At least this is happening in the spring, I remember thinking, when it became clear that we were on the verge of being homebound for a very long time. I knew how quickly that “the walls are closing in on me” feeling sets in when we have to stay inside, and I was hopeful that as we turned the corner into April, we’d be able to spend much of the lengthening days outside.
Ha ha ha ha HA HA HAHAAAA!!!&$^!!!!
Look, I’ve spend most of my life in the Northeast. I am no stranger to a long, grueling winter, and I know that April is usually the last gasp, sometimes staying gray, cold, and wet til the very end. We’ve had a handful nice days, and we’ve tried to cope with even the lingering wintry ones.
But mostly, the weather this month has sucked. SUCKED! Sleet, hail, slushy snow and bitter winds and persistent damp chills that have kept even my pretty-intrepid kids indoors. And indoors? Indoors, at this point, is The Bad Place. The morning starts okay, turns tense by 10 AM, and takes a sharp dive into trench warfare at 4. The very first issue of this newsletter was all about the joy of giving my kids chances to play themselves into exhaustion, and lately, that particular satisfaction has felt far, far, far out of reach.
So I suppose it is appropriate that to celebrate the two-month anniversary of this garbage situation (because, even with all caveats and awareness and gratitude for our health and stability, social distancing is still fucking terrible), our local forecast is calling for—let’s see—”record-challenging cold, threatening the all-time historical lows for May temperatures”! And “blustery winds with temperatures hovering in the 20s”! And “snow steadily falling overnight, with some accumulation likely”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I….don’t know what to tell you. This weekend is probably going to be miserable. If it’s also going to snow, AGAIN, where you live, I sincerely empathize and I am sending you my hang-in-there best. There’s always…..June? If it has turned appropriately warm and sunny at your house, make the most of it for us.
This WILL be us again someday! Both the glorious weather and the use of public space in proximity to other human beings!
If you like reading Extra Credit, would you consider sharing it somewhere, or with someone? Parenting can be isolating in non-pandemic times, and lately, it’s….well, you know. I would love to be able to share with and hear from more of you. Thanks!
Ask A Teacher
Does it matter if my kids sit at a desk to do their online schoolwork? They are in fourth and fifth grade. I’ve noticed they like to move around to different rooms during the “school” day at home, usually to different cozy spots—snuggled up with the dog, or propped up on a bunch of pillows in bed, etc. I check on them often; I know they are working and (mostly) on task, wherever they work. Overall our online learning experience has been more positive than many I hear about, so my instinct is that we are OK working this way. And one of my kids has specifically said being cozy while she works is something she likes about online school. But from a teacher’s perspective, is it a problem? Do I need to make them sit at a desk and work in a more conventional setup?
It’s all distance learning questions in the column this week. I didn’t answer a letter this time around, but I endorse all the advice given, which basically amounts to “give them and yourself a break.”
Recommendations
I feel like this recommendation may be old news to everyone, given that it was Netflix’s highest-viewed offering worldwide the other day, but Never Have I Ever delighted me. The story had a satisfying blend of classic teen tropes and fresh angles, the actors were charming, it made me laugh and laugh, and at ten thirty-minute episodes, it was an easy binge. I also really, really liked Devi, the protagonist, who is a lot of things teen girl characters don’t often get to be: angry, prickly, direct, confident. It was my favorite thing I’ve watched in a while.
I also watched HBO’s new series Run this week, in which former college sweethearts Ruby and Billy fulfill a pact they made fifteen years ago that if one ever texts the word ‘run’ and the other responds, they will drop everything about their lives and escape on a train. It’s both a romantic comedy and a thriller, as it quickly becomes clear that Billy is running from something dicier than Ruby’s suffocating suburban housewifery. The romance is more compelling to me than the mystery, but I’m going to finish watching it, because the chemistry and attraction between Ruby and Billy is super appealing.
“Zoom Pranks On Professors, Wild PowerPoint Parties, and a Billion Memes” was an extremely charming examination of how college students are trying to recreate their on-campus social lives virtually, at a distance from each other. One of the best parts of my current job is working with college students, because they are a delight and a joy in exactly the way this piece makes them seem, and I miss them.
Here are two things that have made me feel like a bit less of a baffled, impatient mess (not an easy task these days!):
The Brass Ring Daily, Kara Cutruzzula’s short, encouraging morning newsletter about creativity, work, and ambition (sign up at the bottom of the website)
Pandemic! Productivity! Life! Hacks! (from a deeply unproductive & freaked out person), from the advice column Captain Awkward. I didn’t even try the strategy she describes in this post. Just reading it made me feel comforted.
Get in touch to shake your fist at the sky, literally in the sense of being angry at the sky and how it is disrupting whatever fragile sense of balance your family has achieved:
Email: extracredit.newsletter@gmail.com…or just reply to the newsletter directly from your inbox!
Twitter: @carrie_AB_