Slowing Way Down: On Survival and Care

Happy 2022? I mean that question mark is definitely necessary as we approach the start of another semester of uncertainty. I spent most of the "break" (in quotation marks for very obvious reasons) thinking about what I wanted this upcoming semester to be, and more importantly, creating some real boundaries on what I could or could not do this year.

As those of you who read regularly know, I have been going through some health things and these have become pretty all consuming. It has also caused me to reflect deeply on what I value and what my work should and could be in relation to this. I write this on the first non-flare day I have had in 3 weeks. I don't want to tempt fate so I am going to make this post short so I can rest more, but one thing I want to talk about is the real need for us in academe to slow way down and focus on survival and care primarily over everything else. At the same time we need to fight for the need for slowing way down for all our colleagues, especially those who are in precarious positions where slowing all the way down is privilege that is rarely afforded by the systems.

The systems are pushing back to normal hard. This back to normal ignores the very lived reality of everyone affected by the systems. How do you go back to normal when you have an immunocompromised person in your household? How do you go back to normal when your 4 year old is not vaccinated yet? How do you go back to normal in systems that don't acknowledge or understand dynamic disability? How do you go back to normal when your family members are sick? The systems don't seem to care about any of these questions and don't have any answers for us (and never have to be fair). 

I keep seeing emails and posts and asks about things that we should not even be thinking about or prioritizing right now because many people are sick and there is no support. No I can't get an abstract in for your conference in the summer. Why? Because I'm sick and that is not a priority and it probably shouldn't be a priority for many others, but the faulty systems are the ones that say it should be a priority. No I can't write that article for you right now. Why? Because every bit of energy I have is focused on getting through the day (each day) and the research will still be there when our society is not in the precarious health situation it is right now (which may be never, and if that's the case then let's prioritize health first). No I can't come to your conference in person in the US, in a state with no mask mandates and no vaccine checks. Why? Because I am not selfish and I care about the health of those around me and of those in the disability community (among many others) who have been saying even before the pandemic that your choices have real consequences for others.

We need to slow way down. If we value education, and I can argue if you are reading this blog or follow me on Twitter it is because you value education, then we need to decide what that looks like. Does it look like education at all cost, even if that cost is health? I would like to hope it doesn't. Does it look like an extreme push towards research to make up for lost time due to the pandemic? Again I would like to hope it doesn't because this stance again privileges a very very specific portion of academe (and I don't need to reinforce who that is as it has been well documented for months). 

So what does valuing education look like? It could look like any and all of these:

• Course designs that are contextual and are demographically aware
• Reflection on how learning can't happen in spaces that reinforce trauma
• Having more conversations with learners to check in, to let others know that we acknowledge them and that acknowledgement of others is also part of learning in any course
• Being in community with colleagues and listening and learning from other's needs
• Advocating for those who are not being included in educational decisions

These are only a few things that it could look like; I am sure you have many other ideas. If we are to make it to May (and hopefully beyond) we cannot continue like this. We simply cannot. We need to slow way down, we need to make sure that slowing down is also supported for adjuncts and sessionals and staff who are often those who get offloaded the work when someone decides to slow down, and we need to care, really care, about ourselves, about the learners, about our colleagues, about humanity. Can we agree to do this? I sure hope we can.