Wednesday was day 48 of the academic year, as well as day one of the fourth cycle of the year. It was also the first day of a cycle with a dedicated remote cell thanks to the fast growing positivity rate, number of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths due to Covid-19. It was certainly a day of firsts. It was also the first shadow day for a prospective Learner, and it was the first day for our new Facilitator, Ariel. 

Just before 4:00 a.m. my day started as I was eager to get to work on a variety of initiatives to get the world out about what Abrome is doing before a pandemic induced shelter-in-place goes into effect. And when I say shelter-in-place I mean a recommended shelter-in-place when we move into risk stage level five, as I assume that the county and state do not have the political will to actually order it. In accordance with our pandemic planning document, we will go fully remote once the county goes to risk stage level five, although I anticipate that many local businesses and schools will ignore the shelter-in-place and continue to gather. 

As part of my morning duties I swung by the house of a family that is looking to shadow in two weeks (if we are not remote) to drop off copies of two books, Peter Gray’s Free to Learn, and Akilah S. Richard’s Raising Free People. I dropped them off at the wrong house, but fortunately they were able to retrieve them from the porch of the house I dropped them off at. I then swung by the drop-off point where Facilitators Lauren and Ariel were going to meet their cell. While masked and maintaining distance from each other, I gave them a variety of supplies, administrative materials, and copies of Raising Free People to hand out to the families of the Learners in their cell. We then discussed the first day for Facilitator Ariel and covered some logistical points and then I took off.

When I got back to the empty Abrome facility, I looked over my notes for what I had hoped to accomplish that day, wrote down some more notes, and then did a quick check of our social media accounts. I logged onto Zoom just before 10 a.m. and waited for the remote Learners to join. Everyone in the remote cell, which only has five Learners in it, shared their intentions at the beginning of the meeting, and then I asked them some questions about their experiences with being remote in the past (i.e., remote last spring when we shut down, remote for an entire cycle, or remote on days they could not make it to their in-person cell). Then we each identified a practice (from a prior cycle) that we would focus on for the day. We adjourned the meeting and immediately went into the set-the-week meeting. We haven’t been doing set-the-week in the in-person cells because the Learners enjoy going with the flow of the day, and putting in place offerings has just served to break that up. But as a remote cell we feel it is important because we are not able to just be around each other when we are all in our homes around the county. None of the Learners proposed any offerings, so I proposed a daily free write and a daily Discord hangout, both of which I would enjoy. We also set weekly check-in times and the oldest Learner and I set up two weekly meetings to help her project move forward. 

After the morning meetings were over I jumped on my first remote check-in with a Learner for that cycle. We talked about ways in which the remote experience could work for him, but this Learner has a rich online community of friends and activities that he is able to immerse himself in, so the reality is that Abrome will be a daily touchpoint out of that world, and our remote experience will just be something to tide him over until we can be in person, again.

Meanwhile at the in-person cell, excitement was in the air as Learners got to see each other again, in a new location, and they got to see other people for the first time. Of the six enrolled Learners in the cell, three were in a cell located out west, and the other three were in a cell located further north, last cycle. One Learner had not seen another Learner since we were in-person before the pandemic separated us in March, while that Learner had not even met another Learner who had been in a different cell the last three cycles. And of course none of the Learners had met Facilitator Ariel who was joining us for the first time, nor had they met the prospective Learner who was beginning his shadow on Wednesday. The shadower was quite nervous, which is common, so Facilitators Lauren and Ariel spent extra time making space for conversation with him to help ease him into the group. The other Learners began discussing ways that they could become expert rock climbers.

Back in the remote cell I had a scheduled check-in with another Learner I have not been able to interact with much lately, and who has been remote for a good number of days this year, thus far. The Learner loves gaming, and is able to use gaming as a medium to connect and interact with others much more easily than direct face-to-face interaction. He has been asking me to game with him for years, and I have not primarily because I did not want my time at Abrome to be consumed by gaming when I could be leading offerings or making space for people to talk. However, now that I am remote for a full cell, it seemed that gaming would actually increase my ability to engage with Learners, or this Learner at least. So I agreed to an offering to play a Roblox game with him for an hour on Thursday. I couldn’t do it on Wednesday because I needed to clear out a bunch of files from my overloaded computer in order to download the new game. (If you think that is bad, you should see my email inbox.)

At the in-person cell the Learners found an “awesome place” to hang out. It was a cavelike space beneath a rock overhang that is not uncommon in Texas Hill Country where rivers or streams have been flowing off and on for millions of years. Facilitator Ariel and the shadower were both getting to know everyone, and each other, and they bonded over rocks. More specifically, they bonded over stacking rocks (large and small) into an impressive cairn, and then they bonded over throwing rocks, smashing rocks, and watching rocks fall. Other Learners soon joined in on the rock games, while others cheered the action from a further distance, and although it had been chilly at the beginning of the day, the Learners were quickly worked up into a sweat with all the physical exercise.

At 2:00 p.m. I had a Learner join me for a free write session, where she worked on some comics she was writing to give as holiday gifts to family members, and I worked on some thoughts about Abrome’s response to Covid-19. After the free write, the Learner stuck around for the Discord hangout and we talked about other topics, in particular her efforts to find a Rubik’s cube so she could get in on the fun we’ve been having solving it. And soon enough the day had come to an end. In my afternoon roundup we reflected on the events of our day, we talked about how the offerings and meetings went that day, and we reflected on the practices that we focused on. It seemed a positive day for everyone at the meeting, although for me personally, I sure did miss being in-person with the Learners. Facilitators Ariel and Lauren called me after the last Learner departed from their cell. They said that the “energy of the day was vibrant and it felt good to be together again.” I’d say day one of cycle four, although significantly interfered with by the pandemic, was a good one.