updated the calendar (lots of cancelled offerings and check-ins), and then said we’d use pass the ball to respond to the prompts.

First we shared what was one thing we each could do with our family to share joy, today: cuddle with puppy, check in on chosen family, watch movie, hang out, share Nintendo Switch with brother, watch a movie and spend time with my mom, read stories by the fire place. Next we let each other know how we were doing, if we had power, and if we felt safe. Everyone was feeling pretty good, although one Learner said they had no power and her feet were cold.

Being unable to connect due to a lack of internet, I had lots of time to read and think. I was able to get news on my phone and the news was not particularly nourishing. For example, I found out that Richard Elmore died. When I was at Harvard I was able to meet with him and discuss an idea I had to help millions of young people escape conventional schooling. Elmore was an exception in the world of higher ed in that he ultimately recognized that the problem with education was not barriers to fixing schooling, but that schooling was part of the problem. In the attached video he said, “I do not believe in the institutional structure of public schooling, anymore. I view the work I continue to do with schools, and i take it seriously, as palliative care for a dying institution.” And that resonates with me. I do not spend my time attacking teachers as too many in the alternative education world do. Many teachers and others who support schools are not trying to fix the schools or make them more efficient, they are merely trying to minimize the pain on students.

I also got to thinking about how the horrible situation playing out in Texas may have a silver lining. On the tail end of this, Covid-19 infections will have hopefully dropped off substantially because so many people will have finally chosen to stay at home, or more likely they will have been forced to. Instead of going out and catching and spreading the disease, a large proportion of the population will have effectively quarantined for ten days, allowing the disease to die off in many people. And considering that any single person who gets infected can seed a future superspreader event or even host the next mutation of the virus, the tragedy that is this deep freeze may end up saving more lives in the long run.

Facilitator Lauren, meanwhile, spent much of the day trying to connect with Abrome families. She found out that one Learner’s garage was flooded in addition to frequent power outages, while another family was concerned about the welfare of family members. One family was without power but were able to stay warm and had food, while another family was running low on water. While a couple of families were struggling, everyone was safe, and that should certainly be considered a blessing given what so many others were dealing with.

Facilitator Ariel spent his day engaged in mutual aid

While it would be foolish for most people to be on the road, Facilitator Ariel’s vehicle has four-wheel drive, and he responded to a call from Austin Mutual Aid to help deliver much needed supplies to people in need. While most people were locked down in their home or just trying to get by, Facilitator Ariel was very carefully navigating the roads of Austin to help those most in need. Thank you, Facilitator Ariel!

By the time the afternoon roundup came around I had internet and was able to host the afternoon roundup. Facilitator Lauren’s power was back up so she was able to join, while Facilitator Ariel was still delivering supplies with Austin Mutual Aid. Wonderfully, five Learners showed up, as well. Remarkably, the two Learners who had been without power since Monday morning showed up, while most of the Learners who were not out of power did not. I do not know what to make of that … perhaps those who were having the worst of the current situation had the most desire to find a sense of normalcy in the day?

Afternoon roundup

I started the meeting, reviewed the Community Awareness Board practices, opened up the meeting to announcements, and then for a belated grounding practice I had everyone count off from one to seven, with each person only being able to take one number. If anyone repeated a number, or if two people spoke at once, we would start over. We got through it fairly quickly, and then I used the numbers people claimed to determine the order in which we would respond to the prompts.

For the first prompt we each identified one challenging thing in our life right now: being disconnected and apart from others, coronavirus, being worried about other people and how they’re doing while being unable to help, growing up in general, this weather and coronavirus, Covid-19 and the weather, not having power right now.

For the second prompt we each identified one good thing in our life right now: knowing that people are in the streets helping others through mutual aid, being able to sled (for the first time in my life), power is now stable which means having wifi and being able to connect with others, my boyfriend and being in a good stable place in life, the snow is very beautiful, I have my dogs, I have heat (temporarily).

We then adjourned the meeting and said we would stick around for anyone who wanted to chat. At that time another Learner logged in, having missed the meeting but being able to connect. Most Learners dropped off but a couple stuck around and chatted. We asked the Learner who had been without power since 1:00 a.m. on Monday, and was still without power, how she was doing and talking about the various hacks they were using to stay warm. Facilitator Lauren also filled us in on the good news about the family members she was concerned about—they now had food and firewood thanks to a neighbor.

While we anticipated more bad news to break that night and the next morning, we felt good in that moment that we were able to hold space for Learners, to connect with the Learners and their families, and that everyone in the community was safe. And even though we live in a failed state, we had deep appreciation for all of the people who self-organized to go into the worst of conditions to try to save lives.

