2020 was already a strange year for me. I finished my late-onset undergraduate degree in December of 2019 and jumped right into a brand new teaching job in January. It was a time of many adjustments and a lot of learning on the fly. On March 12, I finished entering my third-quarter grades and went home for Spring Break, unsure what the rest of the semester would look like. In the next several days, I received word of the cancellation of in-person classes for the remainder of the semester. Shortly after that, Oasis spring rehearsal was canceled.
Having my daily schedule suddenly disrupted was rather disorienting at first, but I eventually became accustomed (perhaps too accustomed) to the forcibly-decelerated pace of quarantine life. Incidentally, much like my comrade in section leadership, Dan Yutzy (see July 2 blog post), I took up disc golf and developed a mild addiction. It’s been a nice way to get outside and avoid wasting away entirely. I’m still awaiting word from my district about what the return to school will look like this fall. I am excited to get back to teaching, but a bit apprehensive about the potential challenges of restarting school during a pandemic.
Along with the keen disappointment of all performance opportunities being canceled (Oasis and others), I’ve also had more time to simply enjoy music, free from any pressure to learn and perfect. One especially meaningful piece has been Jake Runestad’s setting of Wendell Berry’s poem “The Peace of Wild Things.” I hope it blesses you, too.
