My last blog post was six months ago today — when I wrote about normality.
I was offered a job that day, and I’ve been working since as an English teacher at a private elementary school for gifted and talented students. I teach second and third grade. Here’s a link to the impressive faculty.
The pandemic is still with us. Will it ever end?
Vaccines are new. The first U.S. vaccine was given in December 2020. After three months, it seems that most Americans are either fully vaccinated, signing up for an appointment, waiting to get an appointment, or waiting to be eligible.
A February 2021 poll by the Associated Press indicates that 15% of Americans don’t want the vaccine and another 17% probably won’t get it. The jury’s out if herd immunity can exist without them.
Outside of school…
I’ve been keeping busy watching assorted TV shows and movies on Netflix and other Roku channels. I’m enjoying the mindless entertainment of NCIS. I started watching it a few years ago. I’m currently in season 9 (out of 18 and counting).
I subscribe to digital editions of The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and The New York Times; and I enjoy reading the different apps for various styles of reporting and storytelling.
Across social media, I use Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook Groups the most. For instance, I follow a lot of travel photographers, indoor gardeners, and celebrity animals on Instagram and I constantly get inspired. Tucker the dog and Chunk the groundhog get me to laugh all the time.
I recently watched the first two parts of a YouTube video series featuring dialect coach Erik Singer. He “travels” around the country and explains how accents are born, die, and are connected to each other. Among other things, the first video taught me about monophthongization and the second video taught me about the Northern Cities Vowel Shift. I love learning about language!