Did Massive Cleaning in the Office Yesterday, as Both Mine and CWP's Became Storage Areas for the Whims and Fancy of Many

I've been going back and forth for the past year and a half, checking mail, the phone, and being sure materials were available to my on-campus students. Every time I went in, however, I fretted the return. Before Covid, we had to exit out of Canisius for the summer and pack all our materials. That came back the Fall before Covid, but I never finished that unpacking. Then, last summer, they did work on Donarumma (ding dong) where the CWP Office is and I had to do it all over again. I believe the office space, which is the closet by the elevator, is really the way they run all wires and networking material, because it was in high use the entire year (to the point that the door was often left, walkie talkies left behind, and many diagrams and blueprints, spread across my desk). Still good...the missing printer showed up.

When you're a classroom teacher, you fall in love with your room and make it your space as much as you can, only to learn every summer that the space belongs to the school and you need to empty it out, because although you exist, you don't really exist. They'll replace you in a heartbeat. The room is yours by theory, and theory alone. Poof. Theoretically, it's not yours.

The same is true of office spaces. There's a mini-ritual when they welcome you and invite you to be part fo the campus space, but they're always hunting for the space to lure in another person. You can make it your own, but they will make it their own when they want to. Drool floods the hallways as limited space is desired to be more attractive for the pursuits of others.

Still, knowing this summer remains bizarre like the last, I needed to clear out my office to get ready for another teacher institute, albeit it online (and in local high schools and libraries gracious enough to give us space). We need to meet face-to-face...it's the right thing to do. I mean, although higher education was remote and distant (and might even be next year), K-12 teachers have been on the frontlines all along. I'm treating teachers with dignity and respect. 

And I'm restoring hope. 25 years of K-12 public school teaching (and I include my work in higher education, because the best work happens in school and I continue to be in them as much as possible), and I know HOPE is the answer, always. Hope and love, which by the way is restored for the next few days because I'm working with Susie Q from Pensacola at the UNLV Young Adult Literature conference. Woot Woot.

I laughed when I cleaned off my desk and found 3 HOPE cards and stands. 

That works. When all around us we witness hopelessness, find the way to bring a shine or feather to someone nearby. Collect the givers around the world. They'll help you to witness quickly the selfish majority. All grasshoppers...so few ants in the real world.