After so much time spent writing and working and throwing myself into being productive and believing that my productivity somehow made me who I was, it became obvious that all of my effort and work was and is, at some weird level, completely meaningless. 3 hours after the defense, my university canceled graduation. 3 days after canceling our trip, I successfully defended my thesis, which I’ve been working on for literal months.

Spoiler alert: we did not go on vacation. Desperate for a vacation, I was one week away from spring break when the severity of COVID-19 became glaringly obvious to everyone (including even the hoaxer in charge). There are very few scheduled days off, but there’s tons of work to be done before testing season begins during the fourth quarter.

Everyone (students and teachers alike) are burnt out. The time between Christmas Break and Spring Break is often the most difficult for teachers. So, not only did I miss my book of the month for February, but I also somehow skipped one of the only two good months of this year? How is that even possible?īy the time we made it to mid-March and Alabama got the official orders to social distance and thus my daytime teaching job went online, what followed was a symphony of cancelations and endings, something I’m sure you’re all probably dealing with as well. Plus, my February was completely occupied by finishing my thesis. What I did not realize was that the world was going to go full-blown apocalypse/contagion and that the sort of “oh hopeful stuff is good,” turned into “absolutely cannot read anything at all realistic/depressing/sad.” When I started the Year of She-roes in January, I knew I needed to add some uplifting stuff to my reading list.

Over sea under stone by susan cooper