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.

High fives

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.

Coffee and read

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.

Joyful

Enjoying the snow

Facilitator Lauren’s snow dog

Another snow dog with Facilitator Ariel

Day 89 of AY20-21: blackouts, freezing cold

Beautiful blanket of snow outside Abrome on Monday morning

Day 89 of this ridiculous pandacademic year was something extra. When I woke up the windchill was -8 degrees. I wrote the following message to families when I formally cancelled in-person meet ups it was -9 degrees. At 5:23 a.m. I sent Abrome families the following message:

As I sit here and write this the ground is covered with snow and the windchill is currently -9 degrees. Many schools have already cancelled school or are meeting only remotely through Thursday or Friday. We will take it day by day but it is probably safe to assume that we will be remote at least through Wednesday.

By 7:30 a.m. it was -10 degrees. Then it slowly warmed up. A local news station tweeted out a comparison of Austin temperatures to places much further north. If the cold weather (and ice) wasn’t bad enough, there were also the very serious issues of blackouts (one Abrome family had their power go out at 2:00 a.m., and houseless folks being stuck in the cold (compounded by the city and state repeatedly razing their campgrounds and throwing away vital lifesaving supplies such as blankets and jackets).

At 9:30 a.m. the Facilitators attempted to hold their morning check-in, but Facilitator Lauren was without power and I was without internet. Facilitator Lauren patched me and Facilitator Ariel in on a 3-way call, and we attempted to plan out the day. It was hard because Facilitator Ariel’s cell service was spotty. We did our best to try to decipher what each other was saying, and we knew that we would be in for a tough day.

I was supposed to lead the morning meeting but there was no way I could do so given my inability to access wifi, so Facilitator Ariel took over the meeting. Given the chaos that was happening all around us, with some families out of power and more out of internet, we were not surprised to have a record low attendance of only five people, and three of us were Facilitators! Facilitator Ariel reviewed the Community Awareness Board, and then opened it up for announcements. He then asked, considering the weather and internet, what can we do to connect with each other today. They responded, drink a warm drink at 11:15 a.m. with anyone else who wants to join, communicate over Discord chat or calls, show up for the meeting, text or call each other, and I said that I would use Discord. I later found out no one heard my response.

Still unable to connect, I cancelled my 7-minute workout, and later my free write. Facilitators Ariel and Lauren focused on holding space for Learners who wanted to connect. Facilitator Ariel had his regular breakfast chats offering at 11:00 a.m. which one Learner showed up for. That same Learner also showed up for the snow day hangs offering with Facilitator Lauren, as did Facilitator Ariel. During the hang out the got into a deep discussion about how human connections are formed, how you can tell if you can trust someone, and what to do if plans don’t work out. It was a conversation that had the Facilitators focusing on listening and not talking.

Cuddle Buddies playing in the deepest snow they’ve ever seen

Things got a little bit lighter for Facilitator Ariel’s gaming offering that the youngest Abrome Learner chose to drop in for. Meanwhile, after two days of refusing to relieve themselves because of the cold weather I finally got Cuddle Buddies Ivan and Ingrid to get more than 30 feet out of Abrome. They also released a lot of energy running around and through the snow. Like many of the Abrome Learners, they have never seen so much snow in their lives!

As the day progressed we continued to receive news of rolling blackouts being implemented to try to prevent the entire grid from crashing, news of entire parts of the city and regions of the state losing power, and stories of heroic efforts by mutual aid groups to get the houseless off the streets.

Afternoon roundup (from my phone)

While I had electrical energy all day, without internet connectivity I was in the dark about what was going on with Learners during offerings and check-ins. The Facilitators collectively struggled to get the Zoom room up and running, and we started the roundup several minutes late. One Learner tried to log on but simply could not, and let us know in Discord. With my internet so spotty I couldn’t really hear much but I stayed on the call just to let people know I was there.

Facilitator Lauren was leading the meeting and asked each person to reflect and share one negative aspect and one positive aspect of their ongoing winter storm experience. There responses were as follows:

• (-) Worried about people who are without power and shelter; (+) The day was novel and exciting, and there were no mechanical noises last night (quiet nights are a rarity)

• (-) Too cold to go outside; (+) perfect day for playing video games

• (-) Can’t be together in-person (inclement weather) or remote (spotty internet); (+) I got to very briefly play in the snow

• (-) Heater is cranky; (+) I got to video chat with boyfriend

• (-) It’s hecka cold; (+) I got to play games with friends

• (-) It’s freezing!; (+) It’s freezing!

Afterward, the Facilitators reviewed the day as we always do. The after action review was longer than most. We discussed some issues of concern in life choices that a newer older Learner has been making, and we committed to being available to make ourselves available to listen to the Learner, see them, hear them, and give feedback when they want it. We want to be able to engage in serious conversation with them without having them shut down. Next we discussed the many challenges of the day. It was quite an exhausting day, but we agreed that even with the limitations we had that we were able to hold space for the Learners and each other. Also, Facilitator Lauren’s power finally came back on, so that was worth celebrating. But at least two Abrome families did not have power. We ended the meeting with a plan to reach out to each of the Abrome families to make sure they were doing alright, and to see if we could support them. We acknowledged that the chances of us coming together in-person on Tuesday was slim to none, but that we would make a final call early that morning. Then we wished each other a warm night with electrical power.

Day 88 of AY20-21: we made postcards, played games, and broke a sweat

Friday was the last day of the second week of the sixth cycle and day 88 of the pandacademic year. When we created our pandemic plan for this year we included a section on inclement weather, since we expected to be outdoors for most of the year, and committed to letting families know by 7:00 a.m. if we need to cancel for the day, meaning meeting remotely instead of in-person. When I looked at the weather early that morning the temperature was low but doable, if that was the only challenge. But we also had wind and rain in the forecast so day 88 also became another inclement weather day.

I sent off an early morning email to parents that included this message:

Another inclement weather day

“Today will also be a remote day. I know that a string of inclement weather days is not how folks envisioned how our first few days of being able to be back in-person would go. But the low temperatures, the wind, and the chance of rain are too risky. Today would be a good day to talk about how we should dress in weather like this when outside for extended periods of time in advance of when we can finally come back together again.”

When we came up with our plan I shared it aggressively with other education communities to encourage them to put the community first and take everything outdoors. Although we knew less about Covid-19 transmission last June than we know today, one thing that has remained constant is that other than staying home the best ways to limit the risk of transmission is to leave the schoolhouse behind (take it outdoors) and mask up when close to each other. I got pushback from many that said maybe we could pull it off in Austin, but it would be much harder to do in cold weather states. I acknowledged that was true, but also added the outdoor maxim that there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices. Well, that was not necessarily true. This is bad weather and we are staying indoors. Are we weak? Maybe. But we are not going to roll the dice on this one with temperatures lower than anything in the past 70 years.

Offering supplies placed on doorstep

Even though we were not going to be meeting outdoors, we would be meeting virtually as we have been since January thanks to the pandemic through Tuesday, and mother nature for the last three days of the week. Facilitator Ariel had a postcard offering scheduled so each of us had early morning runs to drop off the postcards at the houses of Learners who had committed to participate.

We made it back to our warm homes in time for the morning meeting. I started the meeting with a review of the agenda, set game shifting (jump in), very briefly reviewed the practices on the Community Awareness Board, and opened up the meeting for announcements. During announcements one of the Learners wanted to pitch his offering scheduled for that day, so I also brought up the calendar to review the offerings for the day. Then each of us considered two prompts and then shared. The first prompt was, what is a long-term, life outcome you want? The follow-up prompt was, what can you do today to move toward that? Here were some of the responses:

• Not die before 70—eat healthy and exercise

• Marry boyfriend and becoming a pilot—hang out with boyfriend

• Stay healthy enough to go on adventures and live in community with others—participate in the 7-minute workout and the 45-minute Learner-led workout

• Hang around my house - hang around my house

• Make Abrome available to tens of thousands of young people—outreach work

• Live in a big mansion and have a limousine—start saving

• Live in a short bus and travel around America—look for a main source of income

• Marry boyfriend and become a mom—bought a ticket to see him (happened already)

• Be reasonably healthy and self sufficient, own my own home, live where I’m involved with community—try to schedule vaccination appointment and encourage others to do the same

• Create prehistoric creatures—learn more about them

Our prompts used to revolve around getting to know each other better, or gauging how they were feeling that day. But such prompts did not spark much introspection so we have focused on deeper prompts, such as the one for Friday, and it has been working out really well. The engagement was really high, and most of the Learners were really present.

We then moved into the Check-in meeting where each member of the community could raise awarenesses. Only one was raised—meetings and check-ins feel better when everyone is fully present (e.g., everyone listens to each other, takes in each aspect of the meeting, does not unnecessarily extend length of meeting). Everyone participated in the Check-in, which is an expectation of everyone in the community, but only one Learner stuck around for the Change-up where we identify needs associated with the awarenesses, decide which practices and awarenesses feel good (have been incorporated into our culture) or that do not work, and come up with new practices. This is a major part of how we co-create culture together. For the recently raised awareness the needs we identified that were take care of others, allow people to feel heard and valued, and honor our agreements. The practices we came up with to support the community were use grounding practices to shift into meetings (e.g., breaths, exercise), if you are late to the meeting only ask questions in the chat (e.g., what's the prompt?), and plan to be present (e.g., minimize apps and put phones away). We also agreed that we felt good about hosts asking for commitments when a critical mass was needed for an offering and moved that practice and its awareness to the feels good portion of the Community Awareness Board.

Post-workout high fives

Up until that point it was quite a busy day, and we were only 30 minutes into the day! Next up we had our daily 7-minute workout with the usual crew, and then we high fived each other virtually and went on our separate ways.

I then moved into my free write offering which was a very lonely offering as no one else showed up. But the great thing about free write is you don’t need anyone else to write. So I made the most of the next 40 minutes to write, and then I started making lunch so that I could eat while participating in the postcard making offering. Meanwhile, Facilitator Lauren had a one-to-one check-in with a Learner that she has not had a lot of opportunities to connect with given the way that we have rotated cells and the number of cycles that the Learner has chosen to be remote. But on this day they really connected. The Learner had lots of questions about what Facilitator Lauren’s life was like at her age.

At 12:00 p.m. Facilitator Ariel hosted his postcard making offering. Just like the prior week’s yarrow salve offering, we had good turnout for this offering that required commitments and an ensuing delivery of materials. What Facilitator Ariel did was create a bunch of postcards out of watercolor paper. One side was blank; and the other side was divided by a vertical line, with a logo and horizontal lines for a mailing address on one side of that line, and blank space for a written message on the other side of that line. Then, everyone was encouraged to draw, color, or paint a happy Abrome memory. Unlike the yarrow salve offering we did not talk and joke throughout the entire experience, as this required a greater degree of concentration.

Sharing Abrome postcard creations, and goofy faces

The outcomes of the offering turned out pretty great. In the picture to the right, counterclockwise from the upper left, our happy moments were 1) Facilitator Antonio doing his monthly plunge into Lake Austin, 2) when Facilitator Ariel and a Learner ended up lost in the woods in one of the greenbelts they had not spent much time in—pictured is the Learner trusting her instincts and leading them out of the woods, 3) A memorable day from the first cycle which included the infamous Marshmallow Cult fortress/shrine, Facilitator Antonio making diced potatoes, and people roasting foods and marshmallows by the fire, 4) a watercolor painting of a dragonfly that was found floating on lake Austin,
5) two younger Learners running up a large staircase at UT-Austin during a past field trip to the Texas Memorial Museum and Union Underground. And lastly is an overjoyed, goofy Facilitator Ariel. What a fun offering!

Proof that even a Facilitator can win on occasion

Next up were competing offerings, an art and fart hosted by Facilitator Lauren and an Among Us offering hosted by an adolescent Learner. For the art and fart, one Learner showed up, giving Facilitator Lauren the ability to have some connection with the Learner outside of a formal one-to-one check-in. Meanwhile, there was a strong turnout for Among Us, with two Learners in addition to the host Learner, two Facilitators, and a guardian. Everyone was a winner on this day, even the Facilitators.

I then had two consecutive one-to-one check-ins, but one Learner did not log on for his. Likewise, Facilitator Ariel’s one-to-one check-in did not happen as that Learner also did not log on. It seems that the letdown of still being remote even after we dropped back down to pandemic risk stage level five is wearing on some.

Learner-led, 45-minute workout

But the 45-minute Learner-led workout was great! Only four people were able to participate in the workout but it met the needs of each of the four. It even supported one of the actions that could be done today to help move one toward a long-term, lifetime goal identified in the morning meeting.  

After resting up post-workout, Facilitator Ariel opened the afternoon roundup. First, he went over the Community Awareness Board. He highlighted that we removed one of the awarenesses and that we added a new one. While talking about how we can be present, to include putting down our phones during meetings, one of the Learners was distracted and looking at her phone. We will continue to raise the awareness, and continue to practice the practices. Next, he opened up the meeting to announcements. And lastly, everyone shared one way they could show someone in their household that they loved them this weekend: hang out with family; sweep floor before anyone gets home; spend time with family; collect firewood, start a fire, and share hot chocolate; being there for my family the best I can and just do what people need me to do for them; be a good sport; spend time with my family; family game night. And on that high note we adjourned for the weekend